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“Fine. Well, as you know I’ve been working hard to get your parents’ estate in order since the accident. They named your sister as the executor of their estate.”
My heart squeezed. “I know all this already, Hillary.”
I didn’t want to talk about this, but I let her continue.
“Yes, yes. I know. Well, we’ve finally made some progress. There’s a clause in their will, buried deep in the small print, that you actually do have access to half their estate! It was in a new version of their will that I hadn’t seen before.”
“I don’t want any of their money,” I spat bitterly. “Let Maggie keep it.”
“Maddox…”
“I mean it.”
There was silence on the line, and Hillary sighed.
“Maddox, I know this has been tough, and I know that your sister hasn’t made it any easier on you.”
“You don’t know shit, Hillary! What do you know about my situation?”
Hillary was quiet for a moment, and I knew I shouldn’t have lashed out at her. She’d been my parents’ lawyer before being mine, and was as close to a true mother figure as I’d ever had.
“I know that your parents were proud of you,” she said quietly
I scoffed. “Proud of me? You think they were proud of me? They’d have been proud of me if I’d have sold my soul to Wall Street and followed in my father’s footsteps. They’d have been proud of me if I’d have dressed in a fucking monkey suit every day and gone to work for The Man. Being part of a rock band didn’t exactly follow their expectations.”
“I know they were proud of you. Your mother told me so one night. She said you had followed your dreams and she’d wished she could have done the same.”
My chest squeezed and I tried to blink the tears away. I shook my head.
“They thought I was a fuck-up. They saw tattoos and loud music and nothing more.” But Hillary’s words pierced through my chest, and I took a deep breath. What if they had been proud of me?
Almost six months ago, they’d died in a freak boating accident. They’d both drowned, and I’d been the one to identify their bloated, blue bodies. They still visited me in my nightmares.
Then, my sister had tried to cut me out of their will.
Hillary’s voice was gentle when she continued. “Maddox,” she said, her tone almost motherly. “You’ll inherit your share of the estate if you get married by the time you’re thirty.”
I frowned as the world spun around me, and this time it didn’t feel like it was my hangover.
“What?”
“You’re set to inherit three quarters of a billion dollars if you get married within the next two months.”
“What the fuck?”
“They must have added the clause in after they found another lawyer. I knew nothing about it until I reviewed the will for the hundredth time.”
“They wanted me to get married? Why?”
Hillary sighed. “Maddox, they wanted you to be happy.”
I was dizzy. Even the cool evening air did nothing to calm my swirling thoughts. Married?! How was I supposed to find a wife? How could I trust anyone with this? I hadn’t even had a long-term girlfriend since I’d dropped out of college to be in the band!
“I’ll call you back, Hillary.”
“Tomorrow. Call me tomorrow.”
“Fine.”
