“That’s my mother’s car,” Emma said with a frown as the Maybach approached the house. A silver Bentley sat at the curb.
My hackles were officially raised.
Emma didn’t look pleased. “What the Christ could she possibly be doing here?”
I had no idea. But if this why Neil had sent Emma and I out today, I would be furious.
I tried not to do the whole “woman scorned” thing as I stormed through the foyer and up the first flight of stairs. “Neil?” I called out. “We’re home.”
“Um, we’re up here,” he called out, and I could tell from his tone that he knew he’d been caught. “We’re in the library.”
Emma let me lead the way, and we found the study doors open. Neil sat in the armchair in front of the fire place, a blanket tucked around his legs. He was in his navy pajamas, with a scarf covering his head. On the couch perpendicular to him, Valerie sat holding a rocks glass of something amber colored, and beside her was a man in a gray suit. He stood when we entered.
“This is Ms. Scaife, I presume?” the man said, extending his hand.
I shook it briefly. “Sophie, please. You are?”
“Sophie, this is Alan, he’s handling some things with my estate,” Neil said quietly.
Oh. So, that explained Valerie’s presence. After all, she was his business partner.
But I couldn’t help but feel a little hurt that Neil sent me away. It wasn’t as though I would have intruded if he’d wanted to take this meeting privately. I was good enough to be trusted with his day to day medical care, but I couldn’t know he was talking to Valerie about his will?
“Emma, your father has something he’d like to tell you,” Valerie said, patting the space between her and Alan.
Emma went to the couch and sat down, and I went to the desk and rolled over the office chair to sit beside Neil. What the hell was going on? Had he gotten some bad news? I tried to remember if a doctor was supposed to call today. But if that were it, surely he would have contacted us. He would have told me, not Valerie, right?
Neil reached took my hand, looking over at me apologetically. “This concerns you, as well.” He turned back to Emma and cleared his throat. “When I revised my will during the divorce, I removed Elizabeth and made you the sole beneficiary of my estate. Your mother would become the Chief Executive of Elwood and Stern, but you would retain controlling interest in the company.”
“You would also have inherited your fathers’ property, with the exception of a few sentimental items he wanted distributed to family and friends,” Valerie put in.
“Would have?” Emma looked to Neil. “Dad, I don’t really want to know all the details of your will—”
“But you need to hear them,” Valerie interrupted. “Go on, Neil. Tell our daughter what you’ve decided.”
His gaze flicked up, and a sense of horrible realization crashed over me. It was good, because my foresight deadened the shock. “Aside from a small allowance to off-set the cost of care for your grandmother should I pass away before she does... I’m dividing the sum of my estate between you and Sophie, with Sophie receiving twenty-five percent of any liquid assets, as well as a small portion of stock in Elwood and Stern and the apartment in New York.”
“I have advised your father against this,” Alan said, giving me an apologetic look. “But he remains rather committed to the idea.”
“Neil, no.” I couldn’t breathe. I didn’t want to be talking about this. “You’re going to be fine, none of this is necessary.”
“We don’t know that I’m going to be fine,” he argued gently. “And it will ease my mind greatly knowing that you’re taken care of, should the worst transpire.”
“I don’t need twenty-five percent of six billion dollars.” I pulled my hand from his. My face was hot. The asparagus from lunch threatened to make a return appearance. “I don’t... were you even going to discuss this with me? I’m not going to agree to this.”
“You don’t have to agree to it,” Valerie interjected. “He can do what he wants. If I were you, I would get used to it.”
“Oh, shut up, Valerie, nobody fucking asked you!” I snapped, before I could stop myself. The room went deathly silent.
Her eyes flared. She turned to Neil, as if expecting him to scold me. When he said nothing, she set her drink on the end table and got up to storm from the room.
Emma gave me a very clear “what the hell?” glare and got up, following her.
“Damnit.” I closed my eyes and dropped my head back. “We’re not done, Neil. We’re going to talk. I’ll be right back.”
He didn’t try to stop me from leaving as I followed Valerie out of the room and into the hallway.