I sat at the head of my own dining table with my right arm locked inside a cast.<\/p>\n
Michael sat beside me.<\/p>\n
Across from us were his mother, Evelyn, and his sister, Tessa.<\/p>\n
Evelyn lifted her crystal glass.<\/p>\n
\u201cMichael finally taught you a lesson.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tessa laughed.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe really thought she was the one in control around here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Michael smiled as if the entire room belonged to him.<\/p>\n
He had told everyone I had fallen on the stairs.<\/p>\n
That was not what happened.<\/p>\n
The truth was that everything changed after I refused to transfer my late father\u2019s property company into Michael\u2019s name.<\/p>\n
Now he leaned toward my plate.<\/p>\n
\u201cNeed some help?\u201d<\/p>\n
Before I could answer, he cut my food into tiny pieces and pushed the plate toward me.<\/p>\n
\u201cSee? Everything is easier when you cooperate.\u201d<\/p>\n
Evelyn smiled approvingly.<\/p>\n
I looked slowly around the room.<\/p>\n
The chandelier.<\/p>\n
The dark wood walls.<\/p>\n
The windows overlooking the lake.<\/p>\n
My mansion.<\/p>\n
My family trust.<\/p>\n
My father\u2019s company.<\/p>\n
Michael\u2019s family had moved in six months earlier and slowly started behaving as though all of it belonged to them.<\/p>\n
Evelyn replaced staff.<\/p>\n
Tessa took over the west wing.<\/p>\n
Michael introduced himself as the owner.<\/p>\n
They thought marriage gave him control.<\/p>\n
They had never read the trust.<\/p>\n
I raised my glass with my left hand.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo valuable lessons.\u201d<\/p>\n
Michael\u2019s smile disappeared.<\/p>\n
He knew that expression.<\/p>\n
It was the one I used during negotiations when someone had missed an important clause.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I sat at the head of my own dining table with my right arm locked inside a cast. Michael sat beside me. Across from us were his mother, Evelyn, and his sister, Tessa. Evelyn lifted her crystal glass. \u201cMichael finally taught you a lesson.\u201d Tessa laughed. \u201cShe really thought she was the one in control […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","class_list":["post-565","sr_chapter","type-sr_chapter","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/fantatv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/sr_chapter\/565","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/fantatv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/sr_chapter"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/fantatv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/sr_chapter"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/fantatv.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=565"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/fantatv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/sr_chapter\/565\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/fantatv.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=565"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}