Page 18 of Filthy Hot Billionaire
With only a few weeks until my eighteenth birthday, Kitty tried to have me legally adopted by Rhett, believing all my money would become theirs if that happened. Being that I didn’t want to be Rhett’s son—not even in name—I had refused, and I fought her tooth and nail, biding my time, suffering for the seemingly endless days until I became legal. At that point, I gained access to the trust fund but only for the purpose of managing investments. The accountant my mother had manipulated into doing her dirty work was fired—and later sued by me—and I sought one of my own. It was during the initial review of the accounts that my new accounting firm discovered the missing funds.
That was when the bottom fell out for Kitty and Rhett.
Being my mother’s son, she’d raised me to stand up for myself and to take shit from no one. And being my father’s son, I’d been groomed to be a ruthless businessman. Needless to say, I hadn’t taken the slight kindly and had ultimately used it against them. Rhett and Kitty’d had no choice but to give in to my demand or accept their fate, which would’ve left them both destitute, not to mention behind bars. Evidently, when you were used to the finer things in life, the thought of pissing in a public toilet and taking your meals on paper plates with plastic utensils was enough to make you do anything.
So I had agreed to not file a civil lawsuit or criminal charges, but I had one demand. Unfortunately for them, it encompassed a lot: when Emily turned eighteen, once she was old enough to take care of herself, I would take every physical possession Rhett had.
Every. Single. Thing.
All that private school learning and my father’s tutelage had taught me one very important thing: with money came power. So who was I not to master the art of getting what I wanted?
To avoid jail time, and because he would retain the millions he had in the bank, Rhett had agreed, taking me on as a business partner in the interim and signing away his prized possessions in order to save himself and to appease his bride. Kitty hadn’t been as easily convinced, but in the end, a promise to continue her twenty-thousand-a-month allowance had made her amenable. Generous on my part considering she’d violated the agreement, marrying Rhett before I turned eighteen.
Kitty shifted uncomfortably, her gaze fixed on her hands in her lap. “It is my understanding you have business to tend to while you are here.”
“I do,” I confirmed, although we both knew the only business I had was to take what was rightfully mine.
Now that the day had finally come to close out a chapter of my life I was eager to put behind me, I was more than ready to be done with it. It hadn’t surprised me to hear that Rhett and Kitty were acting as though nothing was about to change. To be honest, I doubted either of them believed I would actually follow through with the promise I’d made them all those years ago. In all fairness, I had extended their timeline by three years, so I could see where they might be hopeful. They were in for a very rude awakening.
“I assume you’re packed and ready to go?” I asked.
“What?” The look on her face was priceless.
“You’re moving, Mother. That’s our agreement.”
Her perfectly sculpted eyebrows lowered. “I … I don’t understand.”
“Which part? I don’t think I can make it much clearer.”
Her eyes were wide, her jaw unhinged. “But…”
“This was the arrangement, Kitty. You had until Emily’s twenty-first birthday.”
From the way her mouth fell open, she hadn’t been expecting that I would follow through, but there was a point of no return, and Kitty had surpassed that many, many years ago. It didn’t matter that she was pretending it never happened, we both knew what she’d done, and I wasn’t about to let her get away with it any longer.
She sat up straight, composing herself as only my mother could do. “I thought we had discussed other options.”
“No, you had hoped that I would change my mind,” I countered. “I haven’t and I won’t.”
“You have more money than you can spend in ten lifetimes,” she pleaded. “I do not understand what the problem is.”
“It’s the principle of it, Mother.” I canted my head and leveled my gaze on hers, waiting for her to respond.
Her countenance morphed from surprised to shrewd. “I see.”
“Good because I have business to get back to, and I don’t want to fight you on this.” I shifted to the edge of the chair. “Tomorrow then. Until then, I expect you’ll stay out of my way.”
On my way out of the room, it was possible I heard Kitty choke on a sob, and yet I didn’t feel an ounce of remorse.
4
Emily
After my encounter with Knox by thepool, I’d done a relatively good job of dodging him for most of the afternoon.
It helped that he’d remained holed up in the formal living room with his nose buried in his iPad, seemingly oblivious to everything going on around him. It had offered me the rare opportunity of watching him from afar, something I’d taken great pleasure in as I sat at the top of the stairs and observed while he worked. At least I assumed that was what he’d been doing considering how intently focused he’d been, his eyebrows lifting and lowering as he skimmed whatever it was that kept him riveted to the screen.
I would’ve gotten away with my afternoon of G-rated voyeurism, too, if it hadn’t been for Hannah. More accurately, if she hadn’t disturbed me on my perch.
