Page 48 of Jay Bird

Willow furrowed her eyebrows. “No.”

Tink picked up a sheet of paper from the folder and slid it across the table toward her.

“It was his life insurance through the government.”

Willow’s eyes remained fixed on the paper. For several seconds, she couldn’t bring herself to touch it. Just hearing her father’s name alone still hurt too much. He had been the one person she had always been able to count on. The person who called just because he wanted to hear her voice. The person who showed up when she needed help, without asking what he was getting in return.

He had passed away just months before Willow had been abducted.

She finally reached for the paper, her eyes moving over the information as she read, before something made her stop.

Beneficiary: Willow Beckett.

Her vision blurred as she blinked, trying to focus, her gaze drifting farther down the page. Her eyes widened, and her breath caught in her throat when she saw the amount listed. Twenty thousand dollars.

She looked at Tink. “My dad left this to me?”

“You’re the sole beneficiary,” Tink confirmed.

Willow stared at the amount again. Twenty thousand dollars could give her and Lily a real start, something solid to stand on instead of just surviving day to day.

Tears filled her eyes. “He never told me.”

Her dad had been the quietly responsible type, the kind of man who made sure everything was taken care of without ever needing recognition for it or expecting a single word of praise in return.

Even now, after everything, he was somehow taking care of her.

She ran a fingertip over his name on the document.

“I’m surprised my brother or Mother didn’t try to steal this.”

Jay Bird looked at her. “You have family?”

“I don’t consider them my family.”

His eyebrows drew together slightly. But he didn’t ask why.

Tink spoke up. “Speaking of your mother and brother, I did look into both of them.”

“What did you find?”

“Your brother is currently serving time in prison.”

“For what?” Willow asked.

“Embezzlement, along with a few other charges. He was moving money through the company he owned. It went on for several years before they caught him.”

Willow let out a breath that was almost a laugh, though there wasn’t anything funny about it.

“Of course he was.”

Jay Bird looked at her. “You don’t seem surprised.”

“That’s because I’m not.”

Her brother had spent most of his adult life looking for shortcuts to money, particularly when the shortcut involved somebody else’s wallet, including hers and things that belonged to her.

“And my mother? I know three years ago she wasn’t in the best health.”