Chapter 96: A Proposition
Moana
As I watched Edrick and Kelly walk away together, I couldn’t help but feel a little jealous. Not only that, but she was wearing the exact same dress as I was! Even Verona did a double take when she saw Kelly walk up to us.
When they were gone, Verona quickly came over to me and took my hand.
“Don’t worry about it, dear,” she said gently, giving my hand a squeeze. “Kelly… Well, she’s not a bad girl, really, but she’s always had a bit of an infatuation with Edrick. She’ll get bored eventually and stop pestering you.”
“It’s alright,” I replied with a smile, even though I couldn’t help but feel bad. “It’s just a dress.”
Verona gave me a sad look. I felt as though I would cry and ruin my makeup if I kept standing here, so I quickly excused myself under the guise of performing my job duties as a nanny and went to look for Ella. After several minutes of walking around and weaving my way through the growing crowd, I finally spotted Ella over by the snack bar with her friends. As children often do, they were stuffing their cheeks with sweets.
“Ahem.” I cleared my throat as I came up to Ella, folding my arms across my chest and looking down at her. The other kids saw me and quickly ran away, but she slowly turned to face me and gave me a sheepish smile, her cheeks round with cream puff pastries. “You’ll spoil your appetite, young lady,” I said, stifling a laugh at the little girl’s chipmunk-like appearance.
She chewed for a minute, then finally swallowed with a big gulp. “Sorry,” she muttered, staring down at the floor. “I was hungry.”
“Well, at least get a plate and sit down when you eat,” I said gently, taking her hand as I began to lead her away from the snacks. “It’s not very polite to eat like that.”
I led Ella back to Verona, who was still waiting by her table as she talked to a servant, seemingly giving orders judging from the way that she pointed and gestured at various tables. The servant nodded understandingly before scurrying off. Verona let out a sigh, then finally noticed Ella coming and a wide smile spread across her face. Ella ran up to her, grinning from ear to ear as her grandmother showered her with kisses.
I hadn’t even fully caught up yet when I suddenly felt a hand on my shoulder. At first, I thought it was Edrick needing something from me — but when I turned around, I felt myself go pale as a sheet when I saw that it wasn’t in fact Edrick, but was instead his father, Michael. He was staring down at me with a terse smile spread across his face, but his eyes were cold and stern.
“Care for a dance?” he said, holding out his hand.
“I— Um—” I stuttered, my heart practically pounding out of my chest as a million thoughts raced through my mind. Why was Michael Morgan asking me to dance if not to confront me about the pregnancy? Even if it wasn’t about the pregnancy, it certainly had something to do with my relationship with his son. I was sure of it.
“Well, is that a yes or a no?” he asked. “Come along. I like this song. I’d like to dance before it ends.”
Before I could resist, Michael’s hand dug into my shoulder and he guided me somewhat roughly over to the dance floor. He then turned to face me and took one of my hands in his, then put his other hand on my waist. I could feel my own hands trembling as I placed my free hand on his shoulder.
“U-Um, thank you,” I managed to squeak out, forcing a tense smile as we began to dance to the music. Michael was a stern leader, and I almost felt as though I was being thrown around a bit as we danced. “This is a lovely song.”
“Mhm.”
For a few moments, we danced in silence. He smelled like an almost sickly combination of whiskey, cigar smoke, and cologne. It made me want to gag, and started to trigger my morning sickness, but I somehow managed to keep my cool in front of him.
“I suppose I’ll cut right to the chase,” he finally said after a couple of minutes, a tense smile still spread across his face while his eyes scanned the crowd around us, doing anything but looking at me. “How much will it cost to make you go away?”
I stopped in my tracks, but Michael hardly seemed to notice and kept pulling me along as we danced, nearly causing me to stumble. I didn’t know what to say; what did he mean? Why was he doing this? Why now, especially, right in the middle of a huge party?
“Uh… Pardon me?” I asked, swallowing the lump in my throat.
Michael scoffed. “I know you’re pregnant with my son’s child,” he said, lowering his voice. The way that the smile stayed plastered on his face, as though we were just having a casual conversation, made me sick. If I reacted, not only would it make a scene in front of so many people — many of whom were looking at us, wondering why Michael Morgan was dancing with a human — but it would also appear as though I was acting erratically if he appeared so calm and cordial. No one could see the way that his fingers dug into my skin.
It was now, for the first time in the past couple of days, that Mina suddenly began to appear. I quickly pushed her down, knowing that she would try to encourage me to do something rash, and I was afraid that Michael would do something to my baby.
“I— I’m not looking for money,” I said, my voice shaking. “I don’t want anything.”
Michael let out a wry chuckle. He dipped me with a bit of force, then pulled me back up, making my head spin. To everyone else, it just looked like an elaborate dance, but to me it was a deliberate act of violence. “I won’t have my family name sullied by yet another illegitimate child,” he said. “Ella is bad enough as it is; to add not only another child, but a human child at that…” He tsked. “I won’t have it. Name your price, and leave my family alone.”
“I’m not trying to sully your family’s name,” I replied. Mina wouldn’t be quelled, and I felt her anger bubbling up inside of me.
“Tell him,” she growled. “Tell him you’re a werewolf. That’ll shut him up.”
I shook my head slightly, ignoring her. “I only met your son because he offered me a job.” That was a lie, to an extent, but I didn’t care; I would say anything to get away from Michael now before he hurt my baby.
“A job?” he laughed. “What about the expensive clothes, hm? The penthouse? The fancy dinners and professional stylists? Were those part of the job description?”
The lump in my throat grew bigger. I didn’t have an answer for that; of course those things weren’t part of the job description, but I also insisted every step of the way that Edrick didn’t need to spoil me like that. It was his decision to do those things, not mine. I only got pregnant by accident.
Before I could answer, however, the song finally came to an end. Much to my surprise, Michael stepped back and bowed.
“Curtsy,” he snarled.
My eyes widened. “What?”
Michael glanced up, glaring at me. “Curtsy, you whore.”
I wanted to scream, but I did as he said and curtsied to end our dance. The people around us, entirely oblivious to the situation, clapped enthusiastically.
Michael stood, straightening his jacket. As the crowd filled in once more, the smile on his face faded and was replaced with a distinct look of disgust.
“I’ll give you until the end of the night to decide,” he said. “Take the money, or don’t. Either way… I won’t allow you to continue seeing my son.”
