Fisher (Prince of Tigers, #3) - Kathi S. Barton Page 0,45

to even make a payment on the funeral was more than they had. The insurance money? The one you’ve been trying to get? It went for paying for her funeral, and that of your father. You left them with nothing. And that is what you’re getting. Nothing.”

“Who told you that? Piper? I know for a fact there is—” The paperwork she tossed at him was written in his sister’s pen. He knew it was hers too. The girl wrote like there was going to be a grade on anything that she put to paper. “Where did you get this? From her again?”

“The lawyer that came to see us. Not only did he show us every little thing that was purchased, but he also was kind enough to tell us about the money your mother put into an account when you were a child. Enough money, thankfully, to get Rachel and I out of the poor house and pay the back taxes you were supposed to have paid.”

“Good old Mom is going to save me.” He put out his hand. “Tell me how much it is, Bonny, and I’ll make sure it gets into the right hands. You might well have saved me from prison right now. Honey, we’re going to be on easy street after this. I’m going to put the money to good use, I promise you.”

“I’m not going to give you anything.” He told her it was his. That his mom had saved it. “I don’t care if God himself put that money in an account for you. You’re not going to need it where you’re going. Prison. Right where you belong.”

He couldn’t believe his wife was speaking to him this way. It was like she was an entirely different person. There was no reasoning with her like this. Louis turned to his daughter, the light of his life right now.

“Don’t bother, Father. I’m finished with you too. Had it not been for Aunt Piper, Peter and I would be screwed in being able to go to college. She and her new husband have paid our way into the dorms, as well as given us each enough money to pay our tuition and books for the next four years. Longer if we need it.” Louis told her that was why he needed the money, he wanted to put her on easy street too. “Sure, you do. I was already on easy street, as you call it, but you fucked that up for me when you decided my education wasn’t as important to you as the next deal. As I said, I’m done with you. Don’t expect me to feel sorry for you or to help you in any way. You’re a terrible father, and always have been.”

“That’s not fair. How did you come up with me not being a good father to you?” She sent her own paper toward him. On it was a list of money that he’d borrowed from her. Birthday money, Christmases when they’d been so broke they couldn’t even have a nice meal. There were a lot of them too. “This is what a family does, Rachel. They support each other and their dreams.”

“My dream was for you to pay me back when you took my money. My dream was for me to go to college to become a good attorney so that I could see you put in prison for the way you treated us. Not to mention how you treated Grandma and Grandpa. They were so ill, and you left them to die. Aunt Piper is the only one in your family that never gave up on them.” Rachel stood up. “I will see you in hell before I have anything to do with you again. You have taken and taken my entire life, and I’m finished with having to watch as you destroy Mom too.”

He looked at his wife when Rachel left them there. She was crying, and he didn’t understand what she had to be so upset about. Rachel had yelled at him, not her. He finally couldn’t take it anymore and slammed his hands on the table.

“Straighten up and wipe those tears away. What is going on here? Why am I the bad guy in all this?” Louis shook his head. “You had a roof over your head, didn’t you? A car to drive around. All that was because of me.”

“I had a job that I didn’t tell you about. I worked every day at a shit job so