“I know,” she said. “I told you to stop it.”
“I did stop... that investigation,” he hedged. “And began a new one into someone else.”
His next paramour? She made a face. “What has that to do with me?”
“Roger Thorne is an even worse blackguard than you think he is.”
She laughed humorlessly. “I doubt that’s possible.”
“Unity,hewas the poor relation. That’s why he resented you.”
Her lips tightened. “Not the only reason.”
“When your parents died, their money was meant for you. As your sole remaining family member, he was its trustee.”
Her pulse fluttered. “What are you saying?”
“I’m saying, because the money was not in a trust, he took your rightful inheritance and squandered it, rather than support his ward as an honorable man would have done.”
“He spent…mymoney?”
“It’s not his club, Unity. It’syourgentlemen’s club. It was built with your money, staffed with your money. You were underage, so he put every penny of your inheritance in his name as quickly as possible.”
Her head felt faint.
“M-myclub?” she stammered. Then the full impact hit her. “My grandfatherdidn’tgive away the family fortune?”
She hadknownthey were wealthy. And then allowed Roger to convince her she’d had a child’s understanding of her parents’ finances. That the money was unrecoverable. That Unity had not even been mentioned in the will and testament.
All of it, lies.
Julian reached for her hands and cradled them between his knees. “Your inheritance isn’tgone. It was in the wrong hands. Your father’s will left explicit instructions that you were to inherit everything. But because you were so young, the handling of the money fell to your self-serving cousin. As trustee, Roger had full control of the purse strings.”
“That craven scoundrel,” she whispered. “If I ever lay eyes on his smug, pasty face again…”
“I’ve addressed the matter for you and taken care of everything,” Julian assured her. “The title for the club is now in your name. Or rather, in the name of an account I’ve had drawn up for you, along with every penny that should have been yours. You can quit your post at the theatre and—”
She jerked her hands from his lap, shaking. Once again, someone was appointing himself trustee of Unity’s life.
“To manipulate my finances so without a single word of discussion is unbelievably high-handed. Or rather, exactly the sort of arrogance I should expect from someone like you. I wanted to forge my future on my own, or at least be involved in the process. I deserve that right. Andyoucome along and—”
“If you feel so indebted,” he interrupted, “I won’t turn down a twenty percent commission in any enterprise you create from this bounty.”
“Twenty percent!” she sputtered. “For money that has nothing to do with you!”
“Ah,” he said softly. “So itisyour inheritance, then. Congratulations, Unity. You possess a respectable fortune and your dastardly cousin is beggared once more.”
She glared at him in consternation. Of course it was the best news she’d ever heard. But she could not like being left out of the process. Any decision that upended her life ought to be part of a discussion she was privy to.
“I should have told you,” Julian said quickly.
“You should not have told me,” she said. “You should haveaskedme. You should have respected me enough to sit down and talk to me before taking sweeping action that would affect my life without my knowledge.”
“I know,” he said. “And I knew it then, too. Or at least, I realized it after I’d already sent my man of business off with no more instruction than, ‘Destroy him.’”
“Then why...”
“I was in too deep. I’d already done the thing that you were going to be rightfully furious about. If it was all going to blow up in my face and cause me to lose you from my life forever, then at least I would leave you in a better position than the penniless one that scoundrel subjected a grieving child to.”
