Fold

Chapter 2

My stomach drops as I peer across the table at my Na

Even when the woman can no longer speak, she's still a malicious shrew who delights in making me miserable.

When I arrived and saw her for the first time in three years—sitting in a wheelchair, looking so much frailer and thi

However, less than two minutes later, she scribbled on her notepad that I had too much eye makeup on and that my favorite jacket looked like it was made in a Bangladesh sweatshop.

Then, before I could defend my appearance, she passed Reggie another note that read: Ask my granddaughter if it would kill her to stop looking like a dyke unicorn and get rid of that pink hair.

If it wasn't for the lawyer choosing that moment to walk into the room—I'd have choked her with the silk scarf draped around her neck.

Hell, I still might, depending on how the rest of this meeting goes.

“Your father appointed your grandmother as his beneficiary,” Barry, the lawyer, repeats slowly, almost like it hurts him to say it. And maybe it does, given he was friends with my dad and it sounds like he dropped the ball on the most important documentation my father left behind. “Therefore, his estate is in her name.”

“I know.” I sit up straight. “I get that, but I was told everything will be turned over to me when I'm twenty-five.”

He looks at his pile of paperwork. “That's what your parents wanted.”

“So, what's the problem?”

He looks at my Na

“It's not the incentive clause,” Barry says, not bothering to hide his a

I feel like someone just dumped a bucket of ice water over my head. “So, there's more than one trust fund for me?”

Barry shoots my grandmother a look. “I can't believe you never told her any of this.”

My grandmother shrugs and lights a cigarette. We all stop and stare at her, because evidently having a hole in her freaking neck isn't enough to make her quit the bad habit.

“Don't worry,” Reggie says. “She can't smoke anymore. At least, she's not supposed to.”

My grandmother rolls her eyes and lights a second one, billowing them around as if she were burning sage, which is ironic, considering she's selfishly infecting all of us with her second-hand smoke like the evil demon she is.

Barry shakes his head and focuses his attention on me. “Not exactly. Technically it's just the one trust fund and everything else is considered his estate. Money, property—”

“Which is supposed to go to me on my next birthday.” I look at my Na

For a moment, I see a flicker of something resembling human emotion in her eyes, but it's gone when Barry speaks again.

“It is, Kit. However, there's an issue.”

“What kind of issue?”

He sweeps his hand back and forth, trying to direct the smog wafting from my grandmother's cigarettes out of his face. “Sorry, I'm allergic to smoke.”

He starts coughing violently, and my grandmother casts him a look packed with enough ice to build an igloo, then proceeds to light up two more of them.

When poor Barry starts coughing up what I'm certain is a lung, Reggie wheels my Na

After I hand him a glass of water, he continues where he left off. “Even though your father wanted his estate turned over to you, he never went through the proper cha

He solemnly points to his paperwork. “When we drew up his will, naturally, your mother was the beneficiary. But when you have children, especially minor children, it's a good idea for parents to put things in place. I told him what we could do to ensure his estate went to you if he and your mother passed before you were of age—but he declined. He said if that happened, your grandmother would be appointed guardian, and he wanted his estate to go to her until you either turned twenty-five or got married, whichever came first. Again, I explained he should take the proper steps, but he—” His face falls. “He said he trusted your grandmother to fulfill his wishes, and he didn't want his estate tied up until you were twenty-five in case you or she needed the money before then. He thought making her the beneficiary was best for everyone.”

His shoulders hunch. “He ended the conversation shortly after. He was only thirty-six, Kit. Young people don't typically take their wills seriously. And it's hard for young parents, regardless of wealth, to think about what would happen if they were to pass. It's not a conversation any parent likes to have.”

I reach for a tissue and force myself to inhale a breath. I'm not upset about the money, I'm upset at the reminder of how young they were when they were taken from me.

I'm upset because I'm talking to a lawyer about my parents' last wishes, instead of them.

I'm upset because this weird feeling is burrowing in my gut, but I feel guilty for even acknowledging it and wanting answers—because I'd choose my parents over their money in a heartbeat if given the choice.

But I wasn't given the choice...and their money is the only thing I have left of them.

Or it was. I'm not sure anymore, and it doesn't help that Barry keeps skirting around whatever the issue is when I need him to spit it out. “If he wanted his estate to go to me, and trusted my grandmother to do the right thing...then what's the problem?”

He looks at my grandmother who is being wheeled back in by Reggie. “Her.” His face goes slack. “You're not the primary beneficiary listed in her will.”

A surge of anger and confusion rushes through me. “What?” I turn and look at her. “Every pe

I'm their daughter, there's no one else it should go to.

She jots something down on her notepad and hands it to Reggie.

“She'll make you her beneficiary if you get married.” He peers down at the notepad again and shifts uncomfortably. “To a man.” His eyes become saucers. “She says it's her dying wish.”

My knee-jerk reaction is instant and I bolt out of my seat. “Oh my God, you're unbelievable! Dying wish or not, it's not happening.”

My Na

In a flash, I grab the armrests of her wheelchair, forcing her to look at me. She's gone too far this time. “This is wrong and you know it. You can't keep punishing me because my sexuality offends you, Na

She viciously scrawls something on her notebook, but I snatch it and throw it. “No. It's time you listen to me for a change.”