“Depends on his lawyer,” Hunter said. “The feds froze all of Leif’s funds, and he doesn’t have a good legal team, only the pro bono lawyers. Though if it comes to it, I’m sure we could have the girls testify about whatever abuse they encountered. No judge is going to be the one to hand innocent, pretty blond girls back to their abusive cult-leader father. So I wouldn’t worry too much about it. The mothers and their families would be more of an issue.”
“Speaking of, Beck, how are you with Annie and Enola’s grandmother?” Greg asked.
“I’ll see her this Friday, and I’m going to bring up the adoption then,” I promised. “I think we’ve gone to enough events with her that hopefully she will agree not to fight us on the adoption.”
And after the adoption, I would have to fire Tess.
52
Tess
Irushed into the tower lobby late Friday afternoon. I needed to change, then we had to go to Ethel’s house. I vowed to try not to embarrass myself this time. Maeve had helped me buy a new outfit online. I was going to wash my hair. I even had a list of polite discussion topics memorized.
Belle was at the front concierge desk talking to Vera.
“I just think we need a snack table out here,” Vera was saying.
“I wholeheartedly agree,” I added.
Belle raised an eyebrow. She was tall, like, super tall, and was giving meGame of Thronesvibes.
“Er, I mean, if you’re taking suggestions.”
“We should tell Greg since he’s going to be the new president,” Vera said.
Belle scoffed. “Those Svenssons are the worst.”
“Beck’s not that bad,” I protested.
Belle shook her head. “Just as a word to the wise, don’t trust Svenssons. They only look out for themselves.”
I headed to the elevator. Beck didn’t seem that way. He had been nice to me, well, aside from firing me those three times. But we had reached an agreement. Plus, he was amazing in bed. It wasn’t like I was trying to marry him or anything. But would a wedding in Central Park be so bad?
My outfit that I had ordered online was waiting for me in the condo. I had chosen a Chanel suit because Ethel seemed like she would like it. I had found a website that was selling gently used suits, and the picture looked amazing. There was no way I was spending six thousand dollars of Beck’s money on a dowdy suit.
It wasn’t until I opened the box that I realized that fifty dollars for a Chanel suit had been a big red flag.
The fabric was some sort of cheap polyester that felt sticky, and instead of the actual brocaded tweed pattern, the pattern had been stamped on, and not very well. Some of the colors were off.
I cursed as I inspected the suit.
“Tess?” Beck called. “Are you ready?”
I hastily flipped through my closet. I could wear what I was wearing right now except that it had a chocolate stain on the front of the shirt. I didn’t have any other clothes. I hadn’t done laundry—in fact, I was wearing swimsuit bottoms instead of underwear because I did not have my life together.
“Tess!” Beck called.
I threw on a cleanish pink sweater, shrugged on the polyester knockoff suit, grabbed my bag, and ran out to the hallway.
“You look like Lizzie McGuire,” Annie told me.
Beck opened his mouth then shut it.
“I made a severe miscalculation on my shopping purchases.” I grimaced. “It’s either this or I have to borrow one of Vera’s dresses from the eighties.”
I inspectedmy reflection in the glass sides of the double front door of Ethel’s mansion as we waited for the butler.
My outfit looked pretty bad. But maybe I could play it off like I had meant to put these two items together? Shoot, there were a lot of ugly outfits that were sent down the runways. Who knew, maybe I could pretend my clothes were from some up-and-coming designer.
