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Shit.That would be my father, who was currently still in jail. Things didn’t look promising for him to be getting out any time soon. I didn’t fully understand everything, but Jerry had explained that there was a preliminary trial date scheduled for a month out, during which the judge would decide if there was enough evidence to move forward with formal proceedings.
He had said, uncomfortably, that he was pretty sure there was enough evidence, and we needed to prepare ourselves for that.
How the hell we were supposed to ‘prepare ourselves’ for the possibility of our father going to prison, I wasn’t sure.
I focused on the manager and the issue at hand. “Of course. One second.”
Leaving him to stand in the hall, one foot keeping the door from closing all the way, I turned and went deeper into the suite to grab my purse. I had a sinking feeling that if one card had been declined, others would be following suit, soon if not immediately.
Dad’s finances were in deep shit.
His assets, including the penthouse and the apartment I shared with a couple of girls near Columbia, had been seized. And Mom was still missing.
Eleanor clung stubbornly to the conviction that the mob had something to do with that, that she hadn’t just cheerfully abandoned her daughters to whatever fate awaited them.
Given the lack of luggage and passport, I agreed. The police weren’t so certain.
“Is everything okay?” Eleanor asked, peering around the corner of her room.
I nodded and attempted a reassuring smile. I was pretty sure it failed miserably, but I tried. It’s the thought that counts.
Right?
The state had awarded temporary custody of Eleanor to me, since I was twenty-one and her nearest relative, but I lived daily with the awareness of how tenuous that situation was. They could take her away from me at any time. They probably would, if I didn’t get my act together, and fast.
I couldn’t lose Eleanor, too.
But everything was not okay. Not by a long shot. Our parents were missing in action, I was woefully unprepared to care for a teenager, Eleanor had lost her private school tuition and thus her placement—and the same for me at Columbia, although I could care less at the moment about that. All of my friends had deserted me, including Jason Lancaster. Clearly, he had gotten what he wanted, and he had moved on.
Our princess-perfect lives had imploded on a magnificent scale, and I didn’t know how to stop the devastation as it continued to spin out. All we could do was survive it.
Grabbing my wallet, I headed back to where the manager waited.
“Try this one.”
With an irritable press of his lips, he slid the card through the handheld machine he carried. A second later a beep registered the grim verdict: declined.
I took the card and handed him another, sweat beginning to break out across my forehead. “This one.”
“Miss—”
“Just try it!”
He swiped it, eyes on me instead of the machine. “Declined, also.”
“Damn it, I don’t—”
“I’m going to have to ask you to leave the premises, miss.”
No. Nononono—
“Please don’t do this.” I cast about for some solution. “Give me a few hours to figure something out. I’ll come up with—”
“Miss Tiernay.”
Something in his voice stopped me, a note of finality. Or maybe it was the resolute expression on his face, all but masking the tiny bit of sympathy I could still glimpse in his eyes.
“I’m very sorry, but I have a boss, and he’s aware of your family’s…predicament. There’s nothing I can do. You have one hour to gather your belongings and vacate the premises.”
