Page 3 of Defiled Innocence

“Sorry about that.” I smile back at Luther.

“You’re busy around here.” He tries to give a sympathetic smile, but I can see the tension behind it.

“Unfortunately, there are a lot of people struggling with mental illness and drug abuse in this city. Actually, everywhere,but I can only handle one area at a time.” The tiny section of the city that we service overloads us most weeks.

We’ll help anyone who walks through our doors, but most of our clients are from this neighborhood.

“I’ve always admired the work you’ve done with the foundation your brother helped you set up.” His eyes warm a little. “Which is partly why I’m here; there’s something in the estate that needs to be addressed right away because it affects the foundation and more directly the center.”

Now he has my attention.

“Oh? I assumed everything would roll to me? I mean, I’m sure Lucas has left a good amount to a bunch of charities he liked to donate to, but the foundation shouldn’t be given away.” My stomach clenches.

Lucas knew how important the center was; he wouldn’t have given it away.

“Oh, good. Sarah said you had the attorney here.” Christian Sendell, the third member of the board of trustees for Moreau Foundation, waltzes into my office.

Christian roomed with Lucas in college, and they’d stayed close friends.

So when we made the move to start Moreau Foundation, and we needed a third member for the board, he’d been an obvious choice.

For the most part, he stays out of the way. A third name on the papers for legal purposes.

“Christian. I didn’t realize you were coming by today?”

“It’s April, Lia. Our quarterly meeting.” He shifts his coat to his other arm and digs into his suit jacket for his phone that’s ringing.

Without a glance at the screen, he declines the call.

“I’d forgotten about it.” I blink a few times. “I mean, without Lucas…” My voice trails off and I take a deep breath.

“Yes, well, like I was saying, you do need a third member. And your brother has named the person to take his seat,” Luther continues, his expression tightening with the addition to our meeting.

“He can do that?” Christian asks, stepping closer to us. “I thought we’d be able to replace him on our own.”

I pull back a little. Replace him?

“I just mean we’d find someone to be the third member,” he says when he notices my expression.

“If I could just get through all of this, it will all make sense.” Luther spreads his hands out over the will still sitting on his lap.

“All right.” Leaving my desk, I shut the door and press my back to it. “Go on, Luther.”

He takes a deep breath. “All right. Thank you.” He turns slightly in his chair so he can see both me and Christian. “Lucas has indeed left nearly everything to you, Amelia. All of his properties, his cars, the bank accounts, and your trust fund, which is still closed until your twenty-fifth birthday.”

I nod. “All right.”

“But.” He pauses, as though he needs a moment to gather his strength.

The doctor did the same thing at the hospital when he was getting ready to tell me Lucas hadn’t pulled through surgery. That they’d done everything they could, but he’d suffered too much internal damage in the car crash for them to repair. He’d passed away in the operating room.

“Luther. You’re scaring me, what else could there be?” I push off the door.

“Technically, the entirety of the estate goes to you, Amelia, but in order to collect the inheritance and keep the foundation alive, which would keep the center open, you have to?—”

“Lia, there’s a delivery out back. They need a signature.” Carey, the front desk reception lead, hits me with the door when she opens it. “Shit. Sorry.”

I blink a few times. His last words were drowned out by Carey’s arrival.

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