I looked at Creed, surprised he hadn’t revealed that detail already.
He smirked and kept his eyes fixed on the glass in his hand.
“Laikyn,” I told Knox. “Laikyn Quinn.”
“And her mother?”
“Monica Quinn.”
Knox’s expression shifted, and I saw a hint of recognition followed by surprise. Creed really hadn’t told him.
“The actress?”
“Yes.”
When he said nothing more, I decided to get to the heart of the matter. The part I figured he wouldn’t be nearly as happy to learn.
“Did you know Jeremiah set up a trust for her?”
Knox shook his head but said, “That doesn’t surprise me. As I said, my father was good at business. He knew how to protect his money.”
“It’s not a small amount.”
Knox nodded as though taking it in.
“And there were stipulations. Age and marital status. Both of which she’s close to meeting.”
His eyebrows bounced. “Is that right?”
“Yes. I married her on September 2nd. The clause dictates three months. It’s real. The marriage, I mean.”
“Real? Meaning what? That you love her?”
I refused to look at Creed because I didn’t want him to see the truth in my eyes. I did love her. I didn’t mean to love her, but it had happened all the same.
“I did it for her,” I admitted.
He still appeared amused, but instead of digging deeper, he chuckled and looked at his glass before finally looking at me again.
“That’s why you wanted to talk to me first? Why you didn’t spring her on me without warning? Because of a trust fund.”
I watched him, not replying.
“Not because you love her and want to protect her? Guard her from my initial reaction?”
I still didn’t reply.
“And you think a trust fund will change my reaction to her.”
“When you threaten someone’s livelihood, that tends to happen,” I told him.
This time, Knox’s laugh boomed through the office. “My livelihood.”
I didn’t know what he found funny.
He looked at Creed, then me as he gestured to the room. “I’m not sure what you’ve unearthed about me, but in case you can’t tell, I’m not hurting. My children won’t ever have to work if they don’t want to. My grandchildren, even. And that’s if I only kepthalfof myliquidassets.”
I knew his net worth, and it put him in a different stratosphere than the rest of the world. But the amount of money someone had was relative to the lifestyle they were used to. So I stood by my assumption that he wouldn’t want to part with the amount his father had left Laikyn.
