“In explicit detail,” she answered hotly.
“Fine.” I walked to the sideboard, poured myself a drink. “Kitty didn’t accidentally come into your life. She set her sights on Rhett from the beginning. Recently widowed millionaires were her bread and butter, and he’d made the list when your mother passed away. He was vulnerable and rich, two qualities that attracted my mother.”
Emily sucked in a sharp breath, but I plowed ahead. I wasn’t going to soften it. She wanted the truth.
“Your father spent most of his money courting her, catering to her, buying her love. By the time Kitty convinced him to marry her, he was deep in debt and over the moon.” I took a long swallow of my drink as I turned to face her. “Problem was, without money, your father was worthless to Kitty.”
“Then why’d she stay?”
“She’d invested too much time. You know Kitty. She’s not the type to put much energy toward anything. When she does, she expects a payout.”
Her eyes remained on my face, her hands on her hips. Her chest was rising and falling with the strength of her anger, but at least she was listening.
“When my father died, he left her nothing. She’d invested years of her life attempting to take him for every penny, and it failed her in the end. However, I hadn’t been left in the cold. My father’s vast empire was left to me.” I drained my glass, turned to pour more. “To salvage her new life and secure her future, Kitty stole seventy million from my trust fund.”
“A drop in the bucket for you,” Emily muttered harshly.
“Maybe.” I glanced her way. “It was the principle of it. She used that money to secure her future in your father’s life, paid off his debt. Invested in Delta June’s.” I turned toward her again. “It was the only option after all the time she’d spent on him.”
“You ever think it was because she loved him?” Emily retorted.
“Sure. That’s why she hightailed it when I took it all back.”
“She left him because you told her to.”
I snorted. “Right. Because Kitty takes orders from me.”
“Then maybe she was trying to make a better life for you,” she said, clearly an attempt to rationalize what her father had done.
“I guess that explains why with only a few weeks until my eighteenth birthday, Kitty tried to have me legally adopted by Rhett.” My voice rose with my anger. “Did she want me to have a daddy, Em? You thinkthat’swhat Kitty’s angle was? Have youeverknown her to give a shit about anyone but herself?”
Her mouth opened, closed.
“She believed my inheritance would’ve become hers and Rhett’s. That was her endgame. Kitty’s driven purely by greed.”
“It didn’t work,” Emily noted, her tone a bit softer.
“No, it didn’t because I refused.” I took a swallow of my drink. “I didn’t even know about the theft at the time. It wasn’t until I had my accounts audited that I realized. When I did, I confronted them. And after I listened to her plead her case, claiming it was a loan.”
“So she offered to pay you back?” There was a hint of hope in her tone.
I laughed, a mirthless sound that rattled in my throat. “She told me to forgive the loan. Said I owed her that much. I agreed not to file a civil lawsuit or criminal charges, but only if they agreed to my terms.”
“You wanted me,” she accused.
A puff of air escaped as I shook my head. Rhett had seriously done a number on her. “No, I wanted every physical possession Rhett had. The cars, houses, the company. But not until you turned eighteen. I wanted to make sure you were capable of taking care of yourself, Emily. I naively thought Rhett would prepare for your future if he knew what was going to happen.”
“My father didn’t agree.”
I took a deep breath, leveled my gaze on hers. “Oh, he agreed, all right. Shit, he signed it all over without question. Told me the only thing that mattered was ensuring Kitty was taken care of.”
Her sharp inhale was like a slap to the face, but I wasn’t going to hold back. She wanted the truth, she was going to get it.
“When it got closer to time for me to collect, he came to me every year asking for more time. At the same time, Kitty remained stoic, pretending it had never happened. Rhett was the only one who believed I would do what I said I would. On your eighteenth birthday, he came with a new proposition.” I pointed toward her with the hand holding my glass. “You. Said I could have you as payment for the debt. Wanted to secure his future with my mother, and that was the only bargaining chip he had left.”
She swallowed, her eyes remaining on my face.
“I turned him down. Gave him three more years.”
