Page 5 of The Sunny Side (Rojo 2nd Generation: Rojo Police Department #3)
C LANCY
“I’ll be twenty-eight in a month,” I explained.
“And that’s when you’ll gain access to your trust fund. And how old are you?” Ms. Parker asked Tansy.
“I’m twenty-four.”
Darcy added, “And I’m twenty-five.”
“I have to admit, trusts and the like are not my forte, but since Sophie told me about your situation a few months ago, I’ve done quite a bit of research.
Your case has really piqued my interest. You say that your father hasn’t given you access to any information about the funds or how they’re being managed? ”
“Exactly. The only way we knew that they even existed was because he’s been using them to threaten us for years.”
“And now that you’re older, you’ve decided to get out from under his oppressive thumb for good,” Ms. Parker said simply.
“Sophie told me how he’s treated the three of you since your mother’s passing, and that’s part of the reason this case has grabbed me.
I detest assholes, and your father seems to be the kind of man who proudly wears that label. ”
“He loves it when people are afraid of him, especially when they have less money than he does.”
“Something I hate even more than assholes is bullies,” Ms. Parker said with a predatory grin.
“She’s also told me about what a pleasant person your stepmother is, and I have to say, I haven’t quite figured out what category she fits into yet, but either way, I hate her with my entire being, and my mission in life is to make her cry.
I don’t know how or when that will happen, but it’s important to have goals, right? ”
“Do you already have a best friend? The only reason I ask is because I have an open position, and I think I love you, Ms. Parker,” Darcy said earnestly.
“If we’re going to be best friends, then I think you should call me Petra.
” She looked at her computer screen and said, “I’ve been going over the documents that you scanned and sent over, and there are a few inconsistencies in the withdrawals and deposits that caught my eye.
You say that the man who is in charge of these accounts is a close friend of your father’s? ”
“They’re old cronies who have been working together for years. I don’t know that either man is capable of friendship. Our father refers to Donald as his banker, and I’m sure Donald thinks of Dad as his personal cash cow.”
“Well, from what I can gather, I believe he considers all of you his personal cash cows. Now, whether that has anything to do with your father is yet to be seen, but there are certain entities that would be very interested in the way he has been managing your money. I’m sure they’d also be curious about where some of that money has gone and where even more of it came from. ”
“He’s been investing it for years, so I assumed that when there were large deposits, it was because he’d gotten a good return.”
“An investigation will tell us if that’s the case or not. However, I have enough proof of mismanagement here to remove him from all the accounts, not just yours, Ms. Middleton.”
“Please, just call us by our names. Otherwise, this could get really confusing,” Tansy explained.
“Okay. We’ll need to find an outside party to manage your accounts, Tansy and Darcy, but since you’ll gain access to yours in a month, Clancy, we won’t worry about finding one for you.
It will take at least that long to get the ball rolling on this, so if you guys can stick it out until Clancy’s birthday next month, I think we’ll be able to move all of the funds at one time.
We’ll set that date as our goal, but if things move faster than that, I’ll let you know. ”
“We’ve been dealing with this our entire lives. Another month won’t kill us,” I assured her.
“I would suggest that you start moving toward cutting off all monetary contact with your father in the meantime. I found the title information on the townhouse he gifted you after graduation, and that property is not in your name. Therefore, it doesn’t belong to you.
It’s held by a shell corporation that can be traced back to your father.
I’m sure when you drop this bombshell on him, his first response will be to lock you out of the property and hold its contents hostage until you step back into line. ”
“We’ll start packing the minute we get home and rent a storage unit for our things until we’re ready to leave.”
“I would suggest that you have someone rent it - someone who is not connected to your father in any way- and then they can let you use it. That way, there’s no way for him to intercede.”
“I have a close friend whom our father has never met who would be more than happy to do that for us,” I assured the lawyer. “Do you have any other suggestions?”
“I wouldn’t give anyone a reason to think something’s up in case this backfires.
Just go with the status quo until you hear from me.
We’re going to get things done, but I can’t guarantee the timeline.
Like anything to do with the legal system, you just have to cross your fingers and hope things move quickly. ”
“We can handle anything as long as we know there’s hope somewhere down the road.”
“Like a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow or something,” Tansy added.
Petra chuckled before she said, “Consider me the rainbow because at the end of all of this, you will have huge pots of money.”
When our appointment was over, we went back to the lobby and waited for our cousin Sophie to finish her call. The second she did, she put down the receiver and asked, “Is she going to fix it?”
When I nodded, Sophie squealed and ran around the partition that was her desk and threw her arms around me. I was almost too emotional to speak, but as I hugged her tight, I quietly said, “You’re the best, Soph. We’ll never be able to repay you.”
“You can buy me lunch and let me show you something I’ve been working on. Then I’ll introduce you to a few more people who will be more than happy to help you with a fresh start far away from that bastard.”
“Even if I bought your lunch for the next fifty years, it still wouldn’t be enough,” I argued.
Sophie let go of me and hugged Darcy and Tansy before she said, “I haven’t really done anything, but if I had, getting to see you guys more often would make it worth my while.”
◆◆◆
ONE MONTH AGO
“Would it kill you to be on time?” I smiled at the host, who pulled out my chair, and then sat down and looked over at my stepmother as I waited for her to finish her rant.
Generally, she had no less than three every time we got together.
Her first one lasted about three minutes and was full of complaints about the same topics.
As if on cue, she jumped right into her second rant.
“And my goodness, Clarisse, would it kill you to take some time with your appearance?”
Wow. She was changing things up today. She usually didn’t start insulting my looks until she’d finished her first glass of wine.
I ignored Collette and looked over at my father, who finally glanced up from his phone and gave me a cursory once-over before he muttered a veiled insult.
“Your clothes are tight, Clarisse. Should we schedule your trainer to come more than three times a week?”
Actually, that might not be a bad idea. Jarrod and I had become great friends and used our time together to create new dishes in the kitchen rather than work out in the expensive home gym my father had insisted on installing in the basement of our townhome.
However, Jarrod and I had cooked our farewell meal together just yesterday.
“What’s your excuse for being tardy today, Clarisse? Obviously, you weren’t taking extra time on your makeup. Are you even wearing any?” Collette asked.
“I had a meeting at the bank that ran longer than expected.”
“What business could you possibly have at the bank?” my father asked as he set his phone aside and focused on me. His glower had intimidated me for most of my life, but then I realized that he didn’t have any other facial expression, probably because he’d been married to Collette for so long.
“Today is my twenty-eighth birthday, so I needed to sign the paperwork to gain access to my trust fund.”
My father picked up his phone and said, “I’ll have Donald transfer it to a market account this afternoon.”
“Donald doesn’t have access to my money anymore, Father. I’ve moved it to a different bank.”
Dad looked up at me and scoffed before he said, “That was unnecessary. Move it back.”
“Speaking of moving, I’ll be leaving tomorrow,” I said as my sisters arrived and took a seat on either side of me. “Actually, we all will.”
Our father chuckled before he said, “Don’t be ridiculous, Clarisse.”
“Sit up straight, Delphine,” Collette ordered.
Darcy put her elbows on the table and then lifted both middle fingers before she replied, “Fuck off, Collette.”
Tansy giggled as she reached across the table and picked up Collette’s wine glass. She took a sip and then said, “Preach, girl.”
Collette’s face got so red that I worried about the integrity of her botox. Suddenly, I had a vision of her face melting off and dripping onto her pristine white sweater set. I burst out laughing.
“Holy shit! She’s gonna blow!” Tansy cackled as she watched Collette fume. She took another sip of wine and then sat the glass back down in front of our stepmother before she said, “This might help.”
“What has gotten into the three of you?” our father hissed as he leaned forward and glared at us. “You will not cause a scene!”
“Why not? I’ve been dreaming about it since I was old enough to realize that everyone in this place hates you almost as much as we do,” Darcy said loudly. “As a matter of fact, I think I should take it a step further. What do you think, Therese ?”