I gave Avarice a wide-eyed look before forcing myself into calmness. A few possible answers flew through my head. "No, thanks, but no," and "How about no?" and "No, just no," but in the end I settled on a much more long-winded and polite, "Your offer is appreciated, but I must refuse."
Avarice just nodded. "A pity, but not unsurprising. Then, let's see how I see the situation. I took more money from you than I promised to take from your father. Unfair, you called that. Well, I call it extortion." Avarice flashed her fangs at me with a faintly smug gleam in her eyes. "The thing with extortions, Diana, is that if pleads worked with me, I wouldn't be in this business in the first place. I am willing to give you some slack on the account that you aren't completely without power, but…"
