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“I’m glad I was your first stop,” I said quietly. “How’s everyone doing?”
“First, tell me whether or not you’re going to come back,” she suggested.
I slumped back onto the couch, then stared at the ceiling as I tried to come up with an answer.
“I don’t think I’m going to,” I said. “I’m going to start my own design business.”
There. I’d said it.
I’d told her my dream.
She stared at me for a few long seconds, then smiled a beaming smile that made my heart skip a beat.
“Yes.” She smiled. “I’m glad to hear that you’re doing what you want.”
That made me feel so…free.
The fact that she wanted that for me…it was a great feeling.
“I’ll still do design for the circus. And also whatever else is needed with the websites and the social media presence…but I’m not going to work for free anymore. If y’all want me to do it, then I need to be paid accordingly,” I blurted.
Her eyes went wide. “You want to be paid more than a hundred thousand dollars a year?” she blurted.
I tilted my head to stare at her.
“Zip,” I said. “I don’t get paid that a year. I make minimum wage. If I’m lucky, I get three hundred bucks a week. That’s fifteen thousand a year.”
Her mouth was open so wide that I could’ve put half my fist in it.
Zip had a huge mouth.
“What do you mean you only make fifteen…” she pulled out her phone and placed a call.
It wasn’t long before my brother answered. “Hello?”
He sounded tired.
“Keene, what is this I hear that Hades makes fifteen thousand dollars a year?” she asked, sounding pissed as hell.
Zip didn’t get mad often, but when she did…
“What are you talking about? She gets paid the same as the rest of us,” he grumbled. “What, did she tell you she didn’t make that much? Because I see the books. All of us make the same amount of money each year.”
I’d throat punch him if he was here right now.
“Call the accountant and find out,” she suggested to him. “Right now.”
“I’m wor…” he started to say, but she interrupted him.
“Call. Him.”
Keene sighed and said, “Give me five.”
It took less than four for him to call back.
All the while, Zip stared at her phone as if she was ordering him to call back already.
“Tell me,” she said as soon as she answered.
“What the hell is going on, Zip?” Keene asked. “I talked to the accountant, Dusty. He said that Hades is paid like a regular everyday employee. Only, she’s the least paid on our entire employee roster. I asked who authorized that, and he said Dad’s estate. I’ve made a call to the lawyer. His assistant said he’d call me back as soon as he could.”
I lifted my hands and started rubbing my scalp. Jesus, they were all that clueless.
I guess that was a good thing.
I would rather them be clueless than be doing it on purpose. And based on the outrage in both Keene’s and Zip’s voices, they were truly upset about the prospect.
“No wonder she hates us,” Keene said under his breath.
Zip’s eyes flashed to mine and when she made eye contact with me, I hoped that she saw the love in my eyes.
I’d never hated any of them.
That was the problem.
They were the reason I stayed when I really should’ve run and never looked back.
“Oh, there he is. Hold on and I’ll put him on three-way,” Keene said, not waiting for a reply from Zip about me hating her.
There was a click and a shuffling sound, and then Keene was saying, “Hello?”
“Mr. Singh,” the lawyer, Ted Rafferty, said. “You called?”
“Yes,” Keene said, acting like he wasn’t on the line with someone else. “I called today because I wanted to ask you about an inconsistency that I found in our books. It shows in my records that our sister, Hades, isn’t paid correctly. And she hasn’t ever complained about it, so I didn’t know to ask about it until now. Can you clarify with me her actual pay amount?”
There was a long hesitation and then, “Well, sir. Depending on how much she works would tell you how much she got paid.”
I could tell Keene didn’t like that non-answer because he was bristling, even over the phone.
“Sir,” Keene said politely, but also interjecting a bit of ‘tell me or else.’ “I really need information here. I’d like to know what’s going on. Now.”
The pause this time was so lengthy I wondered if we’d lost him.
But Zip and Keene patiently waited him out.
Then the lawyer, Ted, said, “She’s been paid minimum wage since she was a teenager, like you all were. There must’ve been some mistake…”
Keene growled low and menacingly. “Ted. Listen. I’m not a dumbass. I know something’s going on here. I’d like you to tell me what that is, or I’ll find a new lawyer to tell me what I want to know.”
