Page 80 of Shatter

Me: Please tell me you're alright. What can I do?

She doesn't read it, so I put my phone down.

Deciding that I'm not willing to just sit here and give up, I look at my friends.

"Alright. We need a game plan. What do we do?"

Chapter forty-three

Abby

"Ilook forward to working with you," Mr. Whitmoore says.

We say polite 'goodbyes' and I hang up my phone. Giddiness tears through me.

I'd woken up from my nap with a missed call from Harrison and few text messages from him and The White Envelope crew, but I wanted to handle things with Mr. Whitmoore before I called him back.

I wanted to be able to give him good news.

The phone rings once when I dial his name.

"Abby?" he answers, his voice tense.

I smile.

"I like hearing you say my name," I reply, a smile evident in my voice.

"I like that you gave me your name to use."

I do too.

"Hi," I whisper intimately after a beat of silence.

"Are you okay?" His immediate concern for me warms my chest. If he had left me like I had left him, I'd be a wreck. I'd be hurt and insulted, but he only cares about me.

"I have some good news," I offer instead.

"Yeah?"

"I just got off the phone with Whitmoore. He's going to pull my original guardianship case from the courthouse and anything else he can find. Apparently, they were supposed to submit regular accountings on where the money was and how it was being used. When I turned eighteen, they were supposed to submit a final accounting and discharge. We have no idea if they ever did. The rest will be exposed in discovery."

There's a long beat of silence on the other end of the phone as he processes my words.

"But more than that, a guardianship has a fiduciary responsibility to manage the money for the child's benefit. I have a feeling they didn't do that."

I can't help the smile that spreads across my face.

"It's almost over, Harrison. I'm almost free."

More silence, and then a long, ragged sigh.

"I hate that you had to leave."

"I do too, but I promise you - I'm coming back. You owe me that date, remember?"

"And the fall out from the picture? Are you okay? The comments are brutal."

I wince. They certainly hadn't been kind. "Did she join a cult?" "Is this a beauty and the beast fantasy?" "Girl shaved her head and immediately started dating someone's dad" "Someone needs to check on her. This doesn't look healthy." "What a fall from grace. She went from America's sweetheart to barefoot and bald on some old man's balcony"