“Mom...what money?” My entire life, my mom had worked odd jobs. She’d struggled as a single mother. She’d dated a lot, and sometimes the guys were losers and sometimes they weren’t. Sometimes they hired her as a secretary and sometimes she worked retail jobs, but at the end of the day, my mom had never made more than minimum wage. We’d always struggled to pay the bills, so where had the cash come from?
“I’ve been saving for you,” she said. “An inheritance of sorts. Your father left you some money, and I never wanted to spend it until now.”
“Mom?”
“It’s for your college, Paige. You deserve it, princess. You deserve it.”
The key turned. I was jolted back into reality as I reached post office box 98. The key turned, and the door opened, and the inside of the box was stuffed. I reached inside and pulled everything out. There were six bank statements, and there we
re six letters, and there was a statement from the post office saying that it was time to pay the annual fee.
I guess it was a good thing my mom paid yearly, and not monthly. Otherwise, I might not have found the post office box at all. The locks would have been changed by now. I hadn’t thought to look for a secret box. All of her mail had always gone to her house, as far as I knew. I walked to a little countertop where people could open mail, and I opened the mail.
And then I gasped.
My mom had a savings account I didn’t know about, but I was listed as a joint owner. How the hell had I not known I had a bank account like this? If I’d known this, paying Locke back that couple of hundred dollars wouldn’t have been a big deal. Apparently, my mother saved all of the money my dad sent her.
The other envelopes contained check.
Each envelope had one check, each for the same amount, and each signed by the same person.
Josiah Reagan.
If I’d doubted the information before, I now had solid proof about what was happening. The checks were made out to “cash.” So that was how my mom had saved for college. That was how she’d paid for my braces. That was how she’d managed to keep us afloat.
But she had never spent more than she had to, and now I had what probably should have been an illegal amount of money in a private bank account just waiting for me.
“Mom,” I whispered, staring at the envelopes. “Mom, why didn’t you tell me?”
My phone rang again, and I picked it up without thinking about it. I didn’t even look at the name, which proved to be an immediate mistake.
“Paige, where the hell are you? Are you okay?” It was Locke. He was breathless. He was worried. Agitated. I realized it had been nearly two hours since he’d left me at the mansion. I should have been back with him long ago.
I didn’t say anything at first. How was I supposed to address the fact that he’d lied to me? He’d hidden who my father was from me. He’d hurt me. And now, he wanted me to hand over the flash drive that contained all of that information?
Well, he could have it.
“I never want to see you again,” I said, whispering the words.
Silence.
For a second, I didn’t think he’d heard me, but when he spoke again, his words were tight.
“Paige, what’s wrong? Where are you? Tell me, and I’ll come get you. We can talk about this.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to wait for the gala?” I whispered. “So you can expose him for being my father?”
Silence again.
“Paige, we need to talk.”
“I don’t think that we do, Mr. Locke,” I said politely, steeling myself. My mom was a strong woman. She was the strongest. If she could stand up to powerful men, then I could, too. “I never want to see you again. Ever. I mean that. I’m leaving your flash drive in the pencil holder of the post office on 3rd Avenue,” I said. “Come and get it if you want. I don’t care.”
I hung up the phone, dropped the flash drive in the pencil holder, and gathered up the mail. Then I walked out of the post office, got into my car, and screamed.
Chapter 18
Locke