AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Nope.”
“But I tell you everything. I—” The sound of the doorbell slices the air. “To hell with you, Ana. Alec is back. You can keep your lonely life to yourself for all I care.”
Ana laughs. “You know you’re such a wicked troll, right?”
“Whatever.” I stop at the door. “I’ll call you back. Okay?”
“Okay.”
I hang up the phone and open the door, but the laughter and excitement cease when I see Mrs. Ace. She’s standing in her usual outfit and fascinator style, and the permanent haughty look is like a cherry on top.
“Good afternoon, ma’am. Uhm, Alec isn’t home.”
“Good.” She marches past me and sits on the couch.
How rude!
I take a deep breath and walk towards her. “Would you like some water? Juice?”
“Nothing. Sit down; I’d like to talk to you.”
I take the seat across from her. “I’m all ears.”
She’s silent for a few seconds before clearing her throat. “I know what Alec must have told you.”
“What do you mean?”
“I know what he must have told you to make you feel relaxed,” she smiles. “He must have said he doesn’t care about our decisions, that he loves you enough to be with you despite his family’s disapproval, blah blah blah, all these sappy words, and you fell for it like a dumb bimbo.”
I purse my lips, and she continued. “If I offend you, you’re free to attack me in return if that’ll make you feel better because I’m here to tell you some hard truths, which will be uncomfortable.”
When I don’t respond, she continues. “The Ace family raised Alec into the man that he is today. You fell in love with him because I raised him to be him. He cannot do without his family. We’ve been with him all his life, and he’s known you for how long?”
My stomach swirls with pain, but I don’t respond.
“Alec may love you right now, I won’t deny that, but give him a few years of alienation from his family, and that love turns into stone-cold hate. You’re not special. There are thousands of girls like you out there, Jasmine. But in this family, we want people with substance. You don’t even have a job. How do you intend to help Alec with anything? This relationship is already a disadvantage to him.”
Her cool eyes meet mine, and all I see is dislike and annoyance. “Eve is an asset, and because of you, her family doesn’t want to have anything to do with ours. Do you know how much we have potentially lost from this? More money than you can ever imagine. But I don’t suppose you would understand that because of your…uhm…background.” She eyes me condescendingly.
It’s like she’s waiting for me to speak, but I keep my mouth shut. “The reason why the rich get richer, and the poor get poorer is because the rich think in terms of assets and value. The poor are emotional thinkers, and they will never get value from it because emotions are fickle.”
“I’m not poor.” I cut her off, struggling to quench my anger.
“Excuse me?” she responds as her perfectly trimmed brows arch.
“I’m not poor,” I repeat. “Just because my family isn’t as rich as you doesn’t mean I’ll let you sit there and talk trash about us.”
Mrs. Ace smiles darkly. “Oh, so you are not completely dumb. Great.” She sets her bag on the couch and leans forward. “Listen to me and listen very well. I can sit here and talk trash about your family all I want, and there’s absolutely nothing that you can do about it. You know why?”
I don’t respond to her vitriol because I don’t want to give her the satisfaction. She continues anyway. “You don’t have any real power. You can only sit there and cry. But you know I’m telling the truth. So, what’s it going to be, Miss Ambrose?”
There’s a lot of fire on my tongue, and I’m dying to spit it at her. Who does she think she is coming up here to tell me what I can and cannot do? Yet, as I look into her eyes, I see a resemblance between her and Alec. It’s subtle, but it’s there, reminding me that this is Alec’s mother.
I love Alec, and I will try as much as possible not to disrespect his mother, no matter how hard she’s pushing me to the wall.
“I think you should take this up with Alec. Why are you coming to me?”
“Because, for some reason, he won’t listen to me when it comes to you.” Her gaze roams my face. “He is determined.”
