Chapter 205

“Charlotte, what do you think?” Shirley peeked out of the fitting room, her arms wrapped around herself like she was afraid to breathe. She’d never worn anything this expensive before and moved like the fabric might shatter if she even blinked too hard.
Charlotte glanced up, nodded. “We’ll take this one.”
It looked amazing on Shirley. The other dress, though, wouldn’t work for Stella, her friend from the sanatorium days. Charlotte set her phone aside and wandered over to a row of designer clothes, her fingers drifting over the hangers. Her gaze wandered until it stopped at a black dress in the window, sparkling with pearls, cut in a way that made it impossible not to look at.
“Can you wrap that one up, too? And the one my friend’s wearing.” She pointed at the black dress.
Stella would lose her mind over it.
“Of course, just a moment.” The sales associate’s face lit up. Two dresses in one sale, she was practically giddy. She waved a coworker over for tea and started packing everything up, humming under her breath.
“Will you be paying with cash or card?”
Charlotte was about to say card, but then she remembered Robert’s voice, half- whining, begging her to spend his money. She almost laughed. She was just about to ask them to put it on the Gates family account when someone’s high-pitched voice cut through the store.
“Charlotte, what are you doing here?”
Charlotte turned and saw Olivia at the door, her arms linked with Steven and Elizabeth, all three of them smiling like they’d just walked into a family reunion.
“What a coincidence. Are you shopping for clothes too?” Olivia strode over, eyes flicking to the two dresses in the saleswoman’s hands. Her smile faded.
One dress cost thirty thousand. The black one was seventy. It was the same dress Olivia had been planning to buy for next week’s piano competition. Together, they were a hundred thousand. There was no way Charlotte could afford that.
“Charlotte Elizabeth said, letting go of Steven and walking over with a gentle smile, the kind that made Charlotte’s skin crawl. “It’s been so long. Surely you’re not still upset Come home with your dad, okay?”
Charlotte just stared at her, face cold as stone. Elizabeth’s smile barely wavered, but her tone shifted. “Those two dresses together are a hundred thousand. Where did you get the money for something like that, Charlotte?”
Olivia had fun home not long ago, saying she saw Charlotte getting into some old guy’s car. Now, here Charlotte was, dropping a smath fortune at a boutique. It didn’t take a genius to put two and two together.
Steven was already mad at Charlotte. Remembering Olivia’s story just made him angrier.
“Where did you get the money?” His voice was sharp, like he’d already decided she’d done something wrong.
“Just wrap them up,” Charlotte said, barely looking at them. Her voice was icy, her patience gone. To her, the three of them were background noise.
“Wait!” Olivia jumped in, grabbing the black dress. She tried to soften her expression, looking at Charlotte like they were friends. “Charlotte, I’ve wanted this dress for ages. Can you let me have it?”
Charlotte’s stare only got colder.
“I’ve been wishing you’d disappear for a long time. Why haven’t you?”
Olivia’s mouth snapped shut. Tears sprang to her eyes. She turned to Steven, voice trembling and sweet. “Dad, you said you’d buy me whatever I wanted for the competition. This is the one I want!”
Before she could finish, Charlotte yanked the dress out of her hands and tossed it back to the saleswoman. “I said, ring it up. Didn’t you hear?”
The sales associate, who’d been enjoying the show, snapped to attention at Charlotte’s words. “Right this way, miss.”