Nevada Queen didn't know. She was almost 37, owned one of the largest companies in the North Coast and had had numerous lovers, but the warmest thing she'd ever experienced was her cat Reine's purring. Right before it ran away.
It truly was that way. Until the last week and the day when he had come.
A young man. A boy, better to say. 17-year-old Kai Roseland with delicate features and radiant eyes.
“What do you want?” she asked, giving a new visitor the habitual icy glance.
“I need... your help,” he answered, not ready to meet her eye.
She knew what it meant. He needed money.
Nevada didn’t ask what for and wasn't really interested whether it’s needed for gambling or saving mortally ill mother. But she was already interested in him.
“So, you are ready to pay the price?” she said with challenging tone.
“Wh-What price?”
“Your warmth.”
He finally looked her in the eye and slowly nodded.
“Agreed,” she smiled coldly.
And the happiest, the warmest week in her life had started. Kai was full of naivety, sincerity and brightness. Even his laugh made her snigger. Those days she didn’t care about some Flower corporation, which was trying to take QueenCorp’s place on the market, didn’t care about time or other people’s opinions. She cared just about herself and her happiness.
However, happiness never lasts long.
Snowflake melts if it touches warm skin. But what would happen to skin, if the whole snowfall had a desire to melt? Nevada, half-melted, now knew the answer. She could see it in clear eyes, with no doubt meeting her glance.
“I need more,” he said evenly.
“I don’t want that accident in casino to be repeated,” she refused, reading documents and ignoring his demanding gaze.
“I. Need. More.”
“No.”
“Neva!” he threw the papers off from her desktop in anger.
With those papers a vase fell down and small glass shards scattered across the floor. But Nevada didn’t give him a look.
“Neva…” he whispered pathetically and her heart skipped a beat.
Only now she’d noticed that not all the shards fell on the floor. Somehow a few fragments crashed into Kai’s face and hands, making several little red trickles flowing over his skin.
“Kai…” she quietly gasped.
The boy lost consciousness.
In the hospital Nevada met Gerda - a young girl, head over heels in love with Kai. She shouted, cried and blamed the woman, claiming that now, with support of her aunt’s Flower corporation, there is no need for Kai to come back. And Nevada knew that the girl was right.
Nevada’d forgotten that the autumn was almost over. It brought a small relief when snowflakes covered her cheeks while she went out to smoke. The doctor just said her that Kai had lost an eye. What an idiot. The cigarette fell out of her trembling fingers. She sighed and bent down to pick it up. Suddenly she’s heard plaintive meow - Reine was sitting on the curb and staring at its owner. She patted it.
“You’ve paid your price,” she gently whispered and left, leaving the cat sitting on the curb under a slight snowfall.
It is said that in the end the Snow Queen had melted.
But she did not melt.
She had frozen.
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