“How much money?” I whispered.
The man scratched his partially balding head with the back of his pen and blew out a breath. “I don’t have exact numbers, but a couple billion.”
The room really spun, and I shook my head. “This is all a mistake, a misunderstanding. Why wouldn’t that go to Jade or my brothers or even Jane?”
Jane stared down at her pale hands, and I watched as tears slid down her cheeks and peppered the table in front of her. She’d just found out that the father she thought she had wasn’t really her father at all…
“Do you know who Jane’s biological father is?” I asked for her.
“I don’t, but I have a letter here for her. Though I’m sure Mrs. Fairchild could tell you everything you want to know.”
Jane laughed and shook her head. She was only fourteen. This wasn’t fair. None of it. “She won’t. She’ll go down with the ship.”
“What about me?” My voice was hardly a whisper. I didn’t have much left in me. First seeing my father the way he was… and now I was sure the rest of the family hated me. This was great. He’d managed to royally ruin my life from the grave. “Is there a letter for me?” There had to be some kind of explanation.
The man spread his hands and shook his head. “No, there wasn’t a letter for you.”
“Did he tell you anything? Has anyone heard anything? Anything at all?” My voice rose an octave as the panic really began to set in.
He shook his head again. “I’m afraid not. There is only a list of his financial advisors and phone numbers that you can call to get more information on your inheritance.”
***
With a spinning head, a crying teenager on my heels, and more money than I knew what to do with… we left the attorney's office. The quiet building opened up to the hustle and bustle of chaotic New York life. It was almost more of a culture shock than everything we’d gone through in the last twenty minutes.
“What now?” Jane asked. I still couldn’t believe our mother had abandoned her in there with me. Jane was pretty resourceful—you had to be when dealing with our mother, but this was an all-time low. Lower than low.
I huffed out a breath and closed my eyes, but only for a moment. I didn’t want to get waylaid by the traffic on the sidewalk. “What do you want to do?”
“Mother was more concerned about her prenup than the bomb that was dropped on me,” She shrugged as she swiped her fingers under her eyes. “Can I just stay with you for a bit?”
I lived at home, and home was an active crime scene. Amelia was going back home today. We could continue to stay in the hotel room she got, but there wasn’t enough room for Jane, with Mother probably staying there. Could Mother even afford to stay there? As far as I knew, she’d never had a job.
“Yeah, we will go get our stuff and get a new, clean room.”
“What about Mother?” I didn’t know if she was asking because she actually cared or if she was worried about how she would react.
“She’s a big girl, Jane, she’ll figure it out.”
The receptionist at the hotel smiled warmly at us as I got a room for the foreseeable future. I handed over my card toher, which she scanned quickly, before she handed us both new key cards to a room on the fifteenth floor. Amelia was coming out of the elevator just as we were about to go up. She beamed as the doors slid open.
“I hear congratulations are in order!” She shimmied her shoulders as she rushed from the elevator. She threw her arms around my shoulders. “I wish I could stay and celebrate with you, but I’ll send some champagne up to your room! My father is insistent that I come home and make an appearance at the derby soon.” She rolled her eyes dramatically. “I do miss myhorses, so I guess it’s time.”
“You have been gone all winter,” I squeezed her tighter before we pulled away. “Thank you for being here.”
The light dimmed in her eyes a bit, and I wondered just how much she was hiding in that head of hers. “I wouldn’t miss being here for the world. I love you and I know how you feel, even if it's a little different.”
She ran her fingers down the side of my cheek affectionately. “How did you know congratulations were in order?”
“I may or may not have taken home a cute financial advisor from the club last night who got a very detailed phone call this morning. Of course, he didn’t tell me anything, but the phone speaker was loud enough.” She winked at me before she turned her sights on Jane. “Good luck out there, honey! I’ll be in touch.” She pecked Jane on the cheek and walked away from us with swishing skirts and bouncing hair.
Jane scrunched her nose. “I think I like her, but I don’t know what to think of her.”
I could agree with that one.
My brain was going ninety to nothing when we exited the elevator onto the fifteenth floor. I was so caught up in everything happening that when I ran straight into what felt like a brick wall, I went straight down on my ass.
I blinked up at the very not a brick wall and winced.
