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For all he knew, she hadn’t.
“You?” He pointed his finger right at her and let her see his venom.
She looked down her nose at him then turned her attention back to her notes. When she spoke, it seemed to be to the room at large. “I’m not Marissa Jayne Featherstone, no.”
“I can assure you, Mr. Vance, there is no ‘bullshit move,’ as you term it, and there is indeed a granddaughter. Ms. Bixby, who is working on behalf of the estate, provided my client with definitive proof of that about two months ago. Of course, Mrs. Featherstone immediately rewrote her will to reflect this new information.”
“Why was I not informed of this? I should have been told! I have rights!” He’d heard the bequest he’d been left—a measly half a million dollars. He’d assumed when the lawyer mentioned an insurance policy that the bulk of the estate would also be left to him.
Damn it to hell, I have to have that five mil! He noticed the smirk on the face of Mrs. Novak, Amanda’s long-time housekeeper. One of the things he’d been looking forward to when he moved into the Featherstone mansion was firing that old biddy. She’d never treated him with the respect that was his due.
“Where is this so-called granddaughter? If she’s to inherit, she has to be here at the reading of the will!”
Vance didn’t like being looked at the way Mathers looked at him—as if he was stupid. “A person’s presence at the reading of a will in which they are a named beneficiary is not mandatory, just customary. As to where Miss Featherstone is at the moment, that is none of your concern.” The lawyer closed the file. “The reading of the last will and testament of Amanda Pearl Featherstone is concluded. You’ll all receive checks within the next couple of weeks, as soon as probate is complete. Matilda will now give each of you a copy of the document, for your records.”
The ferret-faced lawyer signaled to his assistant, a woman who looked like she sucked lemons for a living. Douglas Vance looked at the folder he was handed then shot knives at Mathers. “I think I’ll take this to my lawyer, old man. I don’t believe this bullshit. I’ll see you in court.”
“As you wish. Be sure your lawyer reads the fine print, first. Otherwise you might find yourself with nothing left to remember your aunt by, except a rather hefty legal bill.”
“What the hell do you mean by that?”
The red-haired bitch got to her feet. She looked at him, and dismissed him, in only a few seconds.
The lawyer also stood. “Mrs. Featherstone took precautions when she had her will re-written. If you contest it, you will lose even the half-million dollars you’ve been given.”
Doug Vance surged to his feet. A searing hatred filled him—for his great-aunt, and this lawyer, the spiky-haired bimbo who was sneering at him, and his so-called new cousin, however many times removed she may be.
Removed. Now there’s a thought. She’d be young. Yeah, there’s a thought indeed. Vance would take this to his lawyer, and then he’d hunker down and do some serious thinking. It occurred to him that, after the deaths of his cousin Mandy, Amanda’s daughter and the bad seed who’d run away more than twenty years before and drowned herself in the drug culture, and then his great-uncle Simon, he had been Amanda Featherstone’s only living heir for the last twenty years.
Douglas Vance knew what he had to do. He needed to see what he could do about becoming her only living heir again.
* * * *
“Is this a family party or something?” Jenny asked that as soon as Ari released her from her usual greeting—a big hug that always made her feel good. She’d often thought, since she’d met her, that Ari was exactly the way she’d always imagined a sister would be.
Jenny knew Ari felt the same way about her.
“No, it’s supper. You know we often have a lot of people here for supper.” Ari’s gamin grin always slayed Jenny and muted a multitude of questions.
Jenny knew Ari’s story and was amazed by the warm and loving woman her friend had become in spite of the horrible trauma she’d endured at such a young age.
Two of the things that bound them together had to do with childhood and birth. They had each been born as only children to their mothers. Ari had a stepbrother named Jeremy Bishop, but they hadn’t grown up together and had only become friends after Ari had moved to Lusty.
