Page 11 of Inside the Maelstrom: Part Two
The bodyguards seemed less happy, but still, they all left. It probably helped that Evan was their boss, even if he wasn’t personally contracted to Sampson anymore. Evan didn’t even move to leave though, and no one insisted he did. It was right that he was here.
Once the door closed behind the last of the bodyguards, Tobias turned to me. “You have a serious problem, and you have exactly sixty minutes to come up with a plan.” He pointed to the door. “That guy? He’s a court Sheriff. He was here to serve you with papers. Your father is officially applying for a conservatorship on the grounds of mental illness, and he’s requested an expedited hearing date.”
Oh fuck. My knees felt like they were made from jello. “He can’t.”
Sampson slammed his fist against the wall. “He can, that slimy fuck.”
I’d known this was coming. Of course I had. He’d hinted at it for years, and threatened me with it before I went away and missed his stupid campaign trail dates. I’d known this was a possibility, but a small part of me never thought he’d actually do it.
“What do I do?”
I didn’t even know who I was asking now. Anyone. I needed someone to tell me what to do.
“The Sheriff will be back in an hour to serve you papers. Obviously, we will contest it. Don’t panic, Hendrick; we’ve been preparing for this. However, if the senator’s lawyers can prove that you are at least partially impaired due to your mental illness, they can get a limited conservatorship over your finances. We need to be able to provide the court with a different option.” He gave me a grave look. “And given that you just sank forty thousand dollars on an around-the-world trip immediately after getting out of a mental wellness center, it probably won’t be hard to prove.”
Aviva let out a choking noise, and I grimaced. “Give me something here, Tobias. I know you sent everyone away for a reason.”
“We need to give them an alternative for your conservatorship.”
“You?”
Tobias shook his head. “No, I’d have to pass it by my firm’s partners, and they’d never go for it.”
“Sampson or Otto? Otto’s parents?”
Tobias pursed his lips. “Sampson and Otto aren’t viable options—anytime you’ve been in trouble with the law, they’ve been right there beside you. Otto’s parents wouldn’t be a bad idea, but we both know Senator Kenley is a vindictive bastard and would happily go after them. Someone close to you would be better.”
I shrugged. “I only have my mother, and she's as under my father’s thumb as I am.”
Tobias slid his eyes to Aviva. “A wife would be best.”
The silence in the room was so loud that I could hear my blood whooshing in my ears. My eyes shot to Aviva, who looked like all the blood had left her face, leaving her ashen.
Otto cleared his throat. “Let me get this straight—you want Hendrick to marry Aviva, a girl he’s known for like a month, to prove he’s sane?”
Tobias shrugged. “Has he, though? He was in the wellness center voluntarily, after all. Maybe he went in to support his girlfriend, soon-to-be fiancée. Maybe you all went on a crazy around-the-world trip to celebrate their engagement. Sure, the marriage was a little rushed, but your father forced your hand.”
“My parents will know I didn’t have a boyfriend.”
Otto stroked a hand down her spine. “No offense, Viva, but they didn’t even know you were depressed before you tried to kill yourself. They’ll doubt themselves enough.”
She was silent, and when her eyes snagged with mine, I searched them for a clue about her thoughts. She looked worried and sad, but beneath all that, was something that looked like intrigue.
No one pushed her, and I looked around at the faces of the others. They were all neutral masks, obviously not wanting to influence her decision either.
“I wouldn’t make you stop seeing them. I wouldn’t stop seeing Otto either. This could be… something good?” I said quietly.
She met my eyes again. “You’re okay with this?”
I gave her a soft smile. “This is the best bad idea I’ve heard in a long time.”
She snorted a laugh. “I accept. And in a year's time, if we’re unhappy, we can just split. No harm, no foul.”
Even though I nodded in response to her terms—and my brain kept telling me this was all a farce—I knew that in a year's time, I’d fight to keep her with me.
She’d said yes.
Chapter7
