“You can still finish school and do all the things you wanted to do.”
“I suppose.”School felt daunting to her with two little ones to care for, but less so than it would have before she’d found out about the money.“I guess the good news is I can keep my apartment.”
“And not work.”
“Oh, I’m still going to work.”
“Not at a bar!”
“That’s where I can make big bucks.”
“You don’t need it.”
“Yes, I do.The money is a huge relief, but we both know how expensive life is, and with college to think about and all the other life expenses, I need to do this for me—and my kids.”
“Mama no work,” Theo said.
“It’s okay, honey.Don’t worry.”
“No work.”
“See?”Denny said.“He agrees with me.”
Isla glared at him.
They picked up lunch for the kids on the way home, and after they’d eaten, Isla put them down for a nap in Mrs.V’s guest room.Once she was sure they were asleep, she and Denny took the baby monitor next door to deal with the carnage.Because she’d tried not to look too closely on her way out of there the night before, she wasn’t at all prepared for just how bad it was.
“Holy fucking shit,” Denny whispered.
Isla was blinded by tears that she swiped away in furious disbelief that this was her life.That the man she’d chosen to love, out of all the men in the world, could’ve done this to their home.She was determined to hold it together and clean up so she and her kids could get back to some semblance of normal.
“Isla.”
She turned to face her brother.
“You can’t stay here.The minute he makes bail, he’ll be right back here, even with the restraining order.”
“Where am I supposed to go?”
“Let’s get you out of here.You can’t stay here or next door.You’ll be like sitting ducks, and who knows how angry he’ll be after a night in jail?He’s apt to blame you for everything.I… I can’t leave you here with the kids.Look at what he did.You’re not safe here.”
“I have no money to move, Denny.Even with this newfound investment account, I don’t currently have the money, and my cards are maxed out.”
“We can get you access to the money today.Whatever it takes to make it so he can’t find you.”
She glanced at him.“I’m not sure what to make of this new information about our finances when we’ve spent years trying to survive on next to nothing.”Another thought occurred to her.“Is this why you live in that shithole apartment?Because you didn’t want me to know there’s money?”
“I didn’t wantGabrielto know about it.I never felt right about keeping it from you, but after I had to give a chunk of mine to Kath, I was more determined than ever to protect yours.”
“Tell me how you were able to keep it from me.”
“You would’ve come into the money when you were twenty-five.By then, you were all about him.Every instinct I had told me to keep your money away from that guy, so I petitioned the court to postpone the maturation date until you were thirty.It’s in an account that you’ll have access to today because Julian told us Gabriel can’t get at anything that you didn’t have until after the date of separation.”
Hearing the lengths he’d gone to in order to protect her softened her toward him.“Thank you for always doing what was necessary to protect me, even when I wasn’t looking out for myself.”
“If I’d had any idea it’d gotten this bad,” he said, gesturing to the shattered glass that covered every inch of the place, “I would’ve made the money available to you.I swear it.”
“I didn’t want you to know it’d gotten this bad.”
