theirs was only a love story. This isn’t about power, Roy. This is about
you and me. I didn’t want Biddenbrooks. I only wanted you. I did
everything for you.”
“For me? For me?”
“Of course! What do I care for money? I care only about you. But
you had to chase apparitions. And I had to pull you back down to
earth, towards me, so that when you finally fell I would be there to
catch you.”
“You’re mad,” Roy said.
“All love is madness,” she proclaimed, then stood up and walked
around the table. “It’s a shared delusion.” She pulled Roy towards her
and laid a fat kiss on his lips but he pulled back and pushed away,
tumbling over the chair behind him, prostrate before her on the
ground.
“What’s the matter?” she said. “You’re not still in love with that
nymphoma?”
“No. Maybe. I don’t know,” Roy said, trembling, “Can I go now?”
“God damn it, Roy! When are you going to stop fucking around
with phantasms and live in the real world? Amazons and mermaids.
Is that really what you want? Phonies, all of them. Ellie was a
succubus, selfish and deceitful. And Sprout? I told you, Sprout is no
angel, just because she looks like one. She was using you. She was a
heroin addict and a killer.”
“That’s nonsense,” he protested. “She restores life. She doesn’t
destroy it.”
Leona crossed her arms. “A long time ago, probably before your
employment there, she killed a Biddenbrooks cashier that refused to
hand over the cash. Served a brief sentence due to a mistrial, some
political connections and a convenient diagnosis of insanity. Guess
who her high-powered attorney was? Our good friend Paul Partment.
Though he went by a different name then.”
“I have to get out of here,” he said.
“Of course you do. That’s what I’m offering you. Freedom. Power.
Your property. Me. What more could you want? All I’m asking for is
your hand in marriage.”
He scowled at her. “Yes, but at least here I get the possibility of
parole.”
“Roy, come now,” she said. “I’m offering you the world.”
“Some world!” Roy said, “I’ve been watching the news. Partment
was your puppet.”
ABYSSINIA
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