“Kate, this is Darius Edwards, our estatelawyer. Mr. Edwards, this is my wife, Kate,” Cole says.
Mr. Edwards holds out a hand for me.“It’s nice to meet you, Kate.”
“You as well.” I shake his hand.
“Is everything in order?” Cole glancesfrom his grandpa to Mr. Edwards.
“It is. Alan has signed his portion. AllKate needs to do is sign hers.”
“Great, I’ll leave you two to go overeverything. Grandpa, are you coming to the meeting?” Cole asks.
“Yep, lead the way.” I watch Cole andAlan walk out of the office.
“Mrs. Holt, please have a seat.” Mr.Edwards holds out a chair for me and then sits next to me. He goes overKathrine Prescott-Holt’s estate first. The dowry entails that we will receiveyearly payments for the first ten years of our marriage. After that, we can usewhat’s left of the inheritance as we see fit. It’s painless enough. Just mysignature on a couple of dotted lines.
Mr. Edwards places a packet of papers infront of me. “This is the details of the inheritance you’re receiving from AlanPrescott. The front page is a list of all items. The rest of the papers detailthe two properties you’re receiving.”
“Properties?”
“Yes.” Mr. Edwards flips through mypacket. “Here, there’s an estate in the Hamptons, and a small home in Boston.”
There’s some money included on the list,and I nearly choke on the amount. It’s way too much. If Alan were here, I’ddemand he take it off. It’s so outrageous of a figure. I try to stay calm,remembering that these are gifts because Alan and Cole love me.
“What is this?” I point to the last itemon the list. “The AT.”
“Oh, that was something Alan added lastminute. Let me see what else I have on it.” He rifles through his papers for aminute. “It looks like it’s a company of some sorts: the AT Corporation, butthat’s all I have on it. I apologize. Alan added it yesterday. I’ll call hisoffice and have them forward all the information to me. It looks like it willfall under Prescott-Holt, but you’ll be the sole shareholder. Give me a fewdays and I’ll get back to you with the details.”
“Sounds good.” I take a deep breath andsign all the papers Mr. Edwards puts in front of me.
“Great.” He places the last of the papersin his briefcase. “These will all take effect tomorrow at midnight, includingthe transfer of funds from the Katherine Prescott-Holt estate.”
“Okay.” I shake hands with Mr. Edwards,who packs up his stuff and leaves. Now what? Cole and I never talked aboutafter—just that we needed to talk to a banker.
“Are you Kate Holt?” An older, slender,gray-haired man pops his head in the office.
“Yes, and you are?”
He walks in with his hand extended. “PaulDryer, the banker.”
I stand, shaking his hand. “Nice to meetyou, Paul.” He asks me for some information and has me sign a few papers. Hetells me Cole has already sent over the required forms and that the checks anddebit cards for our joint checking account are in the mail. After thatmouthful, he leaves.
I thought Cole and I were going to havethis meeting together, but I guess not. I sit in the conference room foranother twenty minutes, but Cole never shows up. And neither does anyone else.If anything, I can at least go home while Cole finishes up his meetings. Out inthe foyer, the once busy office has quieted significantly. I walk up to Cole’soffice. I’m about to knock when I hear shouting from the conference room. It’sAlan, and he doesn’t sound happy. I jump when I hear the smack of his cane. Itsounds like he’s upset about selling Lawton. There’s another slap of his caneagain and I decide I’ve lingered long enough.
I walk back into the foyer and flop downonto one of the chairs. Under normal circumstances, I could walk home, browse afew of the shops along the way. The urge to do it is overwhelming. I may have amoment of peace doing it. But all it will do is make everyone freak out thatthey can’t find me, and then make them angry when they find out I did it, justbecause. Where’s Keaton, Morgan, or Dane, for that matter? Usually at least oneif not two of them are my shadow. The only number I have is Luke’s. Maybe thesecurity guys are downstairs. I could go look and see. I mean, really, what’sthe harm? I stand up slowly, walking towards the elevator. It’s not like I’mleaving the building. I’m only going two floors down to see if Keaton’s there.It’s nothing—no big deal. If he’s not there—I’ll come right back. I hit thedown button on the elevator. No big deal, I tell myself again. It’s just abrief elevator ride to pass the time.
The elevator slides open. I hesitate fora second and then walk in, punching the first floor. The elevator’s slightlyoff center to the main hall, but I have a clear view of the conference room. Ilean back against the wall feeling annoyed at this whole security situation. Asthe elevator door slides closed, I see the conference door open, and Cole’swide eyes as he catches a glimpse of me before the elevator closes. I shouldhave known. I guess I’ll just wait for Cole and Luke down on the first floor.The elevator ride is nice and short, not enough time to get too worked up abouthow much trouble I’m in. I am so sick and tired of not being able to go and dowhatever the hell I want. In fact, I’m going to pretend I don’t know what’sgoing on.
The elevator dings, sliding open. BeforeI can step out, Luke’s large frame glides in front of the doors, Cole rightbehind him.
“Uh—hi.” I say, trying to keep my voiceeven and emotion off my face. “Did you take the stairs?” Without answering me,Luke drags me out of the elevator, looking to see if anyone else is in therewith me. “Just me.” I answer his unasked question.
Cole grabs my shoulders. “What the hellwere you doing?”
“Going home,” I say casually.
Cole opens his mouth to yell at me, butKeaton and Morgan push through the doors along with everyone else. Kit, Race,Cooper, Alan and even Preston, and he pops it shut with a huff. Of course,let’s all have a panic attack because Kate got in the elevator—by herself.
“Is she all right?” Alan asks.
