Contractually Yours

Contractually Yours Nadia Lee Table of Contents Dedication Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 20 Chapter 21 Chapter 22 Chapter 23 Chapter 24 Chapter 25 Chapter 26 Chapter 27 Chapter 28 Chapter 29 Chapter 30 Chapter 31 Chapter 32 Chapter 33 Chapter 34 Chapter 35 Chapter 36 Chapter 37 Chapter 38 Chapter 39 Chapter 40 Chapter 41 Chapter 42 Chapter 43 Chapter 44 Chapter 45 Chapter 46 Chapter 47 Other Titles by Nadia Lee About Nadia Lee Copyright Dedication To Mom. Thank you for teaching me how to be a strong woman. Chapter 1 Lucienne Nobody should feel like murder when they’re listening to “Il est né le divin enfant.” Especially when it’s coming from a TV above a fireplace full of merrily dancing orange flames in an opulent five-bedroom suite in the middle of Paris. And yet… “What do you think?” I stare at the string of akoya pearls around my half-sister Vonnie’s neck. Rage beats in my chest like an imprisoned falcon. The luster on the pearls is amazing, and the size is also good at eight millimeters each. Those are my pearls, the ones my mom gave me last week. She was sorry she missed my ballet recital because Vonnie cut her finger—probably on purpose—and Dad insisted Mom stay home to help deal with the injury. And of course Mom can never say no to Dad. “At least I sent Matthias,” she said as she presented me with the pearls. Like sending the butler made everything better. Matthias seems to live his life on Mom’s behalf. He dutifully filmed my part of the recital and gave me a bouquet of red carnations. Mom said my Sugar Plum Fairy from The Nutcracker was fabulous—of course, I actually danced Swan Lake. “Give it back,” I say to Vonnie. “That necklace is mine.” “So? Don’t be such a greedy bitch, Lucienne. Didn’t Daddy tell you to share?” Vonnie sneers, her dark eyes flashing with envy and entitlement, then taps her fraternal twin Karl on the back of the neck, which is covered with brown, shaggy hair. He doesn’t look up from his phone. “What Vonnie said.” She gives me a smug smile. Even when Karl thinks he has better things to do—like texting with his friends—he’ll always be on Team Vonnie. Every time Mom and Dad want to know why Vonnie and I are fighting, Karl always says something to paint me as the bad guy. Even when his lies are nonsensical and idiotic, they buy them. And it has emboldened Vonnie. There’s nothing of mine she doesn’t covet. If she could, she’d filch my clothes. But even though I’m only fourteen, I’m already taller than her. Nothing of mine would fit. “It’s stealing if you take what’s not yours without permission,” I point out. I’m tired of having to fight Vonnie and Karl for what’s mine. Although Karl doesn’t steal my jewelry, he’s taken four hundred bucks right out of my wallet. And when I brought it up with Dad, he looked at me like I was the villain. “It isn’t that much money,” he said with a heavy sigh and a frown of sheer disapproval and disappointment. It never fails to make me feel like an outsider in my own family. “I don’t know why you have to make a fuss.” Vonnie’s sneer grows uglier and more superior. “It’s not stealing! Daddy said it was fine!” “Daddy isn’t the one who gave it to me! My mom did!” I shoot back. “Give it back!” “Bitch.” Vonnie pulls the pearls to her mouth and licks them, making sure to cover them with her saliva. “Ew, that’s gross!” “You said you wanted them back, but you didn’t say I couldn’t lick them!” I’ve had enough! I march toward the upper level, where the bedrooms are. The double doors to my parents’ room are slightly ajar, and I lift my hands to push them open. But voices coming from inside stop me in my tracks. One belongs to Dad, but the other one isn’t Mom’s. It’s Gwen’s. What’s that skank doing in the master bedroom? My father’s secretary is the worst kind of human being in the world. Her duties apparently include getting naked with him. So disgusting—I caught them at it three years ago. The saddest thing is that nobody believed me. Mom said I shouldn’t confuse dreams with reality and talk about my nightmares like they were real, because I could hurt people. It never seemed to occur to her that I wasn’t making up anything or that, as an eleven-year-old, I was too young to have disgusting dreams about Dad and Gwen rolling around bare-assed in bed. “Why do you want to teach Lucienne how to share?” comes Gwen’s voice. “Just buy Karl and Vonnie what they want and be done with it. It isn’t like you’re poor.” “This isn’t about the kids fighting. It’s about what happens after Olivia’s gone. Wilhelm doesn’t consider Karl or Vonnie his own,” Dad says like it’s the most unfair thing in the world. But why would Grandpa? Karl and Vonnie are from Dad’s previous marriage. “When Lucienne was born,” Dad says, “the old man officially made her a Peery, so as to show everyone she was his heir, but not Karl or Vonnie. Only a Peery is worthy of the Peery Diamonds fortune in that man’s eyes.” Dad’s voice seethes with resentment. “Which means if Olivia isn’t around, I’ll have to get the money through Lucienne. If I don’t teach her to be nicer, how am I going to get her to cough up anything?” “But the laws of Nesovia are on your side. You’re her father.” “Yes, and thank God for that.” I bite my lip, not really following the conversation. Peery Diamonds is incorporated in Nesovia,