Page 60 of Bend
“You said you got me here with money. What does that mean?”
His eyebrows narrow. “I deposited thirty thousand dollars in your account. Gertrude didn’t leave you anything.”
“What?”
“She left her island to me by putting me in charge of her trust. But it turns out the trust can’t transfer ownership of the island to me without you, because the island is conservation land, and conservation land can only be passed down within a family. I can’t have it unless you become involved with the trust and sign off on the sale of it to me.”
“If you want to keep the money that I gave you, what you have to do is simple. Sign on to oversee her trust, and decide the island should be sold to me. The money will go to the trust, but I’ll give you an additional thirty thousand dollars.”
I blink a few times. “Are you bribing me?”
He pins me with that awful look again. The condemning one. “Do you consider yourself above that?”
“I don’t know. Yes. You called me a money-grubber. That’s not a good way to get my help.”
A beam of sunlight pushes through the dark clouds, illuminating the man’s black hair. “So you’re saying you won’t do it?”
I rub my eyes, noticing as I do that my hand is shaking. “I don’t know if I will. I don’t know.” I draw a deep breath in. Force myself to look into his dark eyes. “I don’t think I would agree to sell her island to you. You seem like an asshole.”
“Do I?” He steps closer, and my chest and cheeks go molten hot.
I grit my teeth. “Yes. You are an asshole. I can spot one.”
“You’re a beggar.”
“How did she die?”
“Excuse me?”
“How did my grandmother die, asshole?”
His face hardens. “It was cancer. Do you care?”
“Of course I care!”
His sneer tells me what he thinks of that, but I ignore him. “Pancreatic cancer?” I ask.
He frowns.
“Did she die of pancreatic cancer?”
“Lung.”
I exhale slowly, feeling faint. “She didn’t want to meet me, did she? It was you who told me to come here.”
He nods, and my throat constricts.
“After your first e-mail, I did some digging. I found out about your financial woes. After she passed, I gave you a ‘gift.’”
“A bribe.”
“It’s not a bribe. It’s a gift. A token of my intent if you were to decide, on behalf of the trust, to sell the island to me. Her trust will get the money. A little under a million, if I’m correct about the island’s worth. You can keep the sixty thousand I give you, and I get to continue living at my home.” He holds his hands out, as if everything he’s said is totally logical.
I shake my head.“Just because you were dumb enough to deposit money into my account—under false pretenses, might I add—that doesn’t mean I have to agree to sell the island to you. How could I do that, anyway? If you’re one of the trust’s administrators, wouldn’t that be like…illegal?”
“I’d have to remove myself first.”
“Why do you care so much about this island?”
