Total pages in book: 75
Estimated words: 70185 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 351(@200wpm)___ 281(@250wpm)___ 234(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 70185 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 351(@200wpm)___ 281(@250wpm)___ 234(@300wpm)
“You want me to set up trusts for her daughters?”
“Yes, college fees for six years; find out which school is the most expensive and use that as your blueprint. Two-fifty for each wedding, one million for their first home. It’s all spelled out in there.”
“You’re opening an account for her with five million dollars? You do realize this is a bit excessive, don’t you?”
“No, I do not.” It may seem that way, but knowing her, she’s not going to find it easy to trust without proof, and I don’t blame her. Her ex had betrayed her, so how is she to know that I won’t do the same?
I’d worked on the prenup over the weekend and made sure it was skewed in her favor so that she’d know I meant business. Taking care of her girls’ future would put her mind at ease somewhat and hopefully free her of stress so she could actually enjoy all that I meant to do for her.
“Your grandfather might not like this.”
“Tell that old man for me that what I do with my money is none of his business. He could always put his son in this seat and save me the headache of having to deal with his shit.”
“I’ll be sure to pass on the message.” His lips were twitching. He always was a gossiping fuck.
“You do that.”
JUSTINE
‘Now, see here, heifer….’
“Let’s go!” I was sitting at my desk perusing the Internet for rings because Justice said we needed to get a head start so we could pick something he liked, never mind that I would be the one wearing it.
It's been a week and a half since his grandfather’s lawyer came to see him, and he’s been a busy little bee ever since. I didn’t know what was going on because he never shared anything with me, and Monique had gone to see her son and I didn’t want to interrupt her to get the gossip.
Now, he just stepped out of his office and asked me to follow him. I grabbed my leather-bound folder with the notepad inside, even though he didn’t ask me to, and got on the elevator with him.
I’ve noticed since we came back from that weekend away that whenever we’re alone together like this, that tic in his jaw goes haywire, and it always seems like he’s fighting to hold it together. He also seemed to be avoiding looking at me for some reason, which made me feel a little bit nervous and lost.
We headed to the conference room, and I was expecting a roomful of people like last time, but there was just one young black man who looked strikingly like his grandfather’s lawyer, which made sense after we were introduced.
“Caleb is Calvin’s son.”
“So, his dad is your grandfather’s lawyer, and he is yours?” Why don’t they just have the same lawyer? I asked myself that question but didn’t voice it out loud.
“Yes, because I don’t trust those two old men.”
Caleb started laughing and trying to hide it as we sat at the table. I still had no idea what was going on or why I was even there as Marcus sat at the head of the table with me on his right and Caleb on his left.
Then Caleb opened his briefcase and started taking out sheets of paper. I was surprised when he passed them to me as well. “These are your husband’s hidden assets….”
“Ex-husband.” Marcus reminded him smoothly with no intonation whatsoever in his voice. It’s like he was just stating a fact and that’s that.
“Yes, sorry. These are your ex-husband’s hidden assets, along with all his investments.” I stared down at the papers not understanding anything of what I was looking at.
“Where did he get all this money?”
“He was one of the lucky ones who got in on the bitcoin action before it went bust. That’s where the bulk of his money came from. He used some of that money to buy rental properties; one condo development is in a college town, and there’s an Airbnb in a tourist trap that does pretty well.”
I didn’t know if to feel anger or sadness. If anything, I hurt for my kids, his kids, that he was hiding this from. Why would he do this? It’s not like I was hungry for money or ever asked for more than he was willing to give. I’ve always gone with the flow and appreciated whatever we got.
Like when he said that things were harder this year with inflation and whatnot, so we weren’t going to be able to take the kids on their yearly vacation to Disney, I didn’t kick up a fuss. I just decided that the beach house vacation was going to have to be enough for the girls this year.
I’d even started looking for carnivals or anything of the like that was coming to town or going to be close to us. But it wasn’t true; he’d been hiding money and assets. “How do I get what my girls are due? Are they entitled to anything, I mean.”