You don't care for your old nighbours. But this slut made your father cheat. Get back at her.

“A shame,” you answer and focus on your meal.

“That’s not the answer I expected,” Veronica replies irritated, “this answer makes no sense at all.”

You sigh and roll your eyes. You can feel ignoring her will not work but it annoys her so you stick to it for a few moments more. Your uncle and father seem to worry about your decision, since it will lead to even more tense and arguing.

“Hey I talk to you, young lady,” Veronica complains and nudges you, “didn’t they thought you some manners for high society in your slum? How do they expect these lowlifes to improve themselves without such important lessons.”

“It is a shame that with you another arrogant brat got luxury for her looks only,” you reply calm but strict, “but I guess I couldn’t expect much more than the IQ of a guppy from the gold-digging whore that slept with my married father.”

“How dare you …,” Veronica begins but is silenced by your father.

“Enough!” he says strict, “Ashley we don’t curse while dinner. I know where you grew up these manners are not as important as they are here, but I must ask you to honor these rules in my house. As for you, Veronica, would you please stop insult my former wife’s way to live. When my daughter don’t want to talk to you, it’s her decision. What did you expected from her by the way? That she is happy to meet the woman that is partly responsible her parents divorced? Both of you, focus on your meal and stop talking to each other.”

Neither of you is pleased with this, but you accept that he is the man wo makes decisions in this house. Quite you focus on your meal.

“Well, my dear,” your granduncle interrupts before the argument increases, “I heard you are one of the best students in your class. How was your old school?”

“It was difficult to be honest,” you answer, “the teachers were poorly paid. So, half of them was not interested to do anything more than necessary. Others tried to help and improve us. I was one of the students it worked. But a lot were not so lucky. We had junkies, gang members and perverts. But as long as we kept on distance and don’t allowed ourselves to become a victim, everything was fine.”

“Yes, that’s the spirt,” your granduncle says proud, “when you show these cowards you can bite they quickly crawl back to their mothers.”

“I see,” you say amused and give William a devilish look, “I wonder if this works on all cowards.”

“I indeed recognized my son being surprising quiet,” your father says and takes a sip of his wine, “did something happened between you two?”

“That’s a good question, dad,” you say, “well, brother, did something happened between us?”

“No, nothing,” William mumbles and don’t dares to look in your eyes, “I just wanted to meet my lost sister. Nothing else happened.”

“I see,” your father mumbles and grins amused, “well, my dear, we have a lot to catch up. I want to know more about my child.”