Her father nodded.
“Well, these guys”—she pointed to the two men—“allowed that to happen because it was their niece, and then they told me to get over it.”
“Now, that’s not quite true, Blue,” Sebastian said, throwing around his smile that usually got him whatever he wanted, even if it didn’t reach his eyes.
“All right, how about you tell us what the truth is, then?” Blue said.
She felt Lynx move to her left side, and Finch got out of his chair and took her right. Her parents watched their children and then turned with narrowed eyes to look at their guests.
“Well, Layla really didn’t mean to cause trouble?—”
“She stole my sister’s designs. To me, that’s clearly theft,” Lynx said.
They might be annoyed with one another, but when the lines were drawn, McAllisters always had one another’s backs.
“Blue, Layla is willing to apologize, and I know you’ll do the right thing and accept,” Shannon said, speaking for the first time.
“The hell she will,” Finch said in a growly voice.
Shannon was a beautiful woman, but she paid a lot of money to ensure she stayed that way. Blue had heard people call Shannon high-maintenance a few times, but for all that, they’d never had trouble between them before the Layla business. In fact, Blue had always just done her job and caused no problems. Yes, she spoke up when she thought it was required, but she’d never crossed anyone in a position higher than hers had been. It seemed all that had changed now.
“I’m not willing to come back to work for a company that accepts what Layla did and in fact throws its employee, who had served them loyally for years, under the bus. That is not how I was raised.”
Shannon laughed, which just pissed Blue off.
“Don’t be silly. This isn’t your life anymore. You won’t survive here—not after a career we’ve helped you build in New York.”
“That sounded like a sneer to me,” Lynx said with narrowed eyes. “We don’t like people sneering at us or our hometown.”
Shannon waved a hand about, dismissing her brother’s words, which just made Blue angrier. She could dismiss him, but no one else could.
“Those designs you’ve already drawn belong to Cavanagh Sale, so you need to hand them over to us when you return to work,” Shannon added.
“No,” Blue said, folding her arms.
“Well.” Meadow got out of her seat. She then began collecting the still-full glasses from in front of her guests. “I think this conversation is done with. I don’t want you in my house anymore after what you’ve done to my Blue. Hamish, you see our guests out now.”
The shock on the three New Yorkers’ faces had Blue wanting to smile. They weren’t used to being treated with anything but respect.
“Blue, we want to discuss this rationally, alone,” Sebastian said, recovering first. He was not happy about the way he was being treated. Clearly he thought because he’d been born into money and raised in New York’s elite society, he was worthy of respect—turns out he was wrong there.
“She has made her stance clear,” Finch said. “You need to leave.”
“I saw what looked like some kind of cafe in your town, down at the end of the main street. We’ll go there to talk,” Sebastian continued, as if her brother had not spoken.
“Some kind?” Blue asked softly.
“Stop this, Blue. This is not you. You don’t want this life,” Shannon said, getting out of her chair. “We’ll give you a raise, and we can put this petty grievance you have aside. Now bring the drawings you’ve done and come back to New York at once.”
“I have the paperwork for the raise on your salary,” Christian said, speaking for the first time.
“Petty?” Lynx said in a hard voice.
Blue knew then she’d have to take them outside if she wanted to say what she needed to without interference.
“You all”—Blue looked around at her family— “stay in here, and I’m going to talk outside with them. Do not follow,” she added.
Happy to be leaving, the Cavanagh West folk followed her silently. They all walked out of the room and down the hallway with its mismatched colors on the walls and drawings that were now old and faded. This place was another world from the one in which she’d lived in New York and almost an alien planet to the three people behind her.
