Five Hundred Thousand Dollars?

Aria Ashford

“Five hundred thousand dollars.”

My grip loosened around the doorknob.

I stood behind my stepmother’s bedroom door, forcing myself to breathe while her voice dropped lower through the phone: “Tell them I found the perfect girl.”

Girl? What girl? And why did Victoria’s voice sound so calm?

---

Several hours earlier...

“Aria... we are on a date, and you are reading a book?”

Marcus looked up from where he was stretched across my lap and laughed.

Small smile slipped onto my lips. Even so, I did not lift my eyes from the page. “I am enjoying myself.”

Marcus sighed with exaggerated despair, then in one second snatched the book from my hands.

I pulled the book back a little too sharply while trying to take it from him.

“Marcus, give the book back.”

“No.”

“Marcus.”

He moved closer before whispering near my ear: “I hate anything that steals your attention away from me.”

I tried not to smile. I sighed in surrender and shook my head in agreement.

He smiled, then leaned down to place a satisfied kiss on my forehead while his thumb brushed over the small Russian tattoo drawn on my thigh.

“Okay...” he murmured, grinning slightly. “What do you think about going to your favorite restaurant and ordering the chicken meal you love?”

I looked up from the page. “With extra hot sauce?”

He laughed lightly and nodded. And that alone was enough to make me jump into his lap.

“Ooof-”

He leaned backward laughing before wrapping his arm around my waist so I would not fall.

I hated how much I loved his laugh. I buried my face in his neck. His arm around my waist pulled me closer to him more than it should.

“Marcus...”

“I do not like when you get distracted away from me... I love you!”

“I love you too.” He said it so casually I almost missed it. I smiled before I could stop myself and hid my face in his neck.

It happened every time. Marcus was not an ordinary boy from the beginning.

Even our first meeting was not normal. He was that type of boy girls talk about in whispers - the bad boy, careless, reckless, too confident for his own good. Smiling like nothing could touch him.

I only hated him. He was not my favorite type either in appearance or behavior.

Whatever this was between us, it wasn’t fading... especially after his entire family stood against our relationship, as if I were a disaster that would destroy his future.

If anything, it only pulled me closer.

A gasp escaped me when Marcus carried me onto his back without warning.

“Marcus! Put me down!”

But of course he ignored me and continued walking like this happened every day, while I was on his back laughing so hard I could barely breathe under the gazes of people around us.

“You are truly crazy!”

“Crazy about you? Of course.”

---

In the evening... I returned home while the smile was still hanging on my lips. Opened the door and walked, but stopped at the entrance. Darkness... the entire house was dark...

I frowned. “Victoria? Are you here?”

No response. I shrugged carelessly and closed the door behind me, but the lights turned on.

“Where were you?”

I flinched and turned quickly to find my stepmother sitting on the couch, her arms crossed. She sat there watching me without raising her voice.

“Oh my God, Victoria, you scared me!” I exhaled shakily, pressing a hand to my chest.

“I was with Marcus.”

Her face changed the moment she heard his name. “That idiot again?”

I lifted my head with obvious annoyance. “He is my boyfriend.”

She stood from her place with that same cold expression, then shrugged indifferently. “Still an idiot.”

I rolled my eyes and threw myself onto the couch. “I’m starving... Please tell me there’s food.”

She stared at me. “Wait, that bastard doesn't even take you out to eat?”

I looked at her evenly. “I do not understand your problem with Marcus, but do not worry... he treats me well.”

She stuck out her tongue with childish disgust: “I do not understand... how did you love him...?”

Victoria stared at me for a second too long before standing.

I brushed off her comment and rubbed my tired feet while she went into the kitchen.

The smell of food slowly filled the apartment.

Victoria came back a while later, just as the sky outside turned dark.

“Dinner is ready,” she said without looking up.

For almost a week now, Victoria’s behavior had become strangely unsettling. 

I walked into the kitchen. The table was arranged neatly, and the dishes were organized and victoria stood near the stove with a wide smile.

“I prepared your favorite meal..!”

We stayed quiet for a moment.

I sat down, my eyes staying on her.

“You are distracted.” She lowered her voice and placing the plate in front of me. “Is everything okay?”

“Yes... Everything is fine.” I kept my eyes on the table, turning the spoon between my fingers.

Victoria had never been a cruel woman, but she had never been this kind either. She kept watching me during dinner.

I forced myself to eat a few small bites while she watched me closely before asking with the same smile, “Did you like the food?”

“It tastes good.”

“I was thinking,” she said casually, “maybe we could spend some time together tomorrow.”

I frowned. “Together?”

“Shopping. Lunch. Something normal.”

Normal.

Strange. She had never said something like that before.

“Yeah,” I said. “Sure.”

Later that night, I went straight to my room. I closed the door behind me before throwing myself onto the bed, hugging my old bunny.

“Isn't this weird?”

I tilted the bunny toward me like it was agreeing.

I frowned again. “I feel like something is going on and I’m the only one who doesn’t know what it is.”

Before closing the door I noticed a light slipping from Victoria’s room. She was still awake. I tried ignoring it and going back to sleep.

I should’ve gone back to bed. Instead, I walked toward her room, stopped outside her half-open door. Through the small opening, I heard her quiet voice through the phone.

“Five hundred thousand dollars? That is a huge amount... I wonder what disability that man has for them to pay all this?”

I stayed where I was. Five hundred thousand dollars? The man...?

Another woman’s voice came from the phone, clear enough for me to hear. “Well, apparently the man is severely disabled... Even though he is a billionaire, his family wants this settled quickly.”

I frowned.

Disabled? Settled?

“What kind of family pays that much for a marriage?” Victoria asked.

Marriage? My fingers tightened around the edge of the doorframe.

Victoria spoke again. “You know what? After hearing that number...” A pause. “Tell them I found the perfect girl.”

Who was the perfect girl?