“Ivy can’t access her trust fund until she’s twenty-five,” I point out. “Have you talked to Arch?”
“No.”
“Did you know he and Tatum broke up and she’s staying with me right now?”
“I hadn’t heard that,” he says. “Did you get anything out of her?”
“Not really. I still don’t know how Archer got tangled up in Dad’s bullshit.”
“It’s what our father does,” he says. “He manipulates and twists and gets what he wants every goddamn time. And that’s why he doesn’t deserve your money.”
He’s right. I know he is.
But he’s also our father, and family loyalty means something to me.
It means alotto me.
I try Dex and Everleigh next, and both tell me not to fund Dad’s bail.
I call Archer. He doesn’t answer. I don’t bother leaving a voicemail. He won’t call back, and he won’t pitch in.
I call Liam next.
“I talked to Dad,” I say.
“And?”
I decide to try a different tack with this one. “He told me to gather funds for his bail. If you and I chip in from our trustfunds, I can pay us back when we sell the mansion.”
“Just us?” he asks.
“Madden, Dex, and Everleigh were in agreement that he should sit in prison and pay for his crimes.”
“I figured. But they’re not here. They wrote him off because of the things he’s done, but I can’t let him sit in prison when he could be with Mom in her last days. You know?”
“I know,” I say. “It’s complicated.”
“I’m having dinner with Ivy tonight. I’ll check with her.”
“She can’t access her funds yet,” I remind him.
“Oh. Right. Well, just us then.”
“Yeah, bro,” I say quietly.
“You’re really selling the house?” he asks.
“What choice do I have? We’ll be out a million bucks each if not more until the end of his trial, which could take years. Are you okay with that?”
“No,” he grunts. “But I’m also not okay with you selling the mansion.”
“I’m sorry. I promise you, Liam, we’re in this together.”
“Yeah.”
We end the call, and I stare at my phone for a minute as I think things through. Maybe Liam’s right in that I’m too practical when it comes to these things, but I’m protecting our finances over this goddamn legacy my father is so adamant about.
And because of that, I’ll need to get to Chicago to assess what sort of shape the mansion is in so I can get a crew in to clean it up and get the place listed.
