My pulse hammered in my throat, fury drowning out everything else.
“You wanted war, Erika?”I snarled.“Well, congratulations.You just got it.”
ChapterOne
Josh: 29
Erika: 28
ERIKA
“He left me what?”I choked, lungs flattening like I’d taken a punch I never saw coming.
“Now, don’t panic, Erika.”Tom Perkins stared at me over the top of his reading glasses.They hid some of the deep lines around his eyes, but not the barely contained good-old-boy attitude that came from being one of the three senior lawyers in this rural North Carolina town.
My lungs forced me to cough.A soft paw batted at my leg.I touched Tracker’s gray-flecked head, more to soothe him than me.My cattle dog was an empathetic creature clued in to my moods.
“I’m not panicking.”My voice sounded squeakier than normal.Perhaps, I was freaking out a bit, which wasn’t normal for me.As an emergency veterinarian, I could handle staggering pet traumas that involved a lot of blood without losing it.Clients raging in my face or experiencing a mental breakdown over their pet’s condition were no problem.But this?
I swallowed hard before speaking.“My dad and stepmom, whom I haven’t seen in a decade, are dead.As ingone,gone.You’re telling me I’m in charge of their three-year-old?”I gripped my hands together as if doing so might ground me in a world gone mad.“And…” I sucked in air.“My dad left behind a debt as high as my mortgage thatIhave to pay?”
“Vinny is eight, really almost nine,” Tom said.“He has no other relatives from your father's side and none from your stepmother’s.”
“None?There’s truly no one else?”I curled my fingers into the chair’s arms until they ached.Tracker shuffled around and plopped down on my toes.He wasn’t technically a “service dog,” despite what I told the receptionist, but he was close enough.There was no way I could leave him shivering in the car.
“The will clearly states his guardianship goes to you.”
“Me?”I let out a breath that felt too big for my chest.“I work overnight shifts in Pennsylvania.That’s a day away from here.Who’s going to sit up with him if he has a bad dream?Who’s there when I’m at work?”I shook my head slowly.“Kids cost a lot.Childcare, food… And the schools where I live—” I swallowed.“I can barely keep my own life afloat.I don’t know how to do this without failing him.”
“Let me see if Evelyn can get you a water.”Tom rose from his rosewood desk.Like a good lawyer of my dad's generation, his blue button-down shirt was pressed.His slacks looked freshly dry cleaned.Even his belt looked polished.
“I don’t need a water.”I wanted all of this to be a bad dream.Wake up.Wake up!
“Are you sure?We have more details to go over.”He paused rounding his desk.“If you feel this is too much right now, we can review the rest tomorrow.”
The condescending tone shot a bolt ofoh-hell-noup my spine.I gritted out, “What else is there?”
Tom’s chair groaned when his bulk eased into his seat.“The house goes to Vinny.”
“He's five.What is he supposed to do with a house?”
“He's eight.Eight.”
“Got it.He’s eight.How does that work?Who pays for all the things that go with a house like electricity and insurance?I bet their house is on a water pump and a septic system.Who pays for repairs?What about taxes?”
“That’s the responsibility of his guardian, which is now you.Your father didn’t have a lot in savings and even less in retirement.”
“What about life insurance?Dad had to have had that.”
Tom shook his head.“Now, Erika, we both know he wasn’t expecting to die like this.He did own the house outright.”
“You’re saying he left menothingto pay for all this.”
“What money remains will be held in a trust for Vinny since it only amounts to a total of twelve thousand after fees and funeral expenses.”He glared over the top of his glasses again as if expecting me to lose it.The look added extra drama to his presentation, which is what this was.“As financial executor for your father’s estate, I will decide how to appropriate those funds.I think they need to remain in holding for Vinny’s schooling.We can start a savings account for college.”
“Is he required to stay in Vision?”
“That’s not specified.”Tom removed his glasses and massaged the bridge of his nose.
