Page 20 of Fight Or Flight

“Ms. Alvarez,” Speeler spoke.

She stopped and turned. “What now?”

“I’m afraid that the Monroes will contest the will if you dispute it like this. If they do, it will probably go to court and get thrown out. Elizabeth had a previous will to this one. The judge may fall back to it.”

“What are you saying?”

“By not accepting this inheritance, you may force Chelsea and Ethan to forfeit theirs.”

Natalie looked over at Ethan. His face was utterly unreadable other than one judgy eyebrow slightly cocked. Chelsea’s face was wide open, like a book. She was on the verge of crying.

“Natalie,” she said, then swallowed.

Then swallowed again.

Natalie closed her eyes. She wished she were in the cab instead of a lawyer’s office being stabbed with a thousand guilt knives. She didn’t want to be the reason anyone was hurting. But there was no way she could stay in that town.

She just couldn’t.

Chelsea looked as if she was struggling to get by. Inheriting a property would probably be a huge game changer for her. Natalie knew Chelsea had grown up rough, just like her.

Chelsea’s soft plea broke in. “Please, Natalie.”

Natalie looked at her half sister’s welled-up blue eyes, then let out a deep exhale.

“Fuck.”

“Okay, here’s how this is gonna go down.”

Natalie was pacing the sidewalk in front of the empty parking space where her cab once sat. On the curb sat her suitcase. Chelsea sat on a bench, watching, waiting.

“First, we are going to donate the damn cats.”

“You mean put them up for adoption?”

“Right. Unless you want them?”

Chelsea shook her head. “I wish I could, but I don’t have room in my apartment for two cats.”

“Fine. We’ll take them to . . .”

“The Humane Society?”

“Yes. Then, we’ll get a real estate agent and put the property up for sale.”

Chelsea leaped up from her seat. “What?! You want to sell it?”

“Of course. What other options are there?”

“Why don’t we just keep it? It seems wrong to get rid of something that’s been in our family for over a century.”

“Our family?”

Chelsea paused for a few breaths, then sat back down. “I know you don’t like our family. But you can’t just run away and pretend they don’t exist. I always felt like I belonged with Elizabeth.”

“Yeah, well, your circumstances were very different from mine, weren’t they?”

Chelsea’s eyes softened for a moment before hardening once more. She crossed her arms over her chest and tipped her chin into the air. “I don’t want to sell the property.”

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