Page 125 of Now Their Starlet

“Indeed. This must be one of your pack members?”

“Yes, this is Eli. Eli, meet my therapist, Nancy.”

“It’s good to meet you. Thanks for helping Andi out,” Eli says, offering the other omega a polite nod in greeting.

Nancy returns it with a nod of her own.

“It’s good to meet you too, Eli.”

The two of them don’t shake hands out of respect for me. I’ve realized since being freed that my inner omega is a territorial bitch when it comes to my guys, especially my alphas. I’m not quite sure what’s going on hormonally, but I’m glad everyone in my life has been understanding so far.

It’s very like Nancy to pick up on that without me having to even mention it. She is a professional, after all. I’m so glad I found her.

“I’ll be waiting for you out here,” Eli murmurs, leaning down to press a kiss to the top of my head.

“Okay,” I say, flashing him a smile and squeezing his hand before I follow Nancy down the hall and into her office. It’s exactly the same as my last visit.

It feels the same, too. Warm. Safe. Stable.

Exactly what I need when I still feel like I’m stumbling through the rest of my life, despite my best efforts. Maybe some of it is the Omega Stress Syndrome, but I think a lot of it comes from the trauma of everything I just went through.

“So,” I say, running a hand through my hair as I curl up on the familiar corner of the couch opposite ‌Nancy’s armchair. “What do you know?”

“Well... I figured out why your email was disconnected when I saw the headlines.”

“Damn, Gina nuked my emails too?” I wince.

It would make sense why Everett and the rest of the guys insisted I get a completely new phone number, email address, and bank information. I assumed it was just so Gina couldn’t track me, but I guess that wasn’t the only reason.

“It seems so,” Nancy nods. “She, or someone on her team, managed to cancel your debit card as well.”

That revelation leaves me shocked. I didn’t know that.

“I went to charge your card the cancellation fee when you missed your appointment, before I realized why you missed the session, and it bounced.”

“Wow,” I breathe out.

I knew, on paper, that because I was stuck under the conservatorship, Gina had control over all my finances, but it’s still a little shocking to hear about the consequences in real life. I purposely used that debit card so she wouldn’t be able to track my expenses like she was able to with my credit card.

I guess she really wanted me well and truly isolated.

“Wait, if that debit card is cancelled, how are you getting paid?”

“Your father, Edison, arranged everything. He was the one who explained the full situation to me and provided the paperwork and documentation about your ongoing conservatorship,” Nancy explains.

I can’t hide my wince. I know technically, on paper, he’s the one that’s legally responsible for me since the courts have basically ruled I’m incapable of doing things myself, but I can’t help but feel guilty that he has to put in so much effort into taking care of me.

“I see that brings up some emotions,” Nancy says, her voice and expression softening as she looks at me.

“Yeah,” I huff. “A whole lot of guilt. He’s basically having to bankroll my life right now. I stay at his place, eat his food, and now he’s paying for my therapy?”

“If it’s at all reassuring, I don’t think you have reason to feel guilty, Andi. Edison explained that the money he’s using is coming from a fund he set aside. After you turned eighteen, he started putting the money he was sending to your mother for child support in a separate account for you,” Nancy explains. “I don’t know exactly how much is in this account, but from the way he was describing it, it should be plenty for our therapy sessions and any other needs you may have for a long time. You shouldn’t have to worry about putting your father out, considering he’s already set the intention that the money is yours.”

The same amount of money for child support every month since I was eighteen.

Holy shit.

I’m not good at math, but it’s been a little over five and a half years since I turned eighteen, and the paperwork I found before seeing the guy for the first time said he was sending Gina a whopping fifteen K a month…