232: A Plague of Phantoms XVI

"Okay mother…no, Maria….let's talk about loss…" I said softly then turned and walked over to the couch and sat down. Maria glared at me for using her first name and I glared back at her, now beyond the point of caring about her and her feelings.

"I know I didn't raise you to be so insolent." Maria said sternly.

"You barely raised me at all, Maria. Grandpa Seamus and Grandma Lulu raised me. You and Thomas just fed me and turned a blind eye to all the abuse and beatings I was getting from any random asshole and Logan that wanted a punching bag to take their frustrations on." I retorted. Maria huffed and rolled her eyes.

"It was the least you could do Chase. After all you were the bane of the to…" Maria started but was interrupted by Grandpa Seamus.

He stepped in front of her, coming between me and her and slapped her so hard she spun as she fell backwards. Maria hit the floor just as hard and I was ashamed to admit that I initially started to jump to my feet in her defense but I quickly corrected myself and sat back down and watched. Maria looked up at her father with a look of extreme shock.

Grandpa Seamus rarely ever got angry, raised his voice, or even threatened violence. So seeing him actually resort to violence and hit Maria was very out of character. Grandpa Seamus face was a mask of rage and disbelief.

"Dad…you hit me…?" Maria gasped as she sat up.

"Yer lucky you only got one smack! What the fuck is wrong with ye!" Grandpa Seamus yelled as he stood over his daughter. His fist clenched and face flushed with anger, it was a side of Grandpa that I was glad I rarely ever saw.

"You hit me!" Maria exclaimed, indignation and anger now creeping into her voice now.

"That little smack was nothing lass, I held back cause I wanted ta keep ya conscious!" Grandpa growled and pointed a finger angrily at her. "Yer blaming him for everything that went wrong in your life! Yer saying that all the shite that's happened to him is his fault just for existing! What sort of twisted shite are you spewing?!"

"THE TRUTH!" Maria bellowed and smacked Grandpa's hand away from her. "If he'd been born a normal human I wouldn't have been branded as damaged goods! The town wouldn't have had a reason to beat him all the time! Hell I probably wouldn't have spent years of my life pretending that I actually cared for the cursed bastard!"

Grandpa Seamus looked like he was about to explode. His normally pale face was flushed red with anger and his fists were clenched so tight that they were actually bleeding, his nails must have cut into the palms of his hands. Just when I thought he was going to snap and hot her again Grandpa let out a long and deep breath and unclenched his fists. He turned to me with a apologetic look on his face.

"I'm so sorry Starlight. Seems I ruined yer birthday party." He said in a soft voice. He turned and walked over to the me I n the couch and knelt down on one knee se we were eye level and frowned. "I brought her with me because she said she wanted to make amends. That Thomas and her separating made her realize something important. If I'd know that what she meant was that she believed that ya owed her for supposedly ruining her life…I'd have told her to fuck off."

I stood quickly and helped my Grandpa to his feet, spry as he might be for his age the last thing he needed was to be on the floor. In response to his statement I shook my head and sighed.

"You don't owe me any apologies Grandpa. She's your daughter and you want to see the best in her. It's why you're a good dad and Granddad." I replied then looked to Maria who looked annoyed at being ignored by the two of us. "So you believe I owe you for the shitty turn your life took? How much do you think that's worth?"

"How much…?" Maria asked, looking confused at my question but confusion gave way to anger. "…more than you can afford Chase. I was making more than three hundred thousand dollars a year at Justice Technologies. Your father divorcing me cost me that liveli…"

"Three hundred thousand, got it!" I interrupted her. I sat back down on the couch and tapped my finger on my chin. "Let see you also mentioned loss of reputation, let's value that at a fraction of your yearly income…so one hundred thousand. Divorce to Thomas…I'm guessing he used that splicer sire law to force a divorce…let's add another hundred to that putting us at half a million. Pain and suffering…let's say fifty thousand…throw in another two hundred thousand for coming all the way to Egypt. For a total of seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars."

"Seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars? " Maria griped and looked at me, still confused.

"That's how much I owe you for ruining your life." I said plainly. Maria and Grandpa Seamus both looked at me like I was insane however Maria soon threw her head back and started laughing.

"Yes! Seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars! Maybe if you multiply that by eighteen! For the eighteen years I suffered!" Maria exclaimed. I scratched my chin and started doing math in my head, I wasn't the best at it so I need to work the problems out loud.

"Okay…let's see seven hundred and fifty thousand times eighteen…carry the one…wait…add that there…okay…that would be Thirteen million and five hundred thousand dollars…oof that's a lot." I said after I came to the total. Maria threw her head back and laughed almost manically for several moments before looking back at me and shaking her head.

"I guess Thirteen million is sufficient…however you are a college student and a freshman at that. There is no way you can afford to pay me that much money." Maria said. She turned around and took a good look at the Kestrel's apartment. "Though I supposed of you're serious about paying me back you can let me stay here. This apartment is nothing compared to what my house back in New York was but it's livable…"

While Maria spoke and had her back turned to me while she looked at the apartment. I held channeled mana into my void pocket enchanted ring and held a finger up to my lips at my grandpa to tell him to stay silent. I then reached into the pocket and pulled out a suitcase, placing it on the ground I opened it and showed that it was full of money.

With all the business the shop has been doing I had racked up a very large nest egg of cash. Even after paying everyone's salaries, the cost for up keep at the shop, Moldworks, the apartment building, and the little building in the silver city, I come away with a huge profit. Inside the suitcase was over five hundred million in cash, and that wasn't even two percent of my total worth.

I quickly counted out fourteen million dollars, deciding to just round up so I would have to do less math, and then closed the suitcase and put it back inside my void pocket. I then took the fourteen million and placed it on the coffee table in front of the couch and stood in front of it. I did a this before Maria had the chance to turn around and while she was still blabbing.

"…though I have to admit I find it rather strange that the dean of your college would go out of his way to show me around and even bring me to your party, really strange considering you're a freshman. That must mean he thinks you have talent and a future…" Maria continued to blab on and then turned to look at me again.

Because I was focusing on what I was doing I kind of wasn't paying attention to anything she was saying and only tuned back in on that last part. When she turned and saw me standing in front of the coffee table she looked suspicious but kept blathering on.

"…That talent and future now belongs to me. Since you can't pay me what you owe me you'll have to take care of me from now on." Maria finished up. I waited at moment and then smiled deviously.

"Maria…I never said I couldn't pay you…" I said plastering on a cheap smile and then stepping to the side to reveal the money on the coffee table.

Maria's eyes widened to the size of saucers and her breath caught in her throat. I saw the look that I had been searching for on full display: greed. Pure and unadulterated greed. Greed had been the only reason she didn't kill me when I was younger, or made me start working at Spirit industries when I was ten.

When I was younger I pretended not to see the sideways glances or looks of disgust she and Thomas gave me when they thought I wasn't looking. I was naïve and thought that as long as they were not insulting me verbally and taking care of me that meant they loved me. However the only thing they loved was how much money I brought them. They thought I didn't know that they got paid a little extra when I helped them complete complicated orders or when they sent me to deal with complicated evos. I learned the truth years ago, they didn't see me as a son but as something they could exploit for money.

Maria rushed over to the piles of money and quickly grabbed a stack and held it up to inspect it. I watched with disgust as she realized that it was all real, joy, euphoria, elation all flashed across her face.

I glanced over at Grandpa Seamus and saw that his face was back to burning red with rage. He stomped over to Maria and grabbed her by the shoulder and spun her around. She looked at her father with shock and froze as his eyes blazed holes into hers.

"Maria Sankokuuljo MacClery…You are a utter disappointment." Grandpa Seamus said with a shake of his head. "Your mother had such high hopes fer ya. She was so happy when she hear you were pregnant…I could remember her saying all the time that you'd be a good mother…I'm glad she died before she could see you like this."

"Mom died because of Chase…" Maria said coldly and glared at her father. "…he was strong enough to stop a ascended evo but only after she was mortally wounded…no, he sacrificed her, used her as a shield or something! Like a cowardly splicer he sent a old lady to fight to protect his worthless skin."

Of all the words that's been said tonight, those ones actually hurt. I have lived with the guilt of her death for two years, if I knew then what I knew now I could have saved her. I could have protected her. I bit back a hasty and angry rebuttal and walked over to Grandpa Seamus and placed a hand on his shoulder and shook my head.

"Say what you want Maria but don't forget that while I was off fighting the thrads and actually trying to save Grandma and others as well, you ran off with the other scientists and lab workers and schemed with the military..." I said calmly, despite who I felt inside.

I reached out and snatched the wad of cash that she had in her hand and channeled incinerate attribute mana into my hand. Blue flames erupted from my closed fist and burnt up the bills in a matter of seconds. Maria gasped, well it more like a shriek, as she saw the money burn up. I then snapped my finger and sent a small blue ember flying towards the money on the coffee table. The instant it touched the money the whole stack went up in flames. Maria screamed bloody murder as fourteen million dollars went up in smoke.