“He knew I was there,” Keaton chimes in. “He knew I didn’t leave with Perry and Winston. Nate’s always been cool but he was flipping his shit. I got a weird feeling by some of the things he’d said like maybe he could see us.”
I pace the floor, guilt eating at me. “A couple times before, he’d tried to come in and wait for Winston. He said he had a key. I’d believed him. I’m sure he planted a camera during one of those visits.”
“A camera?” Tinsley asks, eyes wide with shock.
“We pretended to be getting drinks to watch a movie,” Keaton says, “and found it stuck to a liquor bottle.”
Caroline’s expression is unreadable. “What does your brother think of this tidbit of information?”
“Still with the Morellis,” Keaton answers. “Decided this was our safest place to lie low until they finish.”
“I don’t understand why Nate would put a camera in Winston’s house,” Tinsley says, a frown of confusion on her face. “He comes to family brunch a lot and is like a partner or something at Halcyon.”
“Not a partner,” Caroline and I say in unison.
“I think Nate hates me,” I admit with a sigh. “He’s probably trying to get proof that I’m just some poor maid after Winston’s money. Then Win can be free to date Layla.” I make sure to say her name in the distasteful way so they know exactly how I feel about the rich widow who sometimes goes to lunch with my boyfriend.
“You’re not poor,” Caroline says, ignoring the Layla comment altogether. “Not by a long shot.”
“I’ve earned some money,” I admit, not meeting her gaze because how I earned that money isn’t something you want to tell your boyfriend’s mother.
“I’m not talking about that money.”
That money?
As though I have piles of it lying around.
“I was having a little chat with Ulrich when I dropped you off today,” Caroline reveals. “He found some interesting information about Winston’s new little…” She trails off.
“Lover? Obsession? Girlfriend?” I offer with a shrug. Future love of his life and mother of his children?
“Distraction.” Caroline flashes me a predatory smile that makes me shiver. “You have many secrets, don’t you?”
I frown at her. “My only secrets were revealed this week.”
“Tell me,” Caroline says, iciness in her tone, “since you couldn’t have your inheritance, you thought to go after something better?”
I glance over at Keaton in confusion. His brows are furrowed but he says nothing. Tinsley is just as lost as I am.
“I don’t have an inheritance,” I explain slowly. “I had a college fund but Dad blew through that when he was wooing the stepmonster mommy.” I sigh, waving my hand in the air. “That’s what got me into this whole mess in the first place.”
Caroline’s probing stare peels me apart, flaying through every miniscule expression I make. She can probably even hear my heartbeat because she’s creepy like that. I wait for her to find whatever it is she’s looking for—whatever it is she thinks I’m hiding. I’d like to know about it too if it’s there.
“This ‘mess’ being a relationship with my son.” Her brow arches.
I stifle a grin, biting on my bottom lip so hard it hurts. “‘Mess’ is the polite way of putting it.” The Winston Freak Show is more like it.
“Sit down, girl, you’re giving me a headache having to crane my neck up to look at you,” Caroline finally says in exasperation, her veneered façade cracking slightly. “Keaton, make us some tea.”
He elbows his sister. “Go make some tea.”
“Isn’t that what Agatha is for? I don’t know how to make tea.” Tinsley scowls at him.
“I could make it,” I offer with a shrug.
“Sit,” Caroline commands.
She doesn’t have to say anything else to Keaton because he stands, yanking Tinsley up to her feet, and mutters, “You have to help me figure this shit out.”
Once we’re alone, Caroline’s grimaced features smooth out. “When I began looking into—the poor maid who was distracting my son—imagine my surprise when I learned who your grandmother was.”
Mom didn’t talk much about her. My grandmother died when I was little, but Mom didn’t take me to the funeral. I’d always guessed there was bad blood between them, but never asked since Mom never brought her mother up.
“Barbara comes from one of the oldest families in the city,” Caroline tells me. “Old money.”
“Mom didn’t like her all that much. I think they had a strained relationship. From what Dad told me the other day, though, Mom gave up her inheritance to be with him. Kind of romantic, really.”
“What do you think became of the money?” Caroline asks. “When Barbara died?”
“Went to charity?”
She laughs, cold and mocking. “Silly, naïve child. No.”
“It certainly didn’t go to me,” I grit out. “Dad wouldn’t have had to rob my college fund if so.”
“That’s because it’s still tied up in stipulations.” Her blue eyes harden as she sweeps her critical stare over me. “Do you know what those were?”