Chapter Fifty-One
AURELIA
A week after my interview with Avery Shaw, I’m being ushered through a familiar heavy set of marble doors on one of the high floors of a downtown office building.
It’s the end of the day, and I know the suited man sitting behind a gargantuan glass desk is moments away from leaving to visit the condo of whichever one of his kept women was his favorite this week.
He barely looks up or acknowledges my presence as I enter the spacious office.
My heels sink into the plush carpet as I cross the room and reluctantly take a seat in one of the stylish chairs that I know will be a killer on my back by the time this unpleasant meeting is over.
“I have to admit,” Uncle Mars drones as he signs his signature on the top sheet of a stack of papers before slamming the folder shut, “I’m surprised you requested this meeting, but it’s good to see you, Aurelia.”
“Oh, I wish I could say the same, Uncle, but that’s nice to hear.
” While I’m way past feeling simple resentment for the man, I know showing how deeply I want my uncle dead will only make the dream that much harder to obtain.
I also know that playing the part of an adoring niece will be just as damaging to my cause, so I settle right in between burning hatred and familial love.
“If that is the case, then why are you here?”
“Because I need your help. Things aren’t going the way I thought they would. They’re worse than ever, and this new team…” I purposely let my voice trail off to assess just how much he knows. Oni being my manager was not widely known yet but easily confirmed for anyone who dug hard enough.
“Oh, you mean Oni, right?” My uncle smiles like he just slammed down the Draw Four card in an Uno match.
“Yeah, she’s aight, but she’s no me.” I resist the urge to roll my eyes as Uncle Mars sits back in his high-backed wing chair.
“So what is it you want, Aurelia?” he cuts to the point when I don’t take the opportunity to inflate his ego.
It’s obvious deception and a trap. I can’t appear too friendly or he’ll see right through it.
“I want to put the past behind us. I want to be a team again.”
“And what makes you think I want that? I wasn’t kidding when I said I could make a hundred of you, Aurelia.”
“Then why haven’t you? You’ve been trying for months, and yet you haven’t scratched the surface with any of them.”
“Okay, Aurelia. You’ve convinced me.” I’m careful to hide my surprise and suspicion over how easy it was as he continues speaking. “I’ll be your manager again and save your ungrateful behind, but under one condition.” He holds up a finger.
“What’s your condition?”
“That.” Uncle Mars’s gaze drops to my belly, and the disdain there has me wanting to cradle it, but I know I can’t, so I sit frozen in the chair even though I want to run for the door.
“I know you’re pregnant, Aurelia. You’ve done an okay job trying to hide it, but not well enough.
It’s obvious to anyone with eyes that you’re knocked up. ”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“For how long?” he tosses back.
I’m startled by the question. “What?”
“How much longer can you pretend not to know what I’m talking about?
Another week? A month? You’re well into your second trimester.
It will be impossible for you to hide it soon.
You’re barely concealing it now. It’s a good thing you were already on the heavier side or else everyone would know as soon as they looked at you. ”
Suddenly, I am picturing my uncle with his head tipped back, an arrow in his eye, and the wall behind him splattered with his blood.
“Okay, even if I was pregnant—which I’m not—what does being my manager again have to do with my baby?”
“I want you to get rid of it,” he demands with a curl of his lip.
I flinch as if he just slapped me. “Excuse me?”
“I need you focused on the music, and that baby will be nothing but a distraction. It’s obviously too late for an abortion, but adoption is still an option. Privately and anonymously, of course.”
I feel sick.
I feel violent.
I feel like taking that letter opener and slicing my uncle’s throat open. He wants me to give up my baby, and even though I could be as duplicitous as him and agree, since he won’t live long enough to even see my baby born, my heart won’t let me reject the little one for even a moment.
“You know I can’t do that, Uncle Mars.”
I’m pretty sure he was banking on it, which explains his easy capitulation.
And while it’s no secret he’s been underestimating me, I realize that I’ve been overestimating my worth to him.
Uncle Mars probably feels he’s already squeezed every penny out of me that he can.
I can give an Oscar-worthy performance in contrition and obedience, and he still won’t buy that it will be like before.
Uncle Mars knows that I won’t be as easy to control now.
“Then I guess there ain’t shit for us to discuss.” He turns to his computer in dismissal and begins typing.
I sit there for a few moments in stunned silence. And then I eye the letter opener on his desk.
I could do it. I could kill him right now. It would be so easy, even with this bump of mine.
I could stab him in the heart and make it quick, or I could slice his neck open and enjoy watching his blood spill all over the glass desk and his fancy suit.
I can’t believe this is the man my father once called twin.
Yes, my dad was older, but only by a few minutes.
And the worst part of all is that the two were identical.
I used to think I was lucky because it meant I would never have to forget my father’s image.
But then my uncle showed his true colors, and over time, I came to hate the face of my father, which only dug the knife of losing him that much deeper.
Just another thing my uncle has taken from me.
“Actually, there’s just one more thing,” I say, ignoring his dismissal. “I want to know why you won’t pay the families who lost someone in the crash.”
“Because it was an act of God and out of our control, which means we aren’t liable. Those people are grieving and understandably looking for someone to blame, but we don’t control the weather.”
“Does it really matter who’s to blame, Uncle Mars? You weren’t there. Harrison, Susan, and everyone else on that plane spent their last moments screaming and fearing for their lives. And Cassie… She got it worse than anyone because she didn’t get to die quickly. She was torn apart—”
“Enough, Aurelia.” Uncle Mars holds up his hand. “I’m sorry for what happened to Cassie, but she signed a contract—”
I pound my fist on the desk, sending a few of his knickknacks toppling.
“Who the fuck cares about a contract! I’m sure if they knew it was even remotely possible they’d die, much less like that, they would have reconsidered that predatory permission slip to screw them over!
It’s my money, and I’m ordering you to pay them whatever the fuck they want. ”
My uncle stares at me as if despite all the scandals, he’s never been truly disappointed in me until now.
“I knew you were naive, and I have no one to blame but myself for keeping you so sheltered, but I guess I’d hoped you’d learned something while you were out there playing house with those cavemen.
” He makes a sound of disgust. “This world—the real world—is going to eat you alive. It’s a shame we aren’t a team anymore so I can protect you from it. ”
“And you still can’t see that it was you I needed protection from all along.”
“I’m sorry you feel that way,” he retorts, not sounding sorry at all.
“If the money helps their families move on, they should have that. End of story. Settle the lawsuit and pay the money.” My uncle glares at me, but it doesn’t have the same effect that it used to.
“And by the way, I know what you’ve been doing,” I say as I rise unsteadily from the uncomfortable chair.
My back is screaming, but I ignore it to keep my posture straight as I stare down my nose at my uncle.
“I know that you think you can take what’s mine.
You couldn’t wait for the presumption of death to inherit everything as my next of kin, and you couldn’t kill me to prove that I was dead, so now you’ve resorted to embezzling to get what you want. ”
“Aurelia, you’re hormonal and not thinking straight,” he replies in a monotone.
“I’ve been the safe keeper of everything you own since we began this partnership.
” I chuckle dryly at that. Partnership my ass.
He sounds like he’s reciting the lies he rehearsed in the event he were ever questioned about it.
“And I’ve always had your best interests at heart.
It’s true I’ve been making some risky investments lately, and they haven’t all panned out, but it’s business.
” And then he shrugs as if that’s all the explanation needed for the sudden disappearance of more than a quarter of my billion-dollar net worth.
“It’s also fraud.”
His eyes are cold when he looks up from the stack of papers he’s reviewing.
“Can you prove it?” I don’t respond, and the arrogance in his demeanor quickly returns.
Let him think I’m too dumb or weak to get the best of him.
“I didn’t think so. Now please.” He gestures toward the doors.
“Get the fuck out of my office. This meeting is over.”
My phone rings the moment I step off the elevator and onto the first floor of the office building, so I stop to answer once I see that it’s Tyler. He’s on a much-needed vacation this week after I caught him limping from the strain of following me around and made him take one.
“How did it go?” he asks as soon as I answer.
“About as expected. Not great. My uncle agreed to be my manager again, but only if I give up my baby. He says it’s a distraction.” I roll my eyes.
Tyler falls quiet for a moment and then he asks, “And what did you tell him?”