Page 22 of The Stipulation
“I … I only ever tried to do what was best for you,” she says, her voice trembling with nerves. “I couldn’t … I couldn’t bear the thought of him hurting you.”
“You hurt me,” I say softly, my voice almost a whisper. “By hiding him. By hiding this from me.”
“I know, Jo. I’m sorry,” my mum sobs.
All of the earlier fire has gone from her voice, and now she just sounds defeated. I want to be able to tell her it’s ok, I get it, but I don’t. Not really. I am not ready to forgive and forget. Ipress my lips together. There’s nothing more to say. Not tonight. Not like this.
“I’ll speak to you later,” I say, my voice controlled. “Goodnight, Mum.”
“Don’t be too angry with me, Jo. Please.”
“It’s all right, Mum. I understand. You did your best.”
“Goodnight, Jo,” she whispers.
I end the call, set my cell phone aside, and stare out of the window into the darkness beyond. The city lights glimmer faintly in the distance. It is as if I am looking at someone else’s life through a pane of glass. Even the quiet of the house feels different now. Joseph Manswell was my father. Confirmed beyond any doubt. The DNA only formalized what I already believed, but it shifts everything. Mum’s lies are dead, and no one can accuse me of being an imposter now.
I open the group chat I have with Jenny, Serena and Olivia. I have sent a few messages since I got here, but not as many as I should have, and they have been messaging me, but I have been putting them off, promising to update them later. My fingers hover over the keyboard for a few seconds, then I begin typing, carefully cataloguing the past few crazy days of my life.
Hey ladies,
I promised an update, so here it is. The funeral was surreal. There were so many people there. Rich, famous, influential. They were the kind of people you’d expect to show up at Elon Musk’s funeral. Anyway, the DNA test results are in, and Joseph Manswell was my father. The will reading is tomorrow, and I’m expected to be there. I’ve met my stepbrother, Sheldon. He’s actually surprisingly nice. Lydia, his mom, not so much. She’s cold and very formal. Oh, I might as well just say it – she’s a bitch. I’ve made a friend called Betty. She’s the housekeeper. She’s sweet, smart, andknows a lot about the house and my father. Oh, and the latest update on the ever-charming Axel Rhodes. He still looks at me like I climbed out from underneath a slimy rock. Today he expressed his belief that I have no right to be here. Fun guy.
I think that covers the latest major highlights, loads of big kisses.
I hit send and lean back with my cell phone resting on my chest. I glance at the Kindle I left on the arm of the couch and pick it back up, trying to immerse myself in it again. But my mind goes wandering back to the funeral, the wake, Sheldon’s warmth, Lydia’s ice, … and Axel’s beautifully angry eyes. Everything is new. Everything is shifting. Tomorrow at the will reading, I feel like everything will change once more. And I can feel, deep in the pit of my stomach, that nothing will ever be the same or simple again.
My cell phone buzzes once, then again and again, a rush of notifications announcing the replies from Jenny, Serena and Olivia in the chat. I put my Kindle down and open the chat once more, looking over the emojis, the enthusiastic messages of support, curiosity, and the outpouring of love. I smile faintly. Even in all of this chaos and uncertainty, I am not completely alone.
And that thought, small and fragile, gives me the courage I need to face what comes next.
Chapter
Ten
JO
The morning sunlight streams through the tall windows of the conference room, hitting the polished wood floor in sharp, golden rectangles. I smooth my dress nervously as I step into the room, my heels clicking loudly on the floor. The space is big and modern, with stark white walls and floor-to-ceiling windows. A long glass table with shiny chrome chairs and white leather seats dominates the room. The air smells faintly of polish and a whisper of men’s cologne mingling in.
Sheldon and I are alone in the large room, and we stand together by the refreshments table at the back of the room. Sheldon helps himself to a coffee and then makes me one. I smile and thank him.
“Are we early?” I ask.
Sheldon shakes his head. “No, Gavin will be in shortly.”
“Oh, I didn’t mean that,” I quickly explain. “I just … Well, honestly, I don’t know what I was expecting, but I thought the room would be full.”
“Dad requested it this way. Just you, me, and Axel to be present. You can imagine how much my mom liked that,” he says cynically, and I can’t help but give a soft laugh at the thought of the formidable Lydia being told her presence would not be required.
“She knows she’s not going to be left anything, but she just likes to be seen, if you get my drift,” Sheldon adds.
I do get his drift. While I try my best to melt into the background, Lydia Manswell likes to be out front and center of any event, especially something like a will reading.
The door opens then, and Gavin enters the room, followed by Axel. My eyes are immediately drawn to Axel despite my best efforts to look literally anywhere else. He is wearing a pair of tailored trousers and a white shirt, no tie, and his sleeves are rolled up to his elbows. The perfect picture of casual but powerful, and my stomach flutters at the sight of him. As he stalks into the room he glowers at me, hypnotizing me. I stare at him helplessly, and it’s only when Sheldon greets him and he turns to look at him that the spell is broken and I can look away again. Red-faced, I turn towards Gavin, who now stands at the head of the long glass table, his suit immaculate, his expression calm but solemn with the weight of the importance of the occasion.
“Mr. Manswell, Miss Button, Mr. Rhodes, thank you for coming,” Gavin says smoothly, gesturing towards each of us in turn: Sheldon, me, and the perpetually scowling Axel. “Please, have a seat.”
Sheldon steps forward first, his tall frame easing off the wall he has been leaning against with studied nonchalance and moving into the room with a strangely carefree energy. It makes me wonder if he loved his stepfather.
