Guilty x Creatures Ch. 73

Watching Anton as he left, Olivia shifted her gaze to the now readied coffee before eyeing her daughters expectantly. When all Fiona and Kianna did was stare back at her in defiance, the elder dark elf rose from her seat with a huff and made herself a mug.

"Absolutely useless..." muttered Olivia as she sat back down and began to idly look at her phone.

A few minutes later, Anton returned with a stack of papers in his hand.

"Alrighty then... So of course I don't expect you to sign this immediately..." he said as he sat back down and separated the papers into two stacks before passing one set across the table to Olivia "Here, this is your copy to take with you when you leave. Look it over, see what you think. And we can meet back up at some point in the next few days or so to get it signed..."

"Signed? Hold on, what is this?" asked Olivia as she grabbed up the papers.

"Just a little something I had my lawyer write up for me. In a nutshell it's a contract that'll transfer the ownership of this property from you to me." explained Anton "It's fairly standard in form, but was purposely made out to be as simple and painless as possible. I can promise you that there's nothing insidious hidden inside it. Though I'll fully understand if you want to have your own people look it over for you."

"Are you insane!?" balked Olivia as she immediately tore the contract in half "As if I'd just sell you my property out of the blue like that!"

"Hm, yeah, I figured you'd react that way." said Anton as he gazed at the torn up contact and tapped on the stack of papers sitting next to him on the table "Which is exactly why I brought a few spares..."

"Bring as many spares as you want, it won't make any difference!" declared Olivia as she pointed her ears straight back "I'm not selling you anything, Anton!"

"Oh, but I think you will..." said Anton as he met the dark elf's eyes "In fact, I can guarantee that you will..."

"Oh really?" mocked Olivia as she leaned back in her chair and took a sip from her mug "And how exactly are you going to manage that?"

"By not giving you a choice." said Anton "Let's not forget, Olivia, I've got more than enough justification to enslave you. I could just take everything from you in one go, but instead I'm trying to be nice here. And I'd appreciate it if you would acknowledge that..."

"Enslave me!" laughed Olivia "Are you serious!? Did you already forget our conversation from last night? I'm a dark elf, Anton. Three pigs literally spent months trying to enslave me and they couldn't do it no matter what they tried! So what in the world would make you think that you'll be able to succeed where they failed?"

"The fact that I've already succeeded, twice." said Anton in a dry tone.

"Pfft, please..." said Olivia dismissively "I'll admit that those decorative little collars that you're making those two idiots wear may be lovely to look at, but they're not fooling anyone, Anton. You can't really expect me to believe that you actually enslaved those two."

"I could always prove it to you." replied Anton in the same nonchalant tone "You really don't want me to do that though. As I don't think you'll be very happy with where you're going to land on the hierarchy around here..."

Olivia went silent as she narrowed her eyes at him.

"...Look, let me make things clear. There are only two things that I want from you. And one of them is this house. Now I'm not trying to cheat you out of the house in any way though. Nor am I asking for anything for free here. I'm willing to pay you a fair market price for the house." said Anton as he crossed his arms over his chest "And considering I do have other, cheaper, options... I think this is a pretty generous move on my part."

"Generous indeed..." mumbled Olivia "And why exactly do you even want this house so badly?"

"Because it's important to the girls. And I want them to have it." said Anton.

"Again with the girls..." said Olivia as she rolled her eyes "Those two have you completely wrapped around their fingers, don't they?"

"Well, one could certainly make that argument." chuckled Anton.

"Yes, they could. Easily" said Olivia as she too crossed her arms over her chest "And what was your second demand?"

Anton was still for a moment before he sighed softly and looked down at the table.

"...I want you to tell the girls everything." he said as he looked back up at the dark elf "Everything that you told me last night."

"No." said Olivia.

"This isn't a request." said Anton.

"Good. Because it isn't going to happen." said Olivia.

"The girls need to know the truth. And you're going to tell them." said Anton as he narrowed his eyes "Or I'm going to complete my collection of Vale women, and make you tell them."

Pointing her ears straight back, Olivia glared menacingly as she tightened her jaw.

"If you want them to know so badly, then just tell them yourself." she said in a tone of irritation.

"...I considered that." said Anton as he looked off to the side and shook his head "But no. It wouldn't be right. It's not my place. It's not my story, or my history. It's yours, and theirs... They deserve to know the truth. What happened, where they came from, and why you made the decisions that you did... They deserve to know everything..."

"...Why?" hissed Olivia as her eyes shifted to a glowing red "What good is it even going to do them to know what happened? How are they not better off without knowing!?"

Anton was still for a moment before without a word, he looked up at Fiona and Kianna and gazed at them in silence.

The two dark elves blinked in uncertainty as they stared back at him and watched as a tiny, sad looking smile formed on his face.

"...It's not going to be good, or easy for them to hear." he said softly as he dropped his eyes back to Olivia "But they need to know... They'll never be whole otherwise..."

Staring at him in silence, Olivia paused as she took in his strained expression, and registering the sincerity in his eyes, she slowly dropped her own to the table.

"...The one benefit of you knowing everything was that you could be the one to tell them." she mumbled softly "And you couldn't even do that right..."

"It's not my place, Olivia..." said Anton as he slowly shook his head "Look, I just need you to tell them. And then I'll take care of everything else after that..."

Keeping her eyes on the table, Olivia said nothing.

After a time, Anton rose from his seat and had Mica, Kianna and Fiona all help him to quickly make breakfast. Fielding their questions the entire time, Anton remained steadfast that it wasn't his place to say more.

When breakfast was finally ready, he set a plate of eggs and bacon down in front of Olivia and sat down with everyone else.

Though she was silent the entire time, Olivia did finally cave to her hunger and begin to eat as well.

When everyone was finished, Anton made up a fresh pot of coffee and set it up on the table for Olivia, before ushering Mica and Tessa from the room.

Alone with her daughters now, Olivia stayed silent for nearly an hour before with an exasperated sigh, she began to speak.