time of evicting her?”
“Not the plan. I’ll take all her money away, including what she gets from the trust.”
Stanton sputtered. “Holy shit, Tris. Can you do that?”
“You bet I can. Oh, and did I tell you I fired Sherman?”
Another choking sputter came out of him. “What the hell! How did you manage that? Better yet, why?”
“The man was robbing us blind.” I sat down again and told Stanton, “I went over everything Sherman had been billing us for and it was four times what it should’ve been. He’s been living off us for too long. Dad never ordered anything in the will that says you can’t run the company. I am the executor, but Sherman lied about too many things. After having two other highly qualified attorneys review the will, there was nothing of the sort in there. You can run the company without me at all. I am the trustee though. Mom was given a percentage of the wealth and the ability to live here for however long she wants. Ravina can go to work in the company if she wants, but she’s shown zero initiative.” It totally pissed me off that her actions were so selfishly driven.
“Why do you think Sherman did it?”
“Mom. He and Mother are thick and probably have been having a relationship for years.”
Stanton nodded. “Makes sense. Dad was considerably older.”
“True, but Sherman was Dad’s friend. That’s disgusting any way you look at it.”
“Oh, I’m not condoning it in any way. I’m just not surprised. Mother was always a cold fish.”
“She should’ve picked someone other than him. Regardless, he’s out of our hair now, and she’ll be paying the price. I’m reducing her monthly stipend.”
Stanton’s brows rose. “Can you do that?”
“I sure can. As the executor, I received all power to do that. Mom does receive money, but Dad must’ve known some shenanigans were going on because he added a codicil that Sherman didn’t share with us. It stipulates I can change her stipend, if I so deem. Oh, and before I forget, I’ve updated my will so if anything should happen to me, you inherit everything I did and if something happens to you, Landry does. I’m keeping it out of the hands of the greedy ones.”
Stanton hobbled back to bed and I assisted him to get situated. “Thanks for that.” He offered me a snarky grin.
“Anytime. Okay, I’m off for my chat. I’ll see you later this week.”
Mother and Ravina waited for me as I entered the drawing room. Ravina glanced at her diamond-encrusted watch and said, “I thought you stated three. It’s three-twenty.”
“I’ve been upstairs with Stanton.”
“You could’ve texted.”
“As could you. How’s the job hunt?”
“A disaster.” She pouted.
“Oh? What’s going on?”
She stood, did a circle around the room in her designer outfit, then sank back onto the settee. “All those inferior people ask me such mundane questions. ‘What are your qualifications? Why do you want this position? Why should we hire you?’ As if my name doesn’t speak for itself.”
Was she serious? Of course she was. Christ, the woman was a pain in my ass. “Let me fill you in on something. You’re not the queen of England. No one is inferior to you, Ravina. In fact, it’s the opposite. You’re close to thirty years old, college-educated with zero experience. And why’s that? Because you are a spoiled lazy brat. Besides that, you’re most unpleasant to be around with your better-than-thou attitude. My suggestion is change. Change it all because in two weeks, your allowance gets cut to nearly nothing.”
“You can’t do that to me.”
“I can and I will.”
“Mother, make him stop.”
“Sorry, Ravina, but Mother is powerless in this. She can’t help you. But don’t worry, you won’t starve. You’ll have a roof over your head and food to eat. However, if you don’t get a job, you’ll receive no spending money each month. I will cancel your disbursement.”
Her nostrils flared and she stood. “Fine,” she spat, and then flounced out of the room.
Mother looked down her cosmetically altered nose at me, though how she did it I didn’t know, since I was much larger than her. “That went well, Tristian.”
“I thought so. As for you, I thought you should know I fired Sherman this morning.”
She paled as her jaw slackened. “Y-you what?”
“Don’t play dumb with me. It didn’t take long for my attorneys to find out what the two of you had tried without success. Stanton will run the company, along with Landry. Your stipend will be reduced as of today.