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Chapter Four

Carly

I stifle a yawn as I step onto the elevator, wiping the sleep out of my eyes, as I press the button to take me to the top floor because nothing but the penthouse in the most expensive building in the city will do for my mother.

“Hold the elevator,” a familiar voice calls and I stick my hand out to stop the doors from closing. Ivy runs into the elevator, out of breath. She turns to flash me a friendly smile and her eyes widen before she laughs.

“Oh, it’s just you.”

I scoff. “Just me? I’m hurt, Vi.”

“You know what I mean,” she replies, shoving me as the doors close and the elevator ascends. “I take it you also got summoned.”

I nod. “Yes. Woke me up and then chewed me out for still sleeping at six thirty in the morning.”

“The nerve,” Ivy quips, laugher in her voice and I nod.

“What do you think she wants?”

She shrugs, yawning. “Maybe she’s found her next ex-husband.”

“Oh, that poor bastard,” I whisper with a shudder and Ivy throws her head back, laughing.

“We should probably warn him.”

I shake my head and reach out to grab her arm in a dramatic fashion. “And risk angering the Wicked Witch of the West? I don’t think so.”

“What’s she going to do?”

“To me?” I ask, pointing a finger at my chest. “Nothing but I’m not the one using the trust fund she swindled out of number three for us.”

“She wouldn’t,” Ivy gasps, her mouth forming an O. I don’t touch the money, but Ivy has no qualms about using the trust fund to her advantage. She was smart and used the money to build her jewelry design business to the success it is today.

“You know she would in a fucking heartbeat.”

With an adorable pout, she crosses her arms over her chest and leans against the back wall of the elevator. “I guess the schmuck is on his own then.”

“Nice to know where your priorities are, baby sister,” I tease her and she sticks her tongue out at me.

“Hey, I don’t owe him anything, and he’s a grown man… hopefully.”

I gag, covering my mouth with my hand. “Please never insinuate mother will become a cougar ever again. It’s bad enough when the men are her age.”

“Sissy, I’m certain if she ever found herself a teenage billionaire, his age wouldn’t even cross her mind.”

“You mean, eighteen, right?” I ask and she shrugs.

“Hopefully.”

I shake my head. “So gross. She’s got to be almost a billionaire on her own by now, right?”

“No clue but she likes to spend it as much as she likes to make it.”

“You mean steal it,” I point out and we both giggle as the door slides open to reveal our mother. She arches a brow and stares at us as we try to get ourselves under control.

“Well, aren’t you two in a good mood today,” she says, crossing her arms over her chest and said good mood takes a nosedive.

“Or delirious. You called us over here at the ass crack of dawn.”