Page 26 of Dirty Hearts

“Don’t know. He thought I was the most suitable person to give it to you.”

“He?” I squared off with this guy like I was the same height and stature as him.

I was wearing pumps today, so he had a good foot on my five feet and four inches, and the width in his shoulders could have been two of me.

“The boss.”

Claudius.As if I didn’t know, but then I did ask.

I looked down at the envelope realizing that this was what he’d wanted to see me about.

I opened it and took out a document that was stapled together. My attention was instantly drawn to the heading on the top of the paper. The letterhead. It said Eidlewoods Commercial Estates.

The document I expected to get from them was a lease where I would sign for however many years or even months they would allow, but this was a transfer of ownership document

My hands stilled, and my eyes lingered over the words on the first paragraph. It stated:

I, Claudius Morientz, bequeath 101-110 Duesbury building and the adjoining land surrounding it to Miss Ava De Luca …

That’s all I saw. The rest of the words were hazy and looked like a massive blur.

101-110. I’d only placed my enquiry on 108 and 109. I thought I could start small and then expand. This was the whole building, and it was massive. Even bigger than the one I stood in.

I looked at Maurice, then at Kelly, who still seemed really tense.

“Well, what is it?” Kelly asked. Her curiosity broke me out of the tension.

I handed the title to her, and her mouth dropped. I was about to hand the envelope to her too but felt something else inside.

I looked in and pulled out a check.

When I saw how much money was on it, I dropped it. A million dollars.

Maurice picked it up and smirked. He didn’t look surprised. That in itself shouldn’t have amazed me because I guessed he was used to seeing those kinds of digits. He went to hand it back to me, but I couldn’t take it. Kelly took it instead and shrieked.

“Holy fucking shit!” she cried.

Maybe I was messed up. That should have been my reaction too. Getting the place I wanted to expand my business and a check for a million dollars was supposed to be some kind of dream, right?

As in the kind where all a person’s dreams could come true and their whole life could change.

So, why did I feel like this?

Why did I feel that hollow inside me just get bigger?

Why did I feel worse?

It was because he’d come to see me the other night for business. That was it.

He owned the property and probably owned the bank I applied for the loan at too, or something.

It seemed like he must have felt some sort of guilt in making me pay and did this. He decided to give me the building and more money than I could dream of.

That was it. That thought made my mind slip from me. It slipped right out of my grasp, and I grabbed my little purse and my jacket.

I didn’t even stop when Kelly called after me.

Her idea earlier was a good one. Go and see Claudius.