Grant’s jaw worked back and forth. “I am working towards partner at Dad’s law firm. I work fifty hours a week. When do you suggest I put in those five hundred hours of volunteer time?”
“Five hundred hours?” Annabelle gaped.
Clark threw the folder down on the table. “This will is a joke. I’ll get it thrown out in court in a matter of weeks.”
“You can try, but trust me, you won’t succeed.” But what they could do was tie up the estate for years to come, leaving Kenna in a miserable state of limbo.
“You have got to be kidding me. She left her estate to that—that—” Annabelle couldn’t even finish her sentence.
“Be very careful what you say next, Mrs. Abbot.” My fingers closed around my pen, my knuckles turning white.
Grant quickly scanned the pages of the will before his head snapped in his father’s direction. “She can’t do this, can she? That property is worth millions.”
Clark was focused on the papers in front of him. He did his best not to let any part of his expression give anything away, but the small tic in his cheek betrayed him. “I need more time with the document.”
Annabelle’s lips pressed into a thin line. “If you think we will sit by while our family home is taken over by a user who wants nothing more than to bleed our family dry, you are in for a rude awakening.”
I forced my voice to remain even, not letting the rage that was coursing through me erupt. “You mean the home you’ve been to twice in the past ten years? And the woman who has taken care of Harriet from the moment she received her diagnosis. The one who cooked for her, arranged for the house to be taken care of, took Harriet to doctors’ appointments, and made sure that she never, not once, felt alone. That woman?”
“She’s a con artist. Just like her mother,” Annabelle retorted.
I started to speak, but Grant cut me off, his jaw hard. “You don’t know what that woman has put my family through already. She paints a pretty sob story, but she’s a manipulative shark underneath it all. Kenna pulled the wool over my grandmother’s eyes, and she’s doing the same to you. Ask around the island. See what she’s really like. What her mother is like. Then you’ll start to see the truth.”
“This meeting is over.” Clark rose from his seat, motioning for Annabelle and Grant to do the same. “You’ll be hearing from me.”
I sank back into my chair as I watched the miserable crew exit my office. They were going to be more than a headache.
“You look a little worse for wear. Late night last night?”
I tried to force a grin at Ford as I slid onto a stool at The Catch, but it came out as more of a grimace. “I wish. More like the day from hell.” I’d spent the last couple of hours making sure all the paperwork was in place in case the Abbots did something stupid, like try to contest the will. I’d thought of calling Kenna, warning her what might be on the horizon, but she was already dealing with so much. I didn’t want to add more weight to her shoulders until I knew just what we were up against.
Ford glanced around the bar, making sure no one was paying special attention to our conversation. “Bell’s dad called her. He let her know there might be trouble for Kenna. Did Harriet really leave her The Gables?”
“Kenna didn’t tell Bell?” I figured Kenna’s first call when she walked out of my office would’ve been to Bell and Caelyn. Those girls were like her other limbs.
Ford grabbed a pint glass and began filling it with Guinness. “Nope. Bell tore out of here like the hounds of hell were on her heels, so I’m guessing they’re having a meeting of the minds now.”
That was good. Kenna needed all the support she could get right now. But I hated the idea of her hiding her pain and her fear from the people who loved her the most. Shoving that stuff down only led to bad things down the road.
Ford handed me the beer. “You want a meal, or are you gonna drink your dinner?”
I chuckled. “Thanks. I’d better put something in my stomach. How about the Reuben?”
“Coming right up.” Ford called over to Darlene, one of the waitresses, to put the order in. “So…” Ford met