Page 175 of Stolen Voices
“Unlike my wife”—my fake hubby glances at me and winks, making my lady parts swoon, before he aims his furious glare back at the slimy lawyer in front of us—“if I find you left something out, I’m not above dragging you and your business down. It won’t take very many calls for me to ruin you.”
At Eli’s promise, Jenkins puts his hands up in surrender. “I’ll tell you anything you want. I’m so fucking sick of this shit. My stomach is riddled with ulcers because of her.”
“Start at the beginning. How do you know, Silla?” I demand.
He takes a deep breath and exhales sharply. “I met her in college. She was beautiful, smart, fun … and wild. The girl knew how to party. We hooked up a few times, but it was nothing serious. There were rumors she had a guy back home. Anyway, after graduation we went our separate ways. Over the years, I heard stories from classmates about how she got wilder after college and had access to her trust fund. Parties on yachts, all expenses paid, trips for her cronies… Shit like that. Anyway, one day, she pops up at this bar I used to frequent. I was going through a rough spell with my wife, and… Well, one thing led to another.”
“You slept with her,” I interject.
Sadness creases the corners of his eyes as he nods.
“Silla’s good at that, making men feel like kings before she fucks them over. You weren’t the first and certainly not the last.”
He chuckles sadly. “I know. It was a stupid mistake, one I instantly regretted.”
“She targeted you. Why?”
Jenkins chuffs at my question. He might be repentant, but he’s still a cocky douche. “I’m a horrible person,” he surprisingly admits. “But I’m a damn good attorney. She needed my help to get her hands on your dad’s assets after his death. She threatened to show my wife a video she recorded of us without my knowledge, unless I helped her. I tried to reason with Silla, but then she showed up uninvited to a dinner party at my house with this hard-looking guy. I couldn’t take a chance of my wife finding out I cheated. We had just found out she was pregnant, so I told Silla I would help her.”
“Tell me about the will and trusts.”
He blows out another deep breath, releasing some of the weight of his guilt, as he opens the drawer beside him and pulls out a thick file, plopping it on the desk. “The lawyer your dad used is a genius. His will and the trusts created are iron clad. His information is inside here, so you can get in contact with him. Silla doesn’t know about this copy, so you can keep it.” He taps the file. “You should have an attorney read it, but it basically states that in the event of your father’s passing, all his assets belong to you. Your mother was provided a small lump sum and the Malibu house. Diana was also listed as the designated trustee until you turned twenty-five or met one of the other three requirements: marriage, college graduation, or birth of a child. Silla received her trust after graduating college, so she wasn’t entitled to anything else.”
“I bet Silla didn’t like that,” I mumble.
“No, she didn’t. She wanted everything. What Silla wants, Silla gets or does whatever she has to get it. Here, and unfortunately with my help, I figured out the guardianship loophole.”
Jenkins explains that if he had filed for conservatorship of my mother with the court, it would have activated the will clauses that would freeze access to any money until I met one of the four requirements, so they faked it. He pulled strings to make the paperwork look official and helped Silla get forged identification in my mother’s name, which allowed Silla to collect monthly child support and sell my family home.
“So, the bank thinks Silla is my mother?”
“Yes. Silla has drained that account and sold the Malibu house.” Jenkins has the decency to cringe. “I’m sorry, Callie. I was trying to protect my family—”
Some of my anger at the man behind the desk thaws.
As if sensing my change of heart, Eli interjects. “What about the life insurance policy?” He doesn’t want the lying snake to wiggle his way into my forgiving heart and get off easy. I don’t blame him, but I just want to move on.
Jenkins looks at Eli in confusion. “I don’t know about any insurance policy, I swear. I only know that if Callie passes before any of the terms in the trust are fulfilled, everything goes to charity. The penthouse, the classic cars, Andrew’s stocks, some other real estate, and the millions in the bank.”
Holy shit. Millions.I knew my dad was rich, but this says he was vastly wealthy.
“There’s one more thing you should know. When your father passed, Silla was broke. She never outright said anything about what went down, but she was not sad. She’s always been cold, but something about everything that went down nags at me. It’s one of many reasons I’m terrified of what she’ll do.”
“One last question,” Eli interjects.
Jenkins inclines his head.
“Do you have a name for the guy she showed up with that night at your house?”
Jenkins shakes his head. “’Ak’ something. Kovak or Novak. I don’t remember. I noticed they were really cozy, which is strange because Silla doesn’t do relationships. But that’s all I know.”
I grab the file containing all the last parts of my dad’s story and hug it to my chest. “Thank you, David. I’ll try to keep you out of it. For your wife and children’s sake.”
“I appreciate the gesture, but I’m ready to accept the consequences. Sorry for my part in this mess. I hope, one day, you can forgive me.”
Doubtful.
All I can offer him is a nod as I stand from my seat, ready to go. I meant what I said. I would do my best to keep him—or at least the video—out of it. It’s not his kids’ fault their dad’s a lying, cheating, misogynistic pig.
