Page 93 of Fight Or Flight

Natalie leaned over toward her. “Harold Monroe is Victor’s brother, Elizabeth’s brother-in-law, so that means that Anne was sleeping with her husband’s cousin.”

Chelsea gasped the way a person watching a daytime soap that left on a cliffhanger would. With a cringey smile, she said, “Ew.”

Natalie nodded. “She’s falling off a pretty high horse. Hope she doesn’t break her nose.”

Anne sneered at Natalie. “No one can prove any of this. I was a devoted wife to Robert.”

Victor rolled his eyes. “Cut the bullshit, Anne. We all knew. You and Andrew have never been discreet. Besides, Emily looks just like him. She acts like him, too. Gentle. Not like these two,” he said, tilting his head to indicate Natalie and Chelsea. “Anyone could see they are Robert’s daughters.”

Natalie would have been offended, but her mind was spinning.

What now?

“So,” Chelsea started, looking at Emily. “That makes you our . . . cousin?”

Emily nodded.

Speeler cleared his throat. “Could we please have the room for a moment? I’d like to discuss these . . . revelations with my clients.”

He waited for the door to close behind the last person before speaking.

“Would you like to continue with this offer?” he asked. “Considering this new information, Anne’s play for the property would never stand up in court. You could fight her over it and keep things the way Elizabeth intended.”

“I want this over with,” Natalie said. She was ready, now more than ever, to call her piece of land home. She didn’t want to walk out of there without things fully resolved.

Chelsea nodded. “I need a home and a school for Ben. And I have a career to get off the ground. I can’t be fighting court battles with fucking Anne.”

“So you still want to offer Emily a third of the property?”

“Yes. As long as she agrees to the terms.”

Speeler nodded, then a grave look took over his features. “Ms. Davenport, I feel compelled to ask. Are you certain you want to take on this property? The taxes alone are quite substantial, even after a severance. Not to mention the upkeep of grounds that size and the maintenance on a house that old.”

Chelsea sighed. “The timing isn’t ideal, but I love that house. It’s going to be a bit of a struggle right now, but I already know how to make it work.”

“Okay.” He walked to the door, opened it, and invited everyone back in.

To Natalie’s shock, Anne was still there.

“Ms. Monroe,” Speeler said. “The offer stands. If you agree to change the land zoning and not build more than one dwelling, the property is yours.”

Emily’s face contorted. She looked at Natalie and Chelsea. “Are you only doing this to stop my mother from contesting?”

Natalie nodded before Speeler could say something diplomatic, and it earned her a glare from him, but she didn’t care. No sense in lying now. “Primarily, yes. But also because the taxes on the property are ridiculously high, and severing the land lessens our share.”

Emily blinked. Then smiled. “Are you always this direct?”

Natalie laughed. “Yes. When I’m not being bullied by your mother.”

“You think I’m bullying you?” Anne spat. “Your mother ruined my life. She knew Robert was married, and she didn’t care!”

Natalie stared at Anne, the woman who’d caused her so much heartache and guilt. “You know, Anne, I’ve always hated that mymother stayed in a relationship with Robert after finding out he was married. I was on your side. I wanted to leave Mapleton because I didn’t want to cause you more pain. But I’m not my mother, and my actions today can’t change things that happened in the past, and I’m not to blame for any of those things. If you want to blame someone, blame Robert .”

“You don’t have to be here, throwing it in my face though, do you?”

Chelsea’s face reddened. “You hypocritical old bi—”

“Chelsea,” Natalie said, putting a hand on Chelsea’s shoulder to stop her. “It’s okay. Look, Anne, you can’t pretend and manipulate and coerce your way out of this. It happened. You need to deal with it. Emily,” she said, getting everyone’s attention. “You in or not?”

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