Page 73 of Primary Seduction
Mr Pickering cleared his throat, looking decidedly less comfortable by the minute. He clicked a few more buttons. “A Mrs Trish Walker.” His eyes narrowed marginally. “She is also registered as one of the people able to access the money.”
“Fucking hell!”
“Mr Pickering, could you give us a moment please?” Trent heard Max ask.
He couldn’t believe Trish had done this. She knew what it meant for the kids to go to university. They’d decided when they’d first had Jocelyn that their kids would have to opportunity to go if they wanted to and had made sure they could afford to put something away each month for them.
“Trent, are you okay?” Max asked, crouching in front of him.
Trent shook his head. “There must have been about forty thousand pounds in that account, Max,” he whispered. “Forty thousand.” Trent slumped in his seat, his brain unable to process anything else.
“Shit,” Max said.
“Oh, god, Dad.” Harper came over to him and flung herself to her knees next to him. “I’m so sorry I said it was you. Mum said it was, and I believed her. She’d been saying loads of things about you lately, and I’d gotten so cross that you didn’t seem to care about me that I started believing everything. I’m so sorry.” She burst into tears, and Trent picked her up and cradled her in his arms.
“It’s okay, Button. It’s okay. No harm done. We’ll sort it out, okay.” He stroked her hair, allowing her time to calm. He glanced over at Jocelyn, seeing tears running down her face. “You okay, Juice?” He used his nicknames for them both, hoping to make them feel more grounded.
“I can’t believe she’d do that to us,” she whispered brokenly. Max stood and went to her, wrapping his arm around her shoulders. She turned into him and cried.
Once the kids had calmed enough, Trent set Harper in the chair next to him and called for Mr Pickering. When he entered, Trent told him to freeze the account, even though there was no money in it. “No one is to touch that account in any way, do you hear? And revoke all access except mine.”
“I can’t do that, Mr Walker. Mrs Walker has to be present for that to happen.”
“Revoke all access except mine,” he repeated. “The police will be getting involved.” Jocelyn and Harper gasped. Trent looked at them both. “I’ll explain later.”
“Okay, all access revoked except yours, Mr Walker.”
“Thank you. We’ll be leaving now.” They all stood and exited the room, then the bank.
Trent made it as far as the alley next to it before having to break away from the group. He rested against the wall and broke down. A few seconds later, Max was there, arms around him, talking though Trent couldn’t hear a thing.
He had no idea how long they’d been there when his tears had finally dried up. As his awareness returned, he realised he was cradled in Max’s lap as they sat on the floor of the alley.
“Sorry about that,” he croaked.
“Don’t be sorry. You needed that.”
“Where’s Jocelyn and Harper?” he asked, realising they weren’t with them.
“They’ve gone to a bakery down the street. We’ll catch up with them in a bit,” Max said matter-of-factly.
Trent heaved a sigh. “I’d like to say I can’t believe she’d do it, but all these little things have been adding up in my head.”
“Like what?”
“Breast enhancements, botox, new clothes, the house redesign. It all needed money. She obviously didn’t get enough through her PA job for it all.” He shook his head. “A year! She’s been stealing money from our kids for a whole year, Max! How can a parent do that to their child?”
He felt like he was getting his second wind, so stood up, helping Max when he admitted his legs had fallen asleep while Trent had been sat on them. They walked slowly to the bakery.
“I need to go and confront her,” Trent said into the silence.
“Are you sure that’s a good idea? Would it not be better to speak to the police?” said Max.
“No, I don’t think they’d be able to do anything anyway because her name was on the account, although how it was, I don’t know.” He couldn’t remember ever signing anything to add her to it. When Jocelyn had been born and they’d had the conversation about it, they had agreed that he would pay into their university accounts and she would pay the rent, then they’d split the other bills. That way, they still had their own money left over for anything they wanted. It was why he’d never thought to put her name on it—because she never paid into it. He’d had to reduce the payments once they’d divorced because he couldn’t afford to pay that and his rent otherwise, but he’d still paid into it.
“Could you speak to your brother? He might have more information for you.” Trent noticed Max sounded worried, understandably. Trent didn’t want to confront her, but he didn’t think he’d get answers any other way.
“Yeah, I might call him later. But I need to go and see her. See what she says about it.” He blew out a breath. “I can’t believe she’s done it. I would never have said that she’d have the balls to do something like this.”
