He sighs and shakes his head slightly. “Unbelievable.” Though he says nothing, I know he’s thinking I should cut her off. I should hire a lawyer and brace myself for whatever shit she slings my way. But he knows better than to bring it up again. Marrying Lana was a mistake, but it was my mistake. And I always pay for my mistakes, whatever the cost.
I made that painfully apparent when I buried the career of my former business partners who crossed me. They thought my lifestyle was putting the company in danger. Maybe it was, but I started it from the ground up, and if they thought they were going to wrestle the reins from me, they were dumber than they looked. I learned a hard lesson in those years. I learned not to trust. I learned to close myself off to the world. I just wish I had applied what I learned to my ex-wife before she had a chance to fuck me over too.
I can’t even trust my parents anymore. Once it was clear the company was taking off, my father turned in his notice at work and my mom followed close behind. They both just quit their jobs with the expectation that I would take care of them without question. I still send them money, and they never bother to contact me anymore unless it’s to ask for another check. One of the few people from my past I still trust is my sister. Olivia has never once asked me for anything, so I’ve always made sure she has everything she needs.
I push my plate away, appetite suddenly gone at the thought of my parents. My shoulders are tight when I walk out of the restaurant. My ex, my family, and all the memories I would rather leave behind… It all feels like it’s pushing me back to where I used to find comfort. It’s pushing me toward the old me and I can barely fight back the anticipation of stepping inside Club Crave again for the first time in years.4Emmaline“I’m sorry, can you check again?” I say laughing nervously. “There must be a mistake.”
I’m standing at the counter, across from a bank teller with a bored expression. He sighs and looks back to the computer, tapping a few keys and clicking the mouse. His eyes scan the screen and then slide back to me. “There’s no money in your trust fund. It was pulled out by a... Mr. Styles. The system says he’s your--”
“Father,” I say through gritted teeth. My heart is pounding in my chest and I feel light-headed. I can feel the full weight of reality waiting to crash down and crush me, but I’m not there yet. It’s too much to take in at once. “Is there someone else I can talk to about this? It was supposed to be a trust for me. He shouldn’t have been able to…”
The teller, Steve, according to his nametag, gives me an obnoxiously placating smile. He turns and taps a woman in a pantsuit with the back of his hand and speaks to her in low tones. The woman eyes me while they talk and then walks over to me, heels thumping on the cheap carpet. She flashes a toothy smile that says she’s ready to go through the motions to get rid of me and no more.
“Let’s just look into this one more time to be sure,” she says.
I force a smile back at her, clutching my hands together on the counter to keep them from shaking. All of it. He took all of it. The words echo in my head and I feel tendrils of hopelessness reaching up to grab me from somewhere dark. I think of all the loans and the debt I thought would be completely covered. If I don’t get this trust money, everything could fall apart. Every last thing. I could lose my business, my apartment, my chance at finishing school. Hell, I don’t even know how I’d find money to eat.
Breathe, Emmaline. I force myself to breath more slowly, realizing I’m on the verge of hyperventilating.
The manager purses her lips and clicks the mouse a few times and then nods her head. I can tell she’s trying to look sympathetic, but I can see right through it. She doesn’t really care. “I’m sorry, Miss Styles. Your Uncle left the right to access the money to your parents. Your father was within his legal rights to withdraw it early.”
I feel numb. My hands are shaking and tears threaten to fall, but I push them back. Not here. Not now. Hold it together. I’ll talk to him. Maybe there’s a way to resolve this and I’m just not seeing the whole picture.
“Miss, could you please step aside so I can help the next customer?”