Page 9
TUCKER
Harrison leaves as soon as he’s made it clear enough to Liv how unwise it would be for her to breathe a word about the Turris anywhere but in a private, secure room where only members are present.
She’s delightfully unimpressed by him, which I admit is a bit unwise, but still entertaining for me personally.
Because this isn’t really an emergency—not now that he’s sure I have an heir—we’ll have a meeting soon-ish, so everyone can meet her. The last thing he does before he’s out the door, is advise her to get in touch with Eli so her phone is secure.
Liv accepts the advice with a bit more seriousness, and that seems to please Harrison.
Baron stays, which I’m thankful for when I realize I have to explain the Barclay trust and what it states to my sisters.
Mason is awake when the three of us walk into the boys’ bedroom. I only know it’s him because unlike Maddox, he always wakes up in a good mood.
“Tuck,” he whispers happily, conscious of his brother sleeping. He’s always been the best behaved of the two, impressively considerate for his age too.
“Hey bud,” I whisper and crouch with arms wide open when he jumps away from Avery and runs to me.
I hug him tight, and don’t want to let go anytime soon, but I know what needs to happen now. Still, I take some time to check in.
“You okay?”
“Uh-huh,” he says easily. “Avy read us a story after Livvy gave us snacks!” He makes it sound like they took him to freaking Disneyland, and I can’t help but melt with adoration.
“No way, you got snacks before dinner?” I open my eyes wide, and he responds in kind.
“And Lu said we get to have a sleepover tonight.” He giggles in delight, and I hug him again so he won’t see my grimace.
“I gotta do some boring adult talk with Avy, Lu, and Liv now, okay?”
He rolls his eyes and I take that as a good sign. He wouldn’t do that if he was traumatized, right?
“Go lie down with Mad, yeah?”
“Fine, but then sleepover?”
“Yeah, bud. We’ll all have a sleepover later.”
And the logistics of getting all of us out of here without the boys seeing the body or their mother is bound to be a headache, but I’ve learned to trust that my sisters will know what to do, they always do.
“What’s up?” Avery asks after she helps settle Mason and we all crowd by the door.
I open my mouth but don’t even know where to start, so I send Baron a helpless look and thankfully he takes it from there.
“Your father appointed Tucker as the sole beneficiary of the Barclay trust.” He lets that sink in, though my sisters look at him blankly.
I hate that this doesn’t surprise or faze them in the least. I hate that they’ve gotten used to being dismissed.
“He also named him as the sole guardian for any underage children he might leave behind.”
That’s . . . one way to phrase it, but it has an alarm going off in my brain.
“She signed the prenup giving up her parental rights, just like our mothers, didn’t she?”
“Yes. Amanda Barclay signed a prenuptial agreement that stated she would surrender her parental rights upon divorce or his death.”
“Fuck,” Avery hisses, and my two other sisters are too stunned for even that. “We’d all hoped she hadn’t. We know what it’s like to realize what you truly mean to your mother, and in our case, it’s not great.”
“Did she fucking know that? Did she actually read the damn prenup?”
