Page 60 of Wicked Throne

She sounded chipper. “Ivy, sorry to bother you. I just wanted to talk to you really quickly. Has the lawyer talked to you?”

My stomach slightly twisted. What could my father’s lawyer want to talk to me about? He’d pretty much given Thierry everything. My eyes involuntarily rolled in my head.

“No,” I said. “I haven’t talked to him.”

She took a deep breath. “John only left me a measly five hundred thousand dollars and access to the profits that are coming in through the businesses but it still won’t be much.”

“Honestly, Nautica I was assuming Daddy cut me out of the will.”

She huffed. “Hardly. You were his heir. He didn’t want John Jr. growing up in the life so a trust fund was set up for him but I have no access to it. Only you. He put thirty million dollars in it.”

My eyes nearly bugged out of my head. My father had had a mind for business. He’d graduated from Moorehouse by the scrap of his teeth with a business degree but he’d been in the streets hustling too. He had understood supply and demand like a motherfucker, especially with the drug game.

Just like me,I thought.

I’d known my father had money but I didn’t know the extent of the financials. At some point, I would be in the mind to sit down and crunch the numbers from his cartel but I just wasn't quite in that mindset yet.

“What do you want me to do about this Nautica?”

She paused in her ranting about how my daddy could screw her over like this. “I don’t know….I just….”

“Nautica, if you ever need help with anything I’m happy to help. I’ll see about getting some of the money from the baby’s account released into a private checking.”

“Really? Even after how…”

I knew what she wanted to say. We’d been big enemies the moment she had slept with my father; the moment she had gotten a diamond ring so big it could have fed the city for years.

“Yes…even after.”

Some people would have called this exchange growth. I called it becoming a more polished southern bell.

We ended the call after I told her I’d see her when I got back. She sounded a little relieved. Thoughts of my father were in my head. I was sure he’d be proud of me for agreeing to help her. He was a slick man…even from the grave he could manipulate me.

“Who was that?”

Thierry had just come out of the bathroom, a white plush towel slung low along his waist. His beard looked freshly trimmed, and his dark hair that had grown out just a bit looked neat and in place.

“Who do you think it was?”

“Wife…”

His tone sounded so dangerous.

Coming over, I draped my arms around his shoulders. “Calm down. It was my stepmother of all people. I’ve been kind of dodging her calls.”

“Why?”

“Nautica and I have a history…she was my babysitter originally and my dad married her so soon after my mom died.”

“And now she’s all you have left,” Thierry’s hand went to my chin.

My heart still felt heavy. Even though we’d had time to prepare and say goodbye, it still didn’t feel right that my father was gone.

“Her and…and the baby,” I sighed. “My dad did something with his trust fund and she’s going to need access but I’m named as being in charge of it. So, I told her I would get her access to the funds. I need to call the lawyer anyway. He needs to tell me exactly what my daddy left me.”

I read Thierry’s face. If he knew anything about my father’s plans he was playing it extremely cool.

“Let's just relax while we’re here,” he kissed me on the lips. It was just a peck, the flesh of his lips feeling like soft satin. I’d never paid attention before but Thierry’s bottom lip was a plump….ripe but biting.