Mimi was nodding away as if this was the fairest thing she’d ever heard.
I felt a surge of anger rising within me, my hands clenched into fists at my sides, and I fought to keep my composure. My in-laws had done nothing over the years to ease the tensions between our family and Tristan and Mimi’s, in fact, they promoted savage competition at every opportunity.
Miles had confided in me that ever since the boys had been young, their parents had been big believers in weaponising that competition between the brothers, to spur them on. But now that their machinations involved our children… well, that was a whole different ballgame.
I could see the storm brewing behind Miles’s eyes, but he kept his voice steady.
‘I see,’ he said, his voice dangerously quiet. ‘So, you’ve decided to essentially disinherit me, my wife and my children because of what? Because we are moving?’
Jeannie waved her hand airily. ‘Oh, don’t be so dramatic, darling. This makes the most financial sense. Tristan will see to it that you get something. But you can’t expect handouts, dear. You’re a grown man.’
I would have blown a gasket then and there if I had not noticed the blood rising to the surface of Miles’s neck and cheeks. I’d rarely, if ever, seen him this angry.
‘We don’t want handouts,’ Miles said through gritted teeth. ‘I don’t want anything from you. In fact, I’veneverasked for anything. I just didn’t think you would resort to playing games out of spite because I decided to move away for a few years with my family. But as you say, it’s your money. Do with it as you see fit.’
‘Oh, don’t be like that, Miles,’ Jeannie chided. ‘If you’re going to behave this way, it will ruin Christmas for everyone.’
I gently took the mug out of Miles’s hand before he managed to crush it in his tightening grip.
‘Any time you want to read over it, you’re more than welcome,’ George said. ‘It’s in my office.’
‘Oh, sounds tremendous fun, thank you,’ Miles said coldly.
Mimi was scrolling on her phone, looking at her work emails like they were the most interesting thing she’d ever read.
‘George,’ Jeannie picked up the pitcher of orange juice and poured herself a glass, ‘Mrs Harlow has left the lights in the foyer. Would youpleaseput them up like I asked?’
I looked away from them, my brain pulsing inside my skull like a second heart. I took a few deep breaths before I said something I’d sorely regret. As I looked away, I noticed Gloria was sitting by her empty bowl, still waiting to be fed.
George growled something under his moustache and snatched his iPad back up.
Wordlessly, fists still clamped into balls at my sides, I made to leave the room.
‘Oh, Olivia dear?’ Jeannie said, ‘would you mind getting the children out of bed? Toots will be arriving later, and she likes pâté with crusty bread. I thought the children could go into the village and get it; the fresh air might put a bit of colour back into their cheeks.’
‘Feed Gloria, Jeannie, she’s hungry,’ I said coldly. I didn’t even turn around to acknowledge her request.
‘There’ll be no good trees left at the farm by the time we get there,’ I heard Jeannie tutting to Mimi.
* * *
The car almost left the ground as I floored the accelerator over the small stone bridge as we drove back through the iron gates in the direction of the village to buy Toots her sodding pâté and crusty bread for lunch. No one had uttered a word for over twenty minutes; Callum and Martha had taken one look at our faces and decided it would be wise to keep a low profile.
‘Christ, Olivia.’ Miles clutched onto the door. ‘Take it easy,’ he warned.
‘Sorry,’ I mumbled. I hadn’t even noticed I was going so fast. Every fibre of my being was screaming at me to put my foot down and drive away from that house as quickly as possible.
‘Maybe we should just completely cut ties with them once and for all and be done with it,’ said Miles.
I considered it for a moment. ‘Well… why not? We’ll be far enough away that it would be easy enough.’ We should have done it sooner, like we’d said a million times before. ‘Why not today? Why not right now?’ I looked in the rearview and saw Martha’s eyes darting between us. We never discussed our issues with Miles’s side of the family in front of the children. But Martha and Callum were sixteen and seventeen now; we couldn’t shield them forever. Besides, learning about the true nature of their family would be beneficial in protecting themselves.
We never had to have these discussions about my family. By and large they were fairly unproblematic people with simple lives, who, more importantly, stayed the eff out of our business. In fact, they showedzerointerest, which had been the case my whole life. Which had made Miles’s family even more of a shock to the system.
‘Because, well…’ Miles sighed, ‘I guess it’s been harder than I thought to say goodbye to fifty million.’
I almost choked. I knew Miles had been set to inherit a lot of money, but he’d never told me the exact figure.
‘So, Tristan, Mimi and the twins will get one hundred million?’
