Page 48 of Unwillingly His

The very last thing I was going to do was buy a fucking garden party dress today.

That breakfast was humiliating.

To make it worse, the majordomo of the house wouldn’t let me get up until I finished my plate. He watched me eat like he was scoring my posture and fork positions.

Judging by the scowl on his face, he disapproved of my table manners, which was ridiculous.

I had been brought up in the best prep schools. I had been taught proper etiquette and manners since I was a child. Lucian could have brought the King of England for dinner, and I would know the proper etiquette.

When I was finally allowed to leave the table, I stormed up to my room, or rather our room, and sat on the bed, trying to figure out what to do. I had two hours before my lawyer would be in for the day.

After the judge ruled against me, I’d tried to reach my lawyer, and again, several times over the next few days. His secretary had been blocking me. It seemed the only way I would be getting ahold of him was to march into his office and demand his attention.

That was my plan, but I had some time to kill first.

I activated my new card and researched conservatorships in the state of New York.

There was so much information, it was starting to make my head spin.

I dug some of the documents out of my purse, needing to reread them. I still couldn’t understand how he’d gotten away with this. Scanning through the paragraphs of indecipherable legalese, I looked for something that almost made sense.

Then I found it, right in front of me, in black and white.

It is the court’s opinion that the sudden death of Ms. Stella Jane Deiderich’s family has left her grief-stricken and in a position where she cannot be trusted to maintain her family’s estates. All assets that would have been bequeathed to her by her parents are to be placed in a trust with Mr. Lucian Manwarring, Sr. In addition to managing her finances, Mr. Manwarring will also be appointed her power of attorney as well as her health care proxy. The list of duties appointed to Mr. Manwarring is as follows…

The list afterward was impressive. It systematically notated that the court had taken away every right I had.

Sure enough, in the middle of that list, it stated that Mr. Manwarring got to decide where I lived, if I went back to school, everything.

He had the right to void any contracts I signed without his approval, including but not limited to leases, employment contracts, and marriage licenses.

I’d give him this much: his lawyers and that judge may have been corrupt, vile men, but they were thorough.

I wasn’t allowed to do anything, at least not until I got back to my lawyer and made him face me and tell me how to fight this.

If Lucian Manwarring expected a docile little ward he could intimidate, threaten, and play with, a little mouse he could turn into a submissive and an obedient housewife, he had another thing coming.

I was still a Deiderich, and I would fight this.

As soon as my phone said it was 8:30 a.m., I had to go.

My lawyer began his day at 9:00, and I needed to be the first person he saw.

Getting out of the mansion was a little trickier than I had anticipated.

The English butler, whom I now referred to as Jeeves, at least in my head, seemed to be everywhere. I wasn’t sure if he was going to stop me from leaving again. Since his boss wasn’t here, maybe I was free to do as I wanted. No one had told me I wasn’t allowed to leave.

However, I knew that if he saw me go, he would immediately tell Lucian.

There shouldn’t have been a way he could track me, but on the off chance he had put something in my bag or had some other invasive way to track me, I didn’t want him to know ahead of time where I was going.

It took a fair bit of sneaking and going down a long hallway with my back pressed against the wall.

I even had to double back twice to avoid Jeeves or another maid who reported to him.

Finally, I got to the front door. Just as I gripped the handle, a nasally English voice came from behind me.

“Mr. Manwarring asked that I remind you there is an outing to attend at noon.”

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