The Almighty Dominance (by Sunshine) novel Chapter 824

Serena hit the cobbles back first.

The stones bit through the white bandages under her blouse, and the pain went through her like a hot wire. Two nights ago, in Victor Russell's house, four lashes had split that back open. It had not healed.

She did not cry out. She lay still in the pale light under the low grey sky, and breathed.

All round the garage-wing doorstep, pieces of blue and white china glittered on the wet black stones. One curved piece still showed half a painted bird, its blue wing broken off at the shoulder.

"You take everything!" Patricia screamed down at her. "Everything! My position. My fame. And now my vase! This vase was given to me by Grandma. It's worth a million dollars. How dare you break it!"

At the yard gate, Alex stood very still.

The jewel box sat warm against his heart, inside his old brown jacket.

Now there was grit in her hair.

"Patricia," Serena said, and pushed herself up on one elbow. "I never touched it."

"Liar!"

"I only opened the door."

It was the truth. She had been sitting on the narrow bed with one of her mother's old books, under the one yellow bulb, when someone knocked. A sweet voice had called, "Serena? Serena, darling, are you there?" She had pulled the door. Then the scream, the crash, the hands.

Had her hands gone near it? It had all happened so fast.

"Do you hear yourself?" Patricia cried. "I came down here to show you Grandma's gift. To share something with you, for once in my life. And you smashed it the second you saw it, because you can't stand me having anything!"

Doors banged up at the main house. Feet came running across the yard.

Marissa arrived first, Gideon's second wife, in a pink dressing gown, with two curlers bouncing in her hair.

"Who's dead?" she cried. "Is it expensive?"

Behind her came Gideon, his reading glasses in his hand. Behind him came Aunt Cordelia, who never ran for anything except gossip.

Inside the kennel, the old dog woke and began to bark, deep and hoarse.

"Look!" Patricia pointed a shaking red fingernail at the china. "Look what she did. Grandma's vase!"

Marissa looked at the pieces, then at Serena on the ground.

"Oh, Serena," she sighed. "What have you broken now?"

"Nothing," Serena said.

"She says nothing," Cordelia said. "Of course. Nobody in this family ever breaks anything. Things just fall over by themselves."

Gideon took a step toward his daughter. "Sweetheart, your back..."

"Don't you dare help her, Uncle Gideon," Patricia snapped. "Not until she pays."

Gideon stopped where he stood.

Serena got to her knees, then to her feet. Her blouse clung to the bandages. She stood very straight, hands pressed flat to her skirt so nobody could see them shake.

"Pay with what, Patricia? You know I don't have..."

"Oh, but you do." Patricia smiled her banquet smile and held up her phone, the bright screen turned to the yard.

"Halcyon copies the contract holder on every payment, darling. And the contract holder is me. Remember?" She tapped the glass. "This morning, Halcyon paid the winner of the bench. Not the house. Not me. You. Straight into your own little account."

The yard went quiet.

Marissa's mouth fell open. "Halcyon paid you? This morning? And you didn't say a word to your own mother?"

"You're not my mother," Serena said quietly.

"I'm the closest thing you've got!"

Alex had crossed the yard from the gate while they all stared at the phone. Nobody looked his way. He stopped by the dog's tin water bowl and gazed down at the scattered blue and white.

"How much?" Cordelia breathed. "How much did they pay her?"

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