Ye Olde Fort

Becca's POV

"Ok let's cut the crap, name your price so I can cut you a big fat check and you can get the fuck out of our lives" she says as she stares me down.

"Very funny Charlotte" I say with a strained laugh as I try to downplay her words hoping that she's joking and I might not die tonight cause the way she keeps glancing over at the very sharp knife on the counter has me worried.

"Well you could never actually match my price" I say as I play along to prevent her from killing me.

"Name it. I'll match it and even surpass it if you leave tonight" she says as she pulls out what appears to be a cheque book.

"If you can match 3 million dollars then I'll leave" I say as I laugh at her for actually thinking she has enough money to match the amount I just called. I'm soon forced to swallow my laughter when she actually starts writing a cheque for 3 million.

"And just to make it better, I've added 2 million for your troubles" she says as she tears the page out and hands it over to me. I take it and look down at it and right there under amount in perfect calligraphy is 'Five Million Dollars Only'.

"You can't actually be able to afford this" I say with an awkward cough as I still look at the amount which is my legitimate salary for a month but a 12 year old just gave me a cheque for.

I look at charlotte who has just pulled out her phone and appears to be calling someone. 5 seconds later someone answers.

"Empire national Bank. This is griffin Clark the CEO speaking, how may I help you Ms Romano" the voice on the other end says over the speaker.

"Yes Clark can you please tell me how much is in my account at this moment" Charlotte says in very polished English that if I wasn't looking at her right now, I wouldn't believe that I was speaking to a child.

"As of close of the stock market today if I add your profits, you currently have approximately 467 million dollars" Clark says which causes my jaw to drop.

"Thank you Clark. Say hi to your grandkids for me" charlotte says before hanging up. It takes me a minute but after I finally wrap my head around the fact that my stepdaughter is a millionaire I say "I don't believe it. You're rich enough to be on Forbes list" I say in awe of her.

"What can I say, bitcoin is a girl's best friend. And besides daddy is way richer, all I did was scam daddy out of a bit of legit money, and after buying and selling some stock options I made my first million at 10 and ever since then there's been no turning back" she says with a smug smile that weirdly matches her father's smile.

"Well that's great and all but I can't accept your cheque" I say as I hand it back to her.

"That's a very dumb thing to do. I just gave you a lot of money and you rejected it like it was nothing" she says as she starts to get angry at me

"Look I'm sorry but the reason I'm marrying your father is greater than 5 million dollars. This arranged marriage might save my family" I say solemnly as I try to make charlotte understand that me marrying her father transcends just money. It reaches down to all the people that rely on my family for their livelihood.

"I get that but have you ever thought that I might also have my own reasons for not supporting this marriage" she says solemnly and curious as to her reasons I ask why as we take a seat on the sofa.

"If you must know. I've never really been able to make any friends. My dad has always been my best friend, and although he might not look like much the old man is the only thing I have in this world. I can't lose him to you" she says as tears start to form on her face.

"Hey don't cry. Your dad has a really special bond with you and I know that, I'd never dream of trying to take away his attention from you. I know how important the bond between a father and a daughter is" I say as I try to console her.

"And how do you know that you can do that. Can you actually assure me that you're not going to be stealing him from me. How do you expect to understand the bond between a single parent and their child" she says as she starts to panic and her breathes become wheezier

"I understand because I didn't grow up with two parents. I grew up with none because they died when I was a teenager. Although if you count my grandmother as a parent then you can say that we both grew up with single parents" I say with a little smile at the end even though my throat feels raw just from talking about my parents.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't know" charlotte says as she feels sympathy towards what I went through as a child and I have to admit talking about them actually was somewhat easy when I told her and that felt nice.

"Well it's all in the past now. Although, you can't expect me to actually believe that the reason you don't want me dating your dad is because you think I'm a threat to your relationship with him?" I ask as I try to change the subject.

"Well you're going to be disappointed because that's the only reason" she says as she draws lines in the white carpet with her foot.

"Come on, I just told you the biggest secret of my life that even your dad doesn't know. Let's just consider it a secret between girls" I say as I try to form a meaningful connection and at the same time earn her trust.

"You seriously haven't told my dad?" she says as she becomes excited at the prospect of having a secret between friends.

"No I haven't told Nathan. Cause it's a secret between me and my friend charlotte who will be the one to decide when we can tell him" I say to her with a smile and the smile she gives me lets me know that she feels the same way.

"I know this may seem like I'm betraying your trust but I don't want you marrying my dad because I want him and my mom to get back together so that we can be one big happy family again" she says as she avoids eye contact with me while expecting me to be angry.

"Well if that's what you really want I hope you understand that I can't let you win without a fight so how about we make a deal. I won't interfere with your plans if you don't interfere with mine. And you have my word that no matter how this situation plays out I won't tell Nathan your secret" I say to her with a smile.

"It's a deal. May the best woman" she says with a smug confident smile that shows that she believes that she's already won.

"It's a deal" I say as we shake hands and I laugh about how much she behaves like her father.

"I have to admit, you're not as bad as I expected you to be" she says which causes us to laugh again as the elevator doors open and Nathan cautiously steps in.

"Given the fact that the house isn't burnt down I'd say you guys had a pretty good time" he says as he comes closer to us on the sofa with a pizza in his hands.

We both say "the best" in unison before giggling like a couple of schoolgirls and settling down to eat. As we clean up I look at the time and it's already 2am so I ask Nathan to give me a ride home.

"Why not stay the night, I can drop you off early tomorrow morning" he says and as tempted as I am by the offer I decide to play a card that might get me out of this situation.

"If charlotte agrees, I'll stay" I say hoping that she says no but she surprises me when she says

"I'm alright with it. But we're all sleeping in the parlor where I can keep my eye on the both of you" she says as she stares us both down. Nathan looks at me expectantly and hoping not to let charlotte down I nod signifying that I'm staying.

"Yay, I'll get the blankets so you and I can sleep in the fort and daddy can sleep outside in the cold" charlotte says as she runs happily to get blankets.

'Yay lets build blanket forts' I think monotonously to myself as she returns with the blankets.