What the hell does that mean? Why would Annabel care about George’s date? Why would he want to make her jealous?
Before I can theorize an answer to those questions, my father continues talking.
“I told you years ago, and I thought you were smart enough to listen. I don’t want you anywhere near her. She’s going to get her money as long as she stays away from this business. But it looks like you don’t want that to happen. So maybe I should push it out a few years. How do you think she’d feel knowing that she has to wait until she’s thirty to get her payout?”
Her payout?
Am I theherhe’s talking about?
A slow understanding dawns on me, like the rise of a terrible sun.
Did my father lie to George and tell him that I was getting a trust? Is that why George thought I had a fund set aside for me, like Shawn does?
Is Karl holding that over his head to keep distance between us?
I think back on years ago, the first time I ever encountered George. At Shawn’s housewarming party.
At the time, I thought the shock and discomfort on George’s face was related to my father naming me a pariah. And then more recently, I reasoned it was him wanting to keep his distance because of the screwup reputation he’d told me about. But now…
Did George keep his distance from me all those years so I wouldn’t risk losing out on an inheritance that was never going to be mine in the first place?
My knees wobble, suddenly weak under the weight of the truth, and I have to lean a shoulder against the wall just to stay upright. Shocked disbelief steals the strength from my body as I replay every single time that George put space between us.
All because he was trying to follow the rules laid down by Karl Newton.
Rules based off a prize that was never up for grabs.
And I’ve been corroborating Karl’s lie this whole time.
“He’s a monster,” I whisper to myself. There’s no other explanation for it. This man who would do everything in his power to keep me from touching something that is only a satellite in his life. I guess the most I can be thankful for is that he hasn’t taken out an assassination contract on me.
My hurt disbelief is replaced by frustration. But that mild emotion doesn’t stick around for long because it is overwhelmed by rage.
I stand up straight, my strength back. With a mighty shove, I push the door open so hard it slams into the wall behind it. I storm into the room, my eyes burning fire, fixed on the man who I am disgusted to share DNA with.
“You’re such a goddamnliar.”
He wants to hold fake money over the head of the man I’m falling for. Karl Newton wants to keep George from me because he is too pathetic to own up to the fact that he stepped out on his wife and sometimes that has consequences.
“There is no money for me. There never was,” I tell George, watching as shock and confusion flash across his face. “Karl Newton wouldn’t hold out a hand to me if I was drowning. If he ever told you I was getting an inheritance, that was a lie. He’s never offered me a cent of money, and he never will. He wishes that I didn’t exist.” I stalk up to George and fist my hand in the front of his button-up shirt. “Is that why you avoided me?”
His Adam’s apple bobs with a thick swallow. Then he nods.
“I thought it was me,” he mutters. “That he hated me for you.”
“No.” I let out a laugh, dry and without humor. “It’s always been me he hated.”
I stare into George’s face as I use my grip to tug him closer, and I hope he reads the word that’s in my eyes.
Mine.
I glare over my shoulder at the two pathetic men.
“You think people are toys that you can manipulate because you’ve got some cash in your bank.” I stare at the scowling Mr.Bunsen. “You don’t deserve the son you have.” Then I turn my attention to Karl Newton. “Same goes for you. And if Shawn had any idea what you were really like, he’d be ashamed of you, too.”
Still, I don’t have the courage to break my brother’s heart like that. Not until my hand is forced. And I hate this man all the more for making up the lie about my trust fund. Did he not think Shawn would find out?
“Shawn ismyson,” Karl Newton snarls at me, his eyes bloodshot with rage. “You’re a selfish bitch, just like your mother. She was going to get rid of you, you know that, right?”
