Page 5 of Deserving Maisy
CHAPTER TWO
Maisy stared at Jack as he slept. The last hour or so was absolutely horrible. Every word out of her mouth was a lie. She wasn’t his wife. She’d never even met the man before Jason dragged him into her room and dumped him on the bed.
Her brother was awful. Terrifying. Nothing like the boy she’d looked up to when they were growing up. Somewhere along the way, he’d changed from the protective older brother to the monster he was today. And she was trapped.
It was true that their parents had been killed when she was only fifteen years old, and that her brother had moved in to care for her because she was a minor. Also, because she’d been out of her mind with grief.
Somehow, one year had turned into two, into five, into ten. And now, thirteen years later, she was still living in the house she’d grown up in with a brother who hated her.
For the most part, it was just the two of them all those years, with Paige and a few other daily staff members onthe payroll. Though Jasondidget married five years ago…but his wife had mysteriously disappeared just four months after she and Jason were married. Her brother claimed Martha had left him without a word, but Maisy wasn’t convinced. She’d spent the night before Martha’s disappearance with her sister-in-law, and she’d seemed…okay. Not super happy, as she’d admitted she and Jason were having some issues, but Martha was determined to work through them. She’d genuinely loved Maisy’s brother, which made her disappearance all the more confusing.
As for Jason, instead of seeming heartbroken, he’d appeared…satisfied.
That was when Maisy’s suspicionsreallystarted. She hadn’t wanted to think Jason had anything to do with his wife’s disappearance…but how could she not?
For years, she’d kept silent about what she’d seen the night Martha had supposedly left…but if she truly believed Jason’s story, that he’d gone to bed next to his wife and when he’d woken up, she was just gone…
Then how did she explain his behavior that night?
Why had she kept the pictures she’d taken all those years ago, still carefully hidden?
Just in the last several months, as the drugs she’d been on for over a decade started to clear from her system, allowing her to think clearly for the first time in years…she’d begun to wonder about her parents’ deaths, as well.
Jason had received a hefty life insurance payout after their parents died. Money he seemed to go through rather quickly. Then, three months after getting married, he’d finally been able to access additional money their parents had left to him in a trust.
Now that money was apparently long gone, as well. Itwas a pretty hefty sum, yet he’d managed to spend it all. If she had to guess, she’d say he ran through the last of his inheritance close to a year ago…around the time he started to ween Maisy off her meds. Started encouraging her to find a boyfriend.
But apparently his patience was wearing thin. Just two months ago, Jason began outright insisting she needed to get married. Of course, because she was old, fat, and ugly,hewas going to find her a husband.
She hadn’t expected him to literally drag in a stranger off the streets.
Maisy didn’t know what her brother had done, or where he’d found Jack, but it seemed to be a stroke of unbelievably good luck for Jason that Jack had amnesia. The man didn’t even know his last name wasn’t Smith.
Her brother was smart; the story about them planning to renew their vows was ingenious. Maisy had no idea how Jason had planned to get Jack to marry her if hehadn’tlost his memory, but because he had…it made things much easier.
Jason wanted her inheritance. The money her parents had left for her, sitting safely in a trust since their passing. She received a stipend every month—which her brother took—but he wanted the rest, and unfortunately for him, it had the same stipulation as Jason’s own inheritance.
She couldn’t access the money unless she was married.
It was why Jason had married Martha, she now realized. Maisy had learned there was a three-month waiting period after the marriage was official before the money could be released, and it hadn’t been too long after that when poor Martha had supposedly “left.”
Maisy had already come to the realization that herbrother would have skipped her sham marriage to a stranger, and she’d probably be dead right now, if it wasn’t for the fact that upon her death, her inheritance wouldn’t go to her brother—it would go to charity. Her parents had been eccentric, but also very clear in their wishes as far as distribution of their assets. They knew that money could make people do terrible things.
But Maisy didn’t think they’d ever believe it could make their ownsondo such awful things to get his hands on their millions.
Now Jason was forcing her to get married so he could gain access to her money.
Maisy wanted to stand up to him. Wanted to go to the police with her suspicions. But her brother terrified her. He had a lot of nefarious friends. People who wouldn’t hesitate to break the law. People he’d probably hired to kill Martha…and maybe even their parents. People who’d probably kidnapped poor Jack.
Jason was a greedy asshole, and Maisy had no idea how to get out from under his thumb.
She had no college education, no friends, no driver’s license or money of her own—no way of escaping his clutches. No matter where she went, he’d find her. And the second she signed her name on a marriage certificate, the clock was ticking for her poor husband…and probably for her too.
Three months. That’s how long she had before every cent her parents had left her would be under Jason’s control.
And she’d be expendable.
As would Jack.
