Torch (Great Wolves MC) - Jayne Blue Page 0,9
You want clarity? Here it is. No more. No more allowances. No more credit cards. Nothing. You’re cut off. You won’t see another dime of our money until you knock off this nonsense and get back here where you belong.”
Strange. I suppose that threat should have scared me. Uncle George wasn’t actually paying me. He was letting me stay rent-free in an apartment building he owned just down the road from the office.
“Mom,” I said. “I can take care of myself.”
“We’ll see about that,” she said.
There were sounds of a shuffle. Then my father sighed. “Sydney?”
“I’m here.”
“Are you sure you’re okay?”
“I really am.” Though a wave of panic started to set in. Would my mother do worse than cut me off from my funds? Could she even do that at all? The bulk of the Bailey money came from a trust my great-grandfather set up before I was even born. He’d started a church at the turn of the last century and turned it into an evangelical empire. He’d been one of the few whose fortunes sustained through the market crash and the Great Depression.
Now, my father had built on that fortune as the head of the family megachurch and a charitable foundation. I was expected to take over the foundation one day. But only after I’d gotten the right pedigree at Yale or Vassar or another suitable Ivy League university. Then I was supposed to marry well and make a good political wife or something akin to it. Which was all well and good, but no one in my family ever seemed happy.
Except for Uncle George. The one that got away.
I don’t even remember most of the rest of the conversation with my father. It was really more of listening to my mother yell at him in the background. They were married on paper, but little else. If his congregation ever found out, it could ruin him. I couldn’t remember a time when my parents weren’t in some sort of argument or another. Usually it was about me.
I found a way to say goodbye. As I put my phone back on the charger, it occurred to me I was on my father’s plan with that as well. If he made good on his threat to cut me completely off, it meant he wouldn’t be able to get a hold of me so easily. That made me smile.
I got to the bathroom and took my migraine pills and prayed it was soon enough. I followed that with a full glass of water and a vigorous tooth brushing. A lukewarm shower, and I felt worlds better. I threw on a pair of black pants and a pink blouse. I only had enough time to twist my hair into a top knot before I headed out the door.
I felt the faint fog of the migraine pills kick in. I could concentrate on them, but they always left me feeling like the voices around me were far away.
I drove a rented Honda. That was another thing I’d have to deal with. I knew my mother wanted me to be scared of jumping off this particular cliff. But as each minute passed, I felt kind of excited.
There was only one problem. Uncle George wasn’t paying me other than free rent. That had been a lifesaver, but I needed money if I wanted to build a way out for myself.
I found him sitting in his office, mulling over deposition transcripts. He looked up and smiled, then dropped it when he saw the expression on my face.
“What’s wrong?”
I gestured to a chair in front of his desk. He nodded. I sat down.
I gave him the highlights of my conversation with my parents, leaving out the part about how they screamed at each other.
“Can he do it?” I asked. “My allowance, I mean.”
“Cut you off?” George asked. “I mean ... yes. Technically. He’ll need a consensus from the cousins who sit on the board. They all act as co-trustees. But they won’t want to get in the middle of a family squabble like this.”
I nodded. “Plus, they all probably agree with my dad that I’m out of my mind for coming to Lincolnshire.”
Uncle George smiled. “Yeah, they haven’t quite gotten over my doing it.”’
“But you survived. You don’t draw from the trust anymore. I mean, I’m sorry if I’m getting too far into your business.”
He put up a hand. “No. It’s okay. And the answer is no. I disclaimed any interest in that trust long ago. My