“Why? What’s going—” Jamie’s smile drops into a scowl as he looks across the room to the ornate staircase.
The couple of the hour make their grand entrance in the most over-the-top, rich people's way—including a music change by the string quartet.
She’s young and beautiful, with dark hair expertly pulled into an updo and a dress that’s old Hollywood but completely sheer. I half expect a flock of crows and a fog machine as she descends the stairs like an evil queen. I can’t help but think she looks familiar, but given the crowd she’s running with, she’s probably been in a commercial or something.
She’s on the arm of what Dani would call a Silver Fox, and what I just see as an older version of Tommy the Douche. Somehow, he has softer features—like he hasn’t spent his entire life being an asshole—but he’s still smug as hell.
“Shit,” James mumbles under his breath.
“What’s wrong?”
“Come on, this way,” Chase says, pulling Jamie’s arm.
“That’s my sister.”
Before Jamie can turn and run, which is what he and Chase are trying to do, the woman glares right at him with a malicious smile.
“That’s Elle.”
CHAPTER28
SEASON OF THE WITCH
??? LANA DEL REY
—6 MONTHS AGO?—
“What do you want, Elle?”
“What do I want? Oh, James. I just wanted to relay how sorry I am that your father passed away. I know you were close.”
“Ourfather, Elle. He was our father.” I had hoped that this was the olive branch. That we could move on from whatever hatred she’s built toward me and start acting like family. As soon as I laid eyes on the lawyer, I realized I was alone—I had no family left.
“It’s hard to think of him that way when I never knew him.” She’s smug, dressed like she’s headed to a board meeting in some tall tower downtown, and looking at me like I’m dirt.
“That wasn’t his fault. You’re the one who refused to see him. He tried, Elle. He tried all the damn time and you know it.”
“He loved you more.”
“Jesus,” I say under my breath, rubbing my eyes and looking around the living room. “What the fuck do you want?”
The lawyer hands me an envelope that’s stamped with a red Confidential and Urgent across it. It looks like something you’d see out of a spy thriller, and I have no idea why this asshole is giving it to me.
“Ourmother wanted you to have this.” I stare at it blankly and, after a pause, her eyebrow raises and she cackles like some kind of cartoon villain. “You really are clueless? Oh, that’s fantastic! This is better than I thought! What a fucking moron!”
“What are you talking about? What is this?”
“Ask me what I want again.” Her maniacal laughter sends chills up my spine, while she pretends to dab tears from her eyes. I don’t think she’s ever shed a tear in her miserable life.
“What do you want?”
“Everything, James. All of it. I’ll get it, too.” She pulls open her phone and reads from it, but I don’t understand the legal terms and can’t think straight at the moment anyhow. “All of that boils down to:you’re fucked. You’ll find it all in the contract that your dearly departed father never amended after the divorce. You’ve got one year to contest it before it becomes legally binding. Good luck finding a lawyer though, because as of this morning, you’re broke.”
“Why the hell would I be broke?”
“Because you don’t have access to dad’s money. His insurance money and bank accounts, all of it goes to Mother. You paid for the funeral already, and you’re not getting any of that money back from his estate. The funeral is non-refundable, I checked.”
“No. No, he…he took care of that.”
