Page 9 of My Turn

Alana wouldn’t admit it, but things were rocky with them for a while. They were comfortable, though. Why upset that easy balance they’d settled into?

Two reasons. It was fucking boring and it would never feed her soul. I, on the other hand, would never let her go hungry.

God, I was losing my grip on my control. Every day that passed, I wanted her more.

Why shouldn’t I have her? He was fucking gone. After this, there would be nothing else that tied her to him. He could be completely in the past. All I had to do was make sure he stayed there.

“Thank you for coming,” the lawyer began. “I am Isabella and this is my assistant, Henry. As you know, Tidal Insurance conducted an independent investigation into the circumstances of Jaykob Weste’s death to determine if any foul play was involved. In order to pay out his insurance policy, they had to rule out suicide-”

“We know this,” I interrupted. Alana had gone pale and it made me want to throw the uptight bitch out of the window.

“Of course. I’ll get to the point. The investigation has been closed and nothing suspicious was found. They’ve come to the conclusion that you are entitled to your share of the money.”

Alana let out a grateful breath. I was still caught up on part of what Isabella said.

“Her share?” I repeated, raising a brow as I leaned forward.

She shifted uncomfortably. “Well, yes. I thought you were aware of the split.”

“Split,” Alana whispered, shaking her head. “I don’t understand. We were the beneficiaries of each other’s policies. There wasn’t anybody else he’d want to… I don’t… I don’t understand.”

“What did that fucker do?” I growled.

I knew. I hadn’t up until this moment, but I had a bad fucking feeling about it. My fingers gripped the back of Alana’s neck. I no longer cared how she felt about the gesture.

“Mr. Weste divided the share into two percentages. He left you…” She flipped a few pages and dragged her finger down the lines. “Ten percent.”

A small gasp escaped Alana’s lips. She didn’t say anything else and from the look in her eyes, I didn’t think she was capable right now. Maybe she was in shock.

“If he wasn’t already fucking dead,” I hissed.

Isabella looked at me with wide eyes before she shuttered her surprise. She cleared her throat and slipped into her professional image.

“He had a $500,000 policy, which grants you $50,000 in lieu of his death.”

“Who?” Alana asked, barely audible.

“You. That’s the share you’ll receive.”

“Who is the other?”

Isabella blinked a couple of times, then clasped her fingers again. “The remaining ninety percent went to his child.”

“Child? He didn’t have a child.”

“Alana,” I murmured, moving closer to her. My fingers tightened on her nape, which was beading with sweat.

“I’m going to be sick,” she blurted before she rushed out of the room. I followed immediately. It didn’t matter that she went into the women’s restroom. I crouched behind her and held her hair as she retched. All the while, I rubbed her back and cursed Jake’s name.

If I wasn’t glad for his death before, I was now. I’d hoped Alana would never have to find out his big, dirty secret. If she didn’t know, she wouldn’t have to hate him.

I would’ve loved for her to feel such loathing for him, but it didn’t work in my favor. It was only another obstacle I had to navigate in order to make her seemewhen she looked at my face, the one I shared with my brother- another reminder that made her distance herself from me when I got too close or stared for too long. It was that way when he was alive and it remained the same even as he rotted in the ground- metaphorically speaking.

Chapter 4

Jayce

An occasional whimper left Alana’s throat, even though it had been hours since she’d stopped crying. After we left that office, she was a wreck. I was glad I had the foresight to insist that I drive her to the appointment. I had one of my friends drop off her car at the apartment and once he handed me the keys, I closed the front door.

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