The Almighty Dominance novel Chapter 850

On the gravel in front of the glass house, every Tiffany leaned in to listen.

"My young friend!" Mr. Wolfe's voice came out of the phone, and it was a different voice from the one at the Hunt house. Stronger. Warmer. Almost laughing. "Did Nina open it up for you? Do you like it?"

"I like it very much, sir. Thank you."

"No, no. Thank you. I walked to the pond this morning. To the pond! My doctor nearly fell over."

Patricia's lips moved without a sound. Mr. Wolfe. The real Mr. Wolfe, the man the whole coast stood up for when he came into a room, was laughing on the phone with the boy from the kennels like an old uncle.

She pushed forward and leaned right down over Alex's phone.

"Mr. Wolfe," she said, loud and sweet. "Mr. Wolfe, it's Patricia Tiffany. You know my grandmother, the Baroness. I'm sorry, but everybody is wondering. Why would you give a house like this to him? For no reason?"

There was a short silence on the line.

"And who are you," said Mr. Wolfe, and his voice had gone as cold as the sea, "to ask me about my own affairs?"

Patricia's mouth opened. Nothing came out of it.

"Since you ask, I will tell you, so that nobody on this coast has to wonder again," said Mr. Wolfe. "I owe this young man a great favour. Greater than any house. And if I hear that anyone in your family doubts him, or says one word against him, that person will answer to me." A pause. "Is that clear, Miss Tiffany?"

"Yes," whispered Patricia. "Yes, sir."

"Good. Enjoy the house, my friend. Come and see me soon."

The line went dead.

For a long moment the only sound on the hilltop was the wind in the garden.

Patricia stood up very slowly. Her face was burning. Behind her, Pauline had gone pale, and for once she had nothing pleasant to say. Marissa had both hands pressed flat against her chest, as if her heart might fall out of it.

"He said friend," Marissa whispered. "Gideon. Did you hear? Mr. Wolfe said my friend."

Gideon did not answer. He was staring at the open door as if it might bite him.

Alex put the phone back in his pocket. Then he turned to Preston.

"Well?" he said. "When are you jumping?"

Preston's mouth worked. No sound came out.

"And the thousand dollars," said Alex, and held out his hand. "You bet it at breakfast. Everybody heard."

For a second Preston looked as if he would rather jump off the harbour wall than pay. Then he dug into his jacket with his good hand, pulled out his wallet, and counted ten hundred-dollar notes into Alex's palm. His fingers were shaking with rage.

"You think you've won something?" he hissed. "Is there still a Tiffany family in your eyes? You get a house like this, and you hide it from your own family? You don't even tell the Baroness?"

"Didn't you always say I'm not a Tiffany?" said Alex pleasantly. He folded the notes and put them away. "Every day since the wedding. Out by the kennels. I listened."

Preston had no answer for that.

"You'll never live in a house like this," said Alex. "Not your whole life. But don't worry about the jump. I'll let you off. The water really is very cold."

Somebody laughed.

It was Gideon. He laughed out loud, all on his own, and then he looked frightened of himself and put his hand over his mouth.

---

Serena stood beside Alex on the step, still holding his sleeve, as if she were afraid the house might vanish if she let go. She had not said a single word since the door opened. She did not trust her voice.

Behind them, on the gravel, Pauline had quietly lifted her phone. She was filming. The glass front. The garden. The great windows full of the sea. Alex, on the step, with the door open behind him.

She did not say a word about it. She did not need to.

Alex saw her. He let her.

"Well, don't just stand there!" Marissa pushed past her nephew so hard that he stumbled on the gravel. Her whole face had changed. The sour look was gone, and something bright and hungry had taken its place. "Take us inside! Take us inside right now! I want to see everything. Every room. Every single room!"

"Step Mother," said Serena faintly.

"Don't you step mother me. I am your mother. My son-in-law has a house on the top of the hill!"

Nina stepped aside without a word, and the Tiffanys poured in through the open door.

Inside, the house was full of light. The furniture still slept under its white sheets. The sea filled every window, so close and so blue that it felt like standing on the deck of a ship.

Marissa went from room to room, touching everything. She stroked the stair rail. She knocked on a marble table with her knuckle to hear if it was real. She opened a cupboard, looked inside, and closed it again with a little moan.

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