Page 62 of Reign of the Queen
I know there are eyes on me and my mom here. I don’t bother denying it. My grandmother is the queen of information. I wouldn’t even put it past her to have a mole in my school. After all, it’s why I’m calling her. She will know if there is a way to bring a man like Vincent Saint-Lambert to his knees.
“Yes,” I hiss out.
“And you want to save this young man, despite what he has done to you in the past?” she questions.
“How do you...you know what, never mind, of course you know. Yes, if I can, I want to make sure Vincent Saint-Lambert never lays a hand on him or anyone else again.” I groan in frustration.
“Listen to me very carefully, Mia. Vincent Saint-Lambert is unlike the rest of those little backward wealthy tyrants down there. He isn’t like the little families you have requested I ruin so far. He has real power and real money. Not Stratford’s wealth, but close enough for him to be a threat. He’s a heavy hitter with lots of connections and lots of protection. Do you understand what I am telling you, Mia?” She asks.
“So, he’s untouchable?” I enquire, my hopes plummeting with her every word.
“No, Mia, no one is untouchable, not even us Stratford’s. We are just much harder to kill. Leave it with me, let me make some inquiries, and I will get back to you in a day or two. Mia, stay off his radar in the meantime. That man is pure evil walking the earth.” With that, she hangs up the phone, not even saying goodnight.
Holy shit, my grandmother is afraid. I’ve never seen her hesitate once to take on anyone. That woman had a South American dictator’s boat seized while he was onboard just because he was rude to her at a society party. Yet Baron Vincent Saint-Lambert causes her to be agitated and wary.Fuck, what am I going to do?
I walk back into my living room, my thoughts still a jumbled chaotic mess that’s both stressing me out and pissing me off. My concern for these kings is dangerous and starting to dig a constant hole in my mind. Fuck it, I need a distraction, sitting on my sofa and turning on Netflix, I look for a movie, finding a couple of adventure ones I select a random one and then nestle into the sofa to try to distract myself from my racing thoughts.
“What have you done? Oh my God, what have you monsters done?” I scream, looking at my reading shed up in flames. The fire is so hot that I can feel it singeing the hairs on my face and bare arms. The flames have enveloped the small shed, the corrugated metal roof buckling and caving in on itself.
I move to rush toward it, hoping there’s a chance I can save some of my prized Narnia books. Before I can reach it, a giant arm grabs my chest and pulls me back till I bang hard into the attached body. I turn to see Finn, his face a mask with no expression staring back at me.
“Let me go, you knucklehead!” I thrash in his hold.
“Stop, Amelia; it’s too late. It’s gone.” He replies in a whisper.
The other three are standing there staring at the shed as it burns, the look of pure joy and evil on their faces. They turn in my direction and laugh.
“Let her go, Finn, let her get burnt. Maybe she’ll look better with her face all melted!” Carter laughs.
“Might help her lose a couple of pounds, the heifer,” Mateo responds with an open-mouthed grin.
I tighten my fists and wail on Finn’s back and arms. “Let me go, you rotten rat.” Tears make their way down my face, watching my one place of solitude burn to ashes.
“Why? Why did you do this?” I question with rage.
Theo turns to me and smiles such a frightening, evil smile for an eleven-year-old, that it has the hairs on my little arms and neck rising. “Because we can, you fat cow, cause you and that whore mom of yours are nothing in this town, and now you won’t forget it.”
Finn releases me, and I collapse to my knees, watching them walk away. Finn looks back and meets my eye, a look of sorrow on his face. That is until he catches Carter glaring at him. Next thing I know, he’s kicking a rock in my direction that hits me square on my shoulder. “Try to stay out of the way, Amelia, before something worse happens.”
The four of them run off down the street together. I can hear the sounds of a fire engine coming closer. I look back at my beautiful shed; it’s almost all gone now.
“Amelia, oh my God, child, what happened? How did it catch on fire?” My mom runs up to me and pulls me farther away from the burning shed. “Are you hurt, baby?”
“It was the boys from Casbury prep momma, the three that got you fired, and Finn. They set the shed on fire.” I sniffle, snot and tears run down my face.
“Why would they do that, Amelia? Why would they come all the way out here from the other side of town and set your shed on fire?” My mom grasps both my arms and gives me a quick shake. A manic look crosses her features. “What did you do, Amelia?”
“Momma, I didn’t do anything, I swear it.” I try to release myself from my mom’s firm grasp. “They hate me; they hate us cause we’re poor, and I’m fat, momma.”
“Oh Amelia, they don’t hate us because we’re poor or because you're fat, which you aren’t, darling girl. They envy you cause you’re smarter than they are and you're loved, so very loved. Something that they’re lacking, my beautiful girl.” She rubs her hands down my long dark hair and stands up, dragging me further onto the pavement and away from the smoldering mess that used to be my shed.
The fire engine has pulled up, and firefighters rush to hook up their hoses. We watch together as they put out the fire on my little paradise. By the end nothing is left but ashes and smoke, my one place of complete solitude destroyed.
“Momma, it’s all gone...all of it.” I sob.
“I know, baby girl, I know. But I promise you, one day Amelia, one day those boys will regret the day they messed with you. You’ll grow up to be beautiful and powerful, and they’ll come begging. You hear me, my beautiful girl. One day you will have all the power, and don’t you forget what they’ve done to you.”
I nod, but I think my mom is nuts. How can I grow up to be powerful and beautiful? How will I ever make those rich assholes regret messing with me? I couldn’t even save my shed.
