Page 110 of Backlash

“I filed a petition with the courts to replace Felix as the trustee of Ellie’s estate. I doubt they’ll take issue with a father protecting his child’s interests.”

I feel his words as acutely as if he’d actually fired the first shot. I point a finger at him, my hand shaking with a rage I’ve never experienced. “You’ve never looked out for her interests. Not since the day she came home. You thought a baby would secure your inheritance, and when she took it from you instead—”

“Don’t make me the villain, Adair,” he stops me. “Don’t pretend you care more about her than I do. You left this house.”

“I will never let you take her birthright from her,” I seethe. “I didn’t give up my inheritance—”

“No, you didn’t,” he cuts me off. “He took it from you—and you deserved it!”

His words bounce off me. I’ve had years to come to grips with that reality. “Why do you even care about the house? Leave it in her name. Live here. Felix isn’t kicking you out.”

“That’s none of your business.”

“It isn’t?” I challenge him. “What if I decide it is? What if I decide to contest the inheritance, too?”

“You wouldn’t.” He takes one menacing step in my direction.

“Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t,” I say.

“Because this morning I leveraged the pittance our father left us to take back a significant control in this company. The only way to see the deal through is to sell Windfall.”

There’s a gasp from behind me, and I whirl around to see Ginny standing at the door, clutching Ellie’s hand. She drags her daughter, still dressed in tights and leotard, toward us. “You didn’t!”

“And lose the chance to take back what my family built?” Malcolm roars.

“But how?” Ginny stammers, shrinking a bit under his ferocious gaze. Ellie clings to her side, but her eyes are on me.

I smile, hoping to reassure her, but she hides her face against her mother’s purse. Malcolm isn’t the only one angry that I left.

“Once we sell the house, we’ll be fine,” Malcolm says, adjusting his tie. I resist the urge to grab it and strangle him with it.

“But where will we live, and how will we even do it? Did you give him permission?” Ginny turns wild eyes on Felix.

“No,” Felix says firmly.

“The lawyers are working to remove Felix as Ellie’s trustee,” Malcolm explains. “It’s better this way. We’ll have control again. We’ll find somewhere smaller and build the family name into what it was once.”

And that’s when I realize why he’s doing this. I was wrong. Malcolm isn’t following the script anymore. He’s writing his own. He wants to make a name for himself, just like I do. That doesn’t make what he’s doing okay. Because even if he’s fighting my father’s crooked legacy, he’s doing it using the MacLaine handbook. He’ll bulldoze through each of us if we stand in his way. In his effort to free himself from our father, he’s become something just as terrible.

“We should talk about this later,” I say gently, still watching Ellie’s frightened eyes half-hidden behind Ginny.

Malcolm turns to me, his face full of pure hatred. “You aren’t part of this family anymore. There is nothing to talk about. Get out of our house.”

“No!” Ellie jumps out from behind her mother and runs to me, wrapping her tiny arms around my leg. “Don’t leave Auntie Dair!”

“See, how you confuse her by coming here?” Ginny accuses, grabbing Ellie’s shoulder to pull her off me.

I push her hand off and curl my arm protectively around the little girl. “Don’t.”

Ellie looks up to Ginny, tears swimming in her eyes. “I’ll be good, remember? Just like you said.” She turns her pleading to me. “I promised. I told her I would behave so you don’t have to leave again.”

“What did you tell her?” I ask Ginny in horror.

“The truth. That her Aunt left her and wouldn’t be coming back.”

“How could you?”

“I’m her mother. I’m all she needs.” Ginny yanks Ellie off me, but she kicks free and grabs hold of me again.