Love on the Scale

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Lilian tapped her nails against the camera, and kept her eyes anywhere straight on me. I sat at the table in the conference room, while she sat at the other side, on the desk itself. Her nails click, click, clicked over and over, filling the silence with tension, and I waited, heartbeat not quite loud enough to drown out her nails, but close enough.

She took a breath, and released it nice and slow. "Do you know why I called you in today, Christelle?"

"No ma'am. I don't work here anymore, after all."

Her face remained expressionless, her fingers fiddled with her camera. "We've located the Hope Diamond tiara."

I sat up straighter. "That's great! Where was it?"

"In the Wardrobe, tucked far in the back, in a first aid pack. I'd like to know how it got there."

"Ma'am-"

"What kind of business do you think we run here, Miss Cyrus? Do you think we have time for games?"

My mood dropped off a cliff. She thought I had done it. She was convinced I'd done it. Despite the sun that shined through the room, bouncing off the crystal glasses that lined the table, it felt dark and gloomy, and I stood. "Is that why you called me here? To accuse me, AGAIN, of something I didn't do?"

She still showed no emotion. "Look, everyone else may be fooled with your demure, shy crap, but Maggie has worked here for decades. She wouldn't have done this. You arrive, and all these things begin to happen. So yes, I know it's you."

My anger came from the bottom of my soul. I'd worked hard since I'd been there. I had dealt with her attitude and she'd never once shown any appreciation for how smooth things went. For the first time in my life, I was pissed off to the point of ignoring the voice in my head telling me to stay quiet.

Lilian frowned as I walked up to her.

"Did you ever, for one second, take the time to realize the fact that these problems didn't start happening until you hired my SISTER, Macyn Cyrus? Well I don't know if you know this, but she's been out to get me ever since I moved out with my brother, your model, James Cyrus. She ADMITTED to me yesterday that she took the tiara and hid it, and told me not to tell or for sure I'd be fired. Well I've already been fired, so why shouldn't I return the favor?"

I reached down and grabbed her full water glass with my full hand, and placed it back on the table. "You hired the police, right? Well have them scan the tiara for prints, and compare them to mine. I can tell you now they won't be, they'll be Macyn's."

Lilian's frown had deepened while I spoke, and she opened her mouth, but I held up a hand. "I appreciate the heartfelt apology, Mrs. Lilian, but I'm leaving now. I can only hope you don't work poor Maggie into the ground."