“Oh, take it now, please. I can see myself to the study.”
Though she was nervous, there was something satisfying about watching Foster glance at the novels on the top of the crate, then pick up the whole thing and start for the door. He wasn’t the least bit suspicious. No one likely would be. All three sets of ledgers that she’d pulled from the hidden crevices on the bottom shelves had been dusty, indicating that once her father hid them, he was unlikely to go back to look at them again.
She followed Foster out the library door, then headed down the stairs behind him. When he turned toward the kitchen, she went the opposite direction, not stopping until she stood in front of the study’s large wooden door. She paused for a moment, sucking in a breath that would hopefully calm her nerves.
Three voices spoke from behind the door. Two she recognized as belonging to her father and Leeland, but the third voice was unfamiliar.
She knocked twice, then waited for her father to call for her before she entered. Her eyes immediately went to the stranger. He was seated in one of the chairs opposite her father’s desk, a ledger open across his knees and spectacles perched on the bridge of his nose.
Tall, wiry, and perhaps in his early fifties, he stood as she entered. “Ah, Miss Caldwell. It’s an honor. I’m Mr. Dunning, vice president of District National Bank in Washington, DC. I wasjust reviewing some of your investment summaries with your father.”
Washington, DC?The breath clogged in her lungs.District National Bank?That was her bank, the one where she kept the money her mother had left her, but also where her father, her uncle, and the Alaska Commercial Company did most of their banking. What was the vice president doing here? And had he just said he’d been reviewing her investments with her father?
Even though she was over eighteen and a legal adult woman?
She pressed her eyes shut for the briefest of moments.Please, God, don’t let him find a way to take my money from me.
“I’m sorry. Can you explain that again? I thought you said...” She twisted her hands in the folds of her skirt. “That is, I thought Mr. Holloway handled my accounts.”
And he never would have done something like this, at least not unless her father paid him an exorbitant amount of money—which he might well have done with Mr. Dunning sitting before her.
“Mr. Holloway is still your official solicitor, yes.” Mr. Dunning offered her a quick smile. “But we conduct periodic internal reviews, and your portfolio caught our attention. In a good way, I assure you. You’ve had quite remarkable growth these past several quarters.”
He flipped a page and adjusted his spectacles. “High-risk rail bonds, two early stage shipping ventures, and even a timber acquisition in the Yukon. Your account is one of the fastest growing at our bank.”
“Then why are you here? Does fast growth pose some sort of problem?” She shifted, her eyes flicking to her father.
He sat behind his desk, his face a mask that didn’t give away any emotion, let alone a clue as to what he might be thinking. Hehadn’t said a single word yet either, but his fingers tapped on the polished surface of his desk.
“I’m here at the request of your father, of course.” Mr. Dunning’s eyebrows furrowed. “I come twice a year to review his accounts, but this time he asked me to bring the necessary documents to transfer your accounts to your future husband as well.”
That’s what had caused her father to get his hands on her banking information? After how cautious she’d been to only communicate with her solicitor every few months so her father never thought it necessary to read the letters from the solicitor; after she’d been so careful to never mention the money her mother left her, agreeing to marry Leeland had caused her father to look at her Finnances?
“Wait. Did you just say you were going to transfer my money somewhere?” Her throat grew thick. What was Mr. Dunning talking about?
“I wasn’t aware you were investing at this scale, Rosalind.” Her father’s voice was ice cold. “Or with this degree of success. Why didn’t you tell me?”
She swallowed again, her mouth seemingly unable to be anything other than dry. “I didn’t think it mattered. Mother left the money to me, and I inherited it when I turned eighteen. I assumed that meant I could do with it as I please.”
“It meant you could leave it in a savings account where it would earn a modest income, not invest it.” Her father reached for his glass of bourbon and took a long sip. “You should have told me what you were doing.”
She clamped her mouth shut, not quite able to bring herself to agree with him. Perhaps she should have tried moving her money to a different bank sooner.
There was no saying that would have worked, though. Her father likely would have found out what she was trying to do, put a stop to it, and made her pay for her actions.
Father set his bourbon down with a dull thud. “I would have negotiated your marriage contract differently had I had all the information.”
Her marriage contract? What did that have to do with anything?
Leeland snorted from where he was sitting near the bookshelf. “Is that your way of saying you didn’t intend to give me thirty-five thousand dollars when you said you’d have Rosalind sign her accounts over to me?”
“Why would you tell Leeland he could have my money?” The words were out before she could think better of them. She should probably be afraid to speak to her father in such a manner, but this was her money, which she’d saved and invested and grown. She couldn’t just let Father hand it over to someone else without trying to advocate for herself.
“This is a normal aspect of any marriage.” Her father didn’t so much as flinch at her question.
“So you what? Asked the bank to prepare some type of contract that will give away everything I’ve earned?” She knew she was being too bold, knew her father would probably punish her for her outburst later, but she still couldn’t seem to stop herself, not with so much at stake. Her father didn’t think she was just going to hand over her money, did he?
Dear God, please give me strength,she prayed.Please help me not to be afraid and to stand up to what they’re doing.
