“I need you to listen to me without interrupting,” she began, her tone attempting to reclaim a posture of executive authority. “The property managers have initiated eviction proceedings. If that filing hits the public record, it will ruin my credit score permanently. It will destroy any possibility of me securing an independent lease anywhere in Cook County.”
“That sounds like a personal contractual dispute between you and Parkview Properties,” I replied calmly.
Her jaw clenched. She leaned across the table, her voice dropping into a desperate, hurried hiss. “I have a proposition for you. A compromise. If you cover the July and August rent—just forty-eight hundred dollars—I will personally draft a formal, written statement to the entire family. I will tell them that there was an accounting misunderstanding regarding a joint business enterprise. I will publicly rehabilitate your standing. I will tell Natalie and Richard that you were acting as an equity partner.”
I stared at her across the stained formica table. The absurdity of it was breathtaking.
“You’re offering to sell me back the reputation you stole from me,” I said, the words coming out not in anger, but in pure, clinical disbelief. “And you want forty-eight hundred dollars for it.”
“It’s an investment in your peace of mind, Sydney!” she snapped, her eyes flashing behind the tinted lenses. “Do you think people won’t talk about this for the next ten years? Do you want to be the daughter who tore her parents’ marriage apart over eighty thousand dollars?”
“My father left because of who you are, Samantha. Not because of my bank statements.” I slid out of the booth and pulled a ten-dollar bill from my wallet, dropping it beside her untouched coffee. “My standing doesn’t need rehabilitation. My credit score is seven-hundred and eighty. My bills are paid. And for the first time in thirty-one years, I don’t care what your relatives think about me.”
She lunged forward, her fingers catching the sleeve of my blazer. Her voice lost its polish entirely, descending into a gutter growl. “You will regret this, Sydney. You will need me someday. And when you come crawling back to this family, you will find the door bolted.”
