Evil Thing (Villains 7)

“It is the highest compliment. And I’d like it very much if you came to see me again, Jack,” I said, making him smile again.

“I know it’s early days, Cruella, but I know you feel the connection between us. You don’t seem to be a lady who suffers fools. Tell me I haven’t been foolish this evening.”

I looked at him, realizing I could fall in love with him—if I hadn’t already. “No, Jack, the very last thing I would call you is a fool.” And with that, he kissed me lightly on the cheek and wished me a good night.

All of this probably sounds foolish … unless you have fallen in love. If you have been lucky enough to have love hit you like a lightning bolt then you don’t need any convincing. It was as if my dear, sweet departed papa had tapped my mama on the shoulder and whispered in her ear to bring this man home to me. He was absolutely everything I wanted. The exception to my rule.

After Jack left, I replayed the evening over and over in my head, wondering why Mama and I spoke so candidly with him. Perhaps Jack’s cavalier American style was rubbing off on us already. I didn’t know. But what I did know was there was something between Jack and me. Something I had never expected to happen. For the first time, I was actually contemplating marriage.

But Anita had other notions.

After Jack left and my mother went sulking to her room, Anita and I stayed up chatting in my bedroom before we went to sleep. Anita had Paulie bring Perdita up to my room, and the three of us sat on my bed together. But no matter how cute and cuddly Perdita was, she couldn’t wipe the scowl from Anita’s face. I thought she was sour about having to go back to school the next day. Or perhaps she was regretting her decision to go to typing school rather than travel the world with me. I wondered if she thought I would wait around forever for her to change her mind. It was quite possible she’d seen her chance fly out the window when she saw how much I fancied Jack. But if anyone should’ve been feeling sour, it was me. Anita had acted horribly at dinner, and quite possibly ruined my chances at fixing things with my mama.

“Anita, what’s wrong with you? Why were you acting that way at dinner, needling my mama like that?”

“You see what she’s doing, don’t you?” she asked, making a pretense of playing with Perdita, though her gaze was fixed on me.

“What exactly do you think she’s doing, Anita?” I was losing patience with her. Honestly, I was starting to feel glad she was leaving the next day.

“She’s trying to marry you off. Even you can see that, Cruella,” she said, clearly trying to tick me off. I wasn’t going to take the bait.

“It’s no secret she wants to see me married. This isn’t news, Anita. She’s been parading me around all year. Besides, all mothers want to see their daughters married.”

“But does she have to be so mercenary?” she said, rolling her eyes.

“Mothers have been hunting men with fortunes for their daughters since the beginning of time, Anita. You’re a fool if you think my mother is any different. It’s her job.”

“Cruella, she’s clearly trying to get her hands on your fortune. Look how she made such a point of saying your name would be Shortbottom.” This time she had crossed the line. I was truly angry with her.

“You’d better take that back, Anita! That isn’t true. You have the wrong end of the stick!”

“I don’t think I do. I thought even you would see through your mother’s sudden interest in spending time at home, Cruella. And that comment about making Perdita into a muffler was horrifying.”

“Clearly you don’t have a high opinion of my mama if you think she was serious. And what do you mean that even I can see what she’s up to?”

“Oh, Cruella, I’ve been waiting for you to see her clearly for years. And I thought you did after the scene she made at Christmas. I’ve put up with your snobbish attitude for a long time because I love you, and because I knew in my heart that wasn’t who you really are. And you proved it at Christmas, when you started treating your staff like a family, and stopped, well, acting like your mother. I thought I had my old Cruella back. And now she’s home for one evening, and you’re back to acting like her. Defending her. It’s sad, Cruella.”

“You’re just upset that I’ve met someone! You’re jealous!” I said, getting up from the bed. And I was sure I was right. Anita had been acting strange ever since I’d asked her to travel the world with me, but once she met Jack, she’d started acting like an insolent little brat.

“Jealous of a man you just met?” She laughed. “Cruella, please think about this clearly just for one moment. This isn’t about Jack. It’s about you and your mother.”

“I do think it’s about Jack. He’s a remarkable man, Anita. Did you ever stop to think that I might actually really like him? Or that my choosing a life with him, on my own terms, pushes my mother even further away from me? I never thought I would meet a man like him, Anita. Never! He’s everything I’ve ever wanted or wished for. He’s exactly the sort of man Papa would have wanted for me. And if you can’t see that, well, then you don’t know me as well as I thought you did. I think this is about you regretting your decision, choosing a mundane life over the life you could have had with me. That’s what I think this is about, Anita.”

“Oh, Cruella. He’s funny and charming, yes, and a bit like your father. They have the same smile. But you hardly know him. Don’t let your mother manipulate you like this. Forcing you into marriage and out of your inheritance.”

“You heard him. He doesn’t mind taking my name,” I said. Looking back, I don’t even know why I was trying to defend mys

elf or my mother to an in-between like Anita. Why it was so important to me that she believed me. I suppose I still loved her.

“Why were you even talking about marriage? You just met him, Cruella. You have so many plans for yourself. You wanted to travel the world. You said you would never marry, and now in one evening everything has changed. It doesn’t make sense. It’s like your mother has some sort of hold on you, Cruella. You’ve been acting so strangely lately. Like wearing the furs she gave you somehow makes you act like her.”

I laughed. “That’s nonsense, Anita. By your logic, then, wearing the earrings my father gave me would make me act like him? None of this makes sense. My mother isn’t trying to control me. And she isn’t trying to take my fortune. It’s insulting.”

“Cruella, you saw how your mother reacted when she found out he was willing to keep the De Vil name! I don’t think she counted on Lord Shortbottom relinquishing his name so easily. He’s thwarted her plans, Cruella. And now she’s threatening you with leaving again if you keep Perdita. She’s trying to erase your father. His gifts to you, and his name!”

“I won’t give up my father’s name, Anita. I promised I wouldn’t.”

“Because you love your father, or because you love his money?” Anita was getting angrier by the moment. I couldn’t understand how she could have gotten it all so wrong. Neither of us were paying attention to Perdita, so the little beast acted out in the only way she knew how to get our attention. She peed on my fur coat! Can you believe it?