Bound by the Past, Locked by the Heart novel Chapter 19

At noon the next day, Willa arrived at the entrance of The Majestic Hotel.

She wore no makeup, her sharp, elegant eyebrows slightly raised, exuding a natural, icy pride that didn't require any embellishment.

The waiter guided her toward a private dining room. The moment she pushed the door open, her eyes locked onto the man sitting at the head of the table.

He was entirely unremarkable.

In his fifties, sporting a beer belly and a receding hairline. Aside from his money, he didn't hold a candle to Arthur Vance in any regard.

Seeing her walk in, the man stood up, a greasy smile spreading across his face. "Willa's here! Come sit, come sit. We finally meet."

Willa's gaze swept indifferently across the room, landing on her mother sitting next to him.

Naomi was wearing a brand-new tailored dress, her hair freshly curled. She looked years younger than she had five years ago, yet entirely like a stranger.

"Willa, sit down." Naomi eagerly pulled out the chair beside her, her tone laced with a forced intimacy. "I specially ordered all your favorite dishes."

Willa sat down and glanced at the spread.

They were indeed her favorites.

After five years apart, it was a miracle she even remembered.

She didn't touch her silverware, her eyes drifting toward the other two people on the far side of the table.

One was an impeccably dressed girl in her early twenties, covered in designer labels, looking down at her phone.

Beside her sat a heavily made-up middle-aged woman, staring at Willa with a highly peculiar expression.

"Who are they?" Willa asked.

Naomi's smile stiffened for a second before she offered a dry introduction. "Oh, that's Warren's daughter, Stella, and her mother... Warren's ex-wife..."

His ex-wife and daughter were here too?

An ominous feeling settled in the pit of Willa's stomach.

Stella glanced up, offering Willa a mocking, half-hearted smirk. "Hey, sis."

"How much?" Willa's tone turned ice-cold.

"A few hundred thousand dollars."

Willa suddenly laughed out loud, her voice dripping with pure ridicule. "Mom, I make a few thousand a month, and you're asking me for hundreds of thousands of dollars?"

Naomi was instantly rendered speechless, stammering without forming a coherent sentence.

Warren took over, sounding impatient. "Willa, your dad must have left you a huge nest egg, right? How else could you afford to live abroad? And then there's that old house, it has to be worth a small fortune. Just sell it and lend me the cash. I'll write you an IOU..."

"That is my father's house." Willa cut him off, her voice spiking in volume. "My dad is still sitting in a prison cell, and you people are already scheming to take his home?"

She turned to glare at Naomi. "Is that what you think too? You think I lived abroad using my dad's secret stash?"

Naomi averted her eyes, keeping her head down in guilty silence.

The burning ache in Willa's eyes threatened to spill over. "You know perfectly well how little you left my dad and me when you walked out. You people are all exactly the same. You're sickening."