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“A man of so many words,” she quips with a laugh.
Her footsteps come through on the other end of the phone, followed by the gentle closing of a door.
“Okay. Well, I did what you asked me to do. Honestly, there's not much more to Journey's life. The only thing I can tell you is the military school she was sent to at sixteen, never existed.”
Her words hang in the air. Sure, since I've seen the Polaroids Arrow showed me of her in the burned-down building with my father. The man I hate the most in this world. I've had my suspicions about where she went. But how could I have missed it? But the better question is—why?
“I can hear your thoughts. You're wondering how you couldn't figure it out? Well, everything was faked pretty well. Almost like an expert was in charge of making her disappear. But they're not me. Tell me I'm the best,” she rambles.
I frown. “You're the best?”
“Thatta boy, Jer,” she quips with a chuckle. “But for real. Whoever manipulated her existence was good, but I'm better.”
“Do you want a pat on the back?” I tease.
Shepp shakes his head and rolls his wrist, begging me to drag the information out of her. But this is how it goes. Olivia loves to make me beg and compliment her.
“Flowers, wine, maybe a babysitter. I'd love a lot of things. But yeah, a nice pat on the back would be great,” she teases back with a hint of playfulness in her voice. It lets me know she's still the same cousin.
“Well done, Liv. You're the best secret agent in the land. Now, can you please tell me everything you know?”
“Whoa, wait. Jericho Viotto said please! Alert the presses! My cousin is an actual human being!” Her laugh echoes loudly through the phone, causing me to cringe at the phone resting in my hands.
But it's nice to hear her so happy after years of bullshit she went through.
“Yes, yes. I said please,” I playfully say back. “It’s in my vocabulary.”
I physically feel her smile through the phone.
“All right, I've tortured you long enough. Listen, someone for real messed with Journey's entire life. From bogus charges to get her incarcerated, to the fake military school, and even her inheritance.”
I perk up. “Yes, that's what I've been most curious about. Where is the money owed to her? She could have left this place by now.”
Thankfully, she didn't. Then, we wouldn't have been stalking her this entire time.
“Well, I talked to the West twins about it, and they had some interesting things to say about her mom and the weird meeting.”
“Do you care to elaborate?” I say, continuing my pacing through my office. Sometimes I wish I could reach through the phone and strangle her.
She laughs at me. “Getting there! Sheesh. Okay, well basically, they said they tracked Journey down, and instead of Journey being anywhere in sight, it was just her mom. They left a business card and… God, this would have been easier if I just brought them down there to explain,” she huffs.
“That can come. I'm sure they want to meet their sister,” I say.
“They do. But they're busy as hell with their record company and family. So, they gave me permission to talk to you about this. So, anyway, they were super sketched out by her mom, and they decided to put a stipulation on Journey's inheritance.”
“Obviously it's a big stipulation if she hasn't received it.”
“Yup. Bingo. They put it into a trust that she can't touch until she's twenty-one or…” She holds out the word or.
“Out with it, Liv,” I huff with irritation.
“Or until she gets married. As long as she’s over eighteen when she’s married, she'd receive it then.”
“Marriage?” I ask, stopping dead near my desk.
Shepp steps forward with furrowed brows. ‘What?’ he signs frantically, coming to stand in front of me.
“You're telling me they were so spooked by Sable’s behavior when they met her, that they put a marriage stipulation on her trust?”
