Page 99 of Forever We Fall

“Your uncle doesn’t have enough money to pay his taxes, and he already owes the parish on the order of eleven thousand pounds in back taxes,” Dean explains.

Baymain whistles from his spot behind me.

The woman stares at me, awaiting a response.

“Okay.”

Her head tilts like an inquisitive puppy’s would. “You’re not upset?”

“About what?” I grimace. “It’s not as though I like the house anyway. It’s a mess. Someone else would take better care of it. Restore it.”

“Your inheritance?” Both her brows shoot up.

“What do you mean?” I wasn’t invited into the meetings with the lawyers when my family’s inheritance and my guardianship were turned over to the devil himself. I’m a minor. I don’t have any right to know the fate of my future.

I got to learn it the hard way. Through vile words and putrid acts.

Sure, I know my uncle burned through millions in months with nothing to show for it. He loved to taunt me with that information.

Every time, I told him I didn’t care about the money. All I wanted was my freedom. Freedom I wasn’t granted until I took it. I’m not about to let a detective from Oxford steal it away.

“You don’t know about your inheritance?” She runs her tongue over her teeth.

“I know my parents left me money for school, and that was the only reason I was going to such a proper spot for ‘stuffy windbags.’” I use air quotes to define my uncle’s least caustic words. I let my face fall as realization sets in. “He squandered my family’s money?”

“I’ll say,” Wentzel chimes in. Baymain’s heavy sigh is agreement enough.

I let my jaw unhinge, and my brows wrinkle. “Can I stay in school? I don’t want to leave. I can’t leave. I need an education, but I don’t have any money.” I scrub a hand over my face, then grab the back of my neck. My gaze jumps from one detective to the other. “Do I have to leave?”

“That’s all you care about?” Dean lifts the bank statements. “What about your inheritance?”

“Do I have to leave school?” I shoot back.

“No, your parents set up a separate fund and parameters around it that didn’t allow your uncle to touch that money.” She drops the document onto her pile.

“Oh, thank you.” I slump back against the chair, sighing heavily.

Maybe I should be more concerned about this questioning. What does it say about me that I can act and lie so easily without so much as an elevated heart rate? It probably says that after facing my uncle, adults who don’t beat my ass and rape me aren’t a problem no matter how serious the situation.

“You really don’t care about your inheritance?” She leans as far forward as she has the entire time, her gaze narrowed on me.

“Do I have enough for college?” I ask, forcing hesitancy into my tone.

“University?” she corrects.

“Yes, does the account have enough for that too?”

“It does.” She plows ahead. “What about your inheritance? The millions?”

I meet her gaze squarely. “I’ll make my own.”

“You’re just going to make your own?” Her brow furrows as if she doesn’t understand.

“Look, I’m not going to wait around for a guy who doesn’t give a shit about his own life enough to make his own way in the world to turn up and think he’s going to help my situation in anymeaningful way. I don’t have a family or anyone to rely on. So I’ll rely on myself.”

Myself and Hota. Hopefully, Hota can rely on me and my millions one day. Though, knowing him, he’ll make his own.

“Please,” Nate begs before he’s even in the room. “Another month and I’ll be gone. Don’t make me leave a virgin.” He shoves a bottle of lube into my hand. The pleading in his soft amber eyes is next level. Kicking a starved puppy territory.

---