“You fired the staff?” Marcus asked. He looked toward the guest house where his mother lived. The door was wide open. From where he stood, he could see the interior. The comfortable furniture he had bought for her was gone. The television was gone. It looked like a bare, sterile prison cell.
“I’m moving her to the Shady Pines facility next week,” Chloe stated, suddenly crossing her arms, her tone shifting from defensive to violently arrogant. “It’s already paid for. You’re never here, Marcus! I am the lady of this house, and I refuse to live with a pathetic, lower-class relic who smells like a cheap diner!”
The absolute sheer audacity of her words struck Marcus like a physical blow. The woman he loved, the woman he had showered with diamonds and luxury cars, was a venomous snake. He took a step toward her, his jaw tightly clenched, ready to banish her from the property right then and there.
