Bombshell - Toxic Riverside Pt. 04

"It wasn't like that," he winced. "Really, I meant everything I said-"

"Well don't keep me in suspense, what is this grand opportunity?"

Donovan took a deep breath. "Come to Warden City with me and run all the civic and community outreach programs for Ashtoncorp."

Miranda fell back a step, her mouth dropping open. "You've got to be fucking shitting me."

"So, it's not that we found a use for you, so much as we need your help."

She could only stare at him for a long minute. "You want me to go back to the city where the love of my life died in my arms, to help the family who immediately turned their backs on me afterwards?"

"Basically."

She actually laughed. "You can go to hell, Donovan. You and the whole fucking family." She turned to leave.

"Ashtoncorp is ready to write a blank check," he said, following after her.

Miranda spun on him. "I don't need your fucking money, or did you forget I've already got a huge chunk of it?"

"Not for you," he said quickly, holding up his hands. "For the outreach, for the community."

Miranda couldn't help but hesitate. "What?"

"After everything that went down in Warden City the last couple years with Pierce and that supervillain Dominion," he began to explain. "The company image is completely shot. To try and rehab that, they're ready to build parks, and shelters and fill food pantries...whatever it takes. The kind of stuff you're already doing here with your own money, we want you to come do it with ours. You've got a huge chunk, sure, but I'm offering you a direct tap to the source."

Miranda mulled it over for a moment, then a sneer twisted her beautiful face. "I'm not stupid Donovan," she began through grit teeth. "You don't need me to dole out the company fortune, you need me because I don't have any of the family filth on me, because I'm an Ashton who's not an Ashton."

"I know you're not stupid," Donovan met her glare. "So I won't bullshit you: yes. That's exactly why Uncle Monty wants you with me in Warden City. Because if anyone looks into your background, they're going to find you here, working to make the community a better place for the last four years."

"And if they look past that?" Miranda crossed her arms. "Find out I'm really just a white trash stripper from Capital City?"

"Who stole the heart of one of the Ashtons' favored sons and married him before he was tragically murdered," his words were slow, as if he wished he could stop them. "Can't put a price on that kind of sympathy."

Miranda couldn't breathe for a moment.

"You're despicable."

She turned to leave, but Donovan grabbed her arm. Miranda wrenched away nearly hissing like an angry cat.

"And it's why I want you there too," he spoke quickly. "Because I know you can be trusted, and that you'll do it right. And if that meant getting a chance to mend bridges with my sister-in-law, all the better. Everything I said to you has been true."

"That's what's so disgusting, Donovan," Miranda stuck her finger in his face. "You're just like the rest of your family, even when you're telling the truth there's always some angle, some scheme running in the background. I should have listened to my gut after that night in the limo, I knew you were up to something, but for some reason I let myself believe that if you had even an ounce of sincerity in you, it might be in regards to your dead brother...to my husband. But even his memory is just another commodity for you to leverage for your own ends. So go to hell, Donovan Ashton, because I...will never...go back to Warden City."

His shoulders slumped, her words hitting harder than any fist ever could.

They shared a final look acknowledging that neither of them could speak another word in that moment.

Then Miranda turned and left the Royal Shore Hotel.

To Be Continued...