Liquor Lips

Chapter One: Fighting Back

I finally pulled up to a large looking home that was located exactly where the secretary said it would be. It hadn’t been hard to march into his office and ask for his address. It wasn’t as if I hadn’t set foot in his company before.

I sat before the steering wheel simmering for a few minutes before I got the guts to barge in. I forced myself not to breakdown and really look at what was happening to me. I tried to make myself forget the yelling and accusations from Andrew. I worked to make myself cold and numb. It wasn’t that hard, since it was what I had been doing my entire life.

It was back to the old Minerva. I was going to fight to get what I wanted again, and I only hoped it wouldn’t be like before when everything pushed me back.

I wrapped my coat tighter around my body after parking the car and making my way to the huge doorway. To say I was practically in front of a five story mansion was just the icing of the cupcake.  I tried not to be intimidated by the expensive air around me and tried to focus on wringing Martin’s neck. If he thought I was going to just sit around and let everything fall around me, then he had another thing coming. Martin Vance had no clue who he was dealing with.

The door was finally opened by a short plump woman in an apron. I practically loomed over her, which was kind of funny since I was only five feet and a half in my flats. I figured that the height could come to my advantage if I was going to force myself in.

“Could I help you Ma’am?” The older lady asked me courteously. I gave me a tight lipped smile before pointing over to my parked Ford Focus.

“Indeed you can! We could start off by getting someone to carry in my bags.” I said with fake cheer. I was going to act as if it was my goddamn right to barge in.

“Your bags?” The shorter woman wondered, clearly not following.

I sighed and half rolled my eyes. Addressing the maid with the same pleasant attitude, I said, “ My name is Minerva Fen-Ashton and yours?”

I tried a new tactic, trying not to flinch at the thought of using my old last name.

“Carmela-“

“Great! Well, it’s very nice to meet you. Now if you could just get someone to carry in my luggage that would just be amazing. You can’t expect me to live here without my things, now do you?”

“Mr. Vance didn’t say anything about company?” The woman was sounding more and more confused by the minute, and I almost felt bad for her. It was good, though, that she was confused. It just made things that much easier.

“Of course, he didn’t. I’m inviting myself over. Now in the meantime I’ll be having a word with him while my things are brought in!” I said all of this quickly with a smile, before sliding in between the bigger woman and the doorframe with ease.

“Ma’am you can’t do that! Mr. Vance has company at the moment! Ma’am, please come back!” Carmela kept stuttering behind me, while I found my way through the mansion. She was too short and heavy to really catch up to me, but I still prayed that she wouldn’t call the police or something. People didn’t normally barge into a mansion with ease. I passed by rich looking paintings and marble statues in a blur until I reached a large set of stairs. I didn’t know how huge the house was and in the back of my head I was regretting not finding out where Martin was, but there was no going back. I had to go with my gut feeling to find him. I realized with vague interest that I was probably pulling the craziest stunt of my life. Eh, it wasn’t as if I had a marriage to take care of anymore.

The floors where white marble and made it a little slippery when I tried to climb the stairs, much more then because for such a big woman, Carmela was starting to catch up to me. I could hear her wheezing voice closer behind me asking me to leave.