Page 69 of Novice Girlfriend

“Because they’re not paying it for you just as I didn’t. I don’t expect you to give me answers on lots of things. You owe me nothing either. That is what it means to survive, Bevin. There are few goddess witches because they don’t survive and are eaten up by the pressure everyone else puts on them about duty and the responsibility of the gifts the gods give them.”

“I know,” I whispered. “I’m learning.”

She lost some of her upset and backed down.

“You know you’re lecturing her this way because you feel guilty you didn’t save her from that abuse,” Tracey said, her tone tight.

Jean glanced over at Tracey. “I never said I didn’t regret what happened. I said I was tired of being blamed for not fixing it or saving her. You weren’t there. None of you. I have apologized for how I have handled things. I will not apologize for what Alex did just as you shouldn’t for what Grandfather or Ramon did.”

Tracey looked like she wanted to pound Jean but gave a swift nod. “What is this new problem that’s so important that I can’t get caught up on what Jason Berns did?”

Jean actually looked nervous, which made Clare and me worry from the glance we shot each other. She cleared her throat and looked back at me. “I’m glad you don’t have a temper. I wasn’t hiding it. I actually went through a lot of work to get the full picture of it all instead of just one piece of information and drop an incomplete mess at your feet.”

“Jean, just spit it out, please,” I grumbled. “If you didn’t do it, I won’t blame you.”

“I did do part of it, but I didn’t know—I was party to it in a way,” she corrected before looking at Jasmine. “I’ll have the forensic accountant drop off the full files and go over everything with whomever you need. I can—”

“You didn’t want your familiar around me,” I interrupted. “When I was there to visit Grandfather’s grave, the guard’s familiar was talking about all the numbers and how boring the new accountant was. Asking the other familiar what exactly a bankruptcy was. I thought you were auditing all the books and looking at options.”

Pity flashed in Jean’s eyes as she stared back at me. “Not for me. For you. The bankruptcy proceedings have already started in the human world. The moment you left for school, Father filed it all because you were going to mate into the Haddocks. He was going to act as if he had no idea about the debt and stick them with that bill and make them clean it up.”

“Did you know that?” Clare asked Jean. “What were you party to?”

Jean shot her an unfriendly look at the accusation in her tone. “We were party to it since the money paid for our condos.”

“So I own your condos?” I muttered.

Jean let out a slow breath. “No, Father would never have allowed that. We didn’t even own them.” The disdain in her tone made me feel silly. Of course women in the Shaw family didn’t own anything. “The accountant followed the money trails and one of the personal loans Father took out with your social security and more—the funds were used as the down payment.”

“You now own it all as the head of the family, so this is your mess to clean up,” Jasmine said firmly. “And you’re obviously about to say you’re going to pay Bevin back so we can handle everything quickly and without reporting the fraud.”

Jean ground her jaw but kept my gaze. “Magic can handle a lot of that. The right people know how to do that. Obviously, with the way we handle things. You can’t file fraud against Fath—Charles. Not with the humans. It would be a huge mess.”

I opened my mouth but then slowly closed it. Jean didn’t have the money. Not right now with the way Charles had been losing so much for the estate. There had to have been a much bigger mess than I’d even know.

Clare figured it out too. “Selling assets would give people ammunition, and they’re watching her too closely, looking for anything.”

“I want Grand—Bernice,” I said after several long moments.

“I’m sorry?” Clare asked, several others having a range of reactions.

I ignored them all and focused on Jean. “She will know how to use that magic you said, and I cannot stomach she’s never paid for anything she’s done. To any of us.” I glanced over at the Reids. “What’s been her punishment for killing her own child for Charles’s power? She admitted she knew he did it no matter the lie spun, right?”

Mr. Reid seemed less than thrilled to discuss this in the company standing there but understood it had to be handled. “We’ve not filed anything because we cannot come to a consensus on how to handle it.”

I snorted. “Because too many are focused on me instead of…” I made a disgusted noise and focused back on Jean. “She’s not being of any help to you anymore, is she?”

No. It was in Jean’s eyes. The use of Bernice wasn’t worth the problems she caused now and she probably didn’t trust the woman.

She was smart enough not to.

“Then I want Bernice to pay off the debt. She had to have known.” I sighed when Jean opened her mouth. “She knows everything, Jean. That’s what I want from her. I want everything.”

Jean ran her tongue over her teeth. “I stood here and said I wouldn’t push you for answers and yet you’re—”

“Not from you,” I snapped, too tired to be patient. I tried to calm down but then realized I was more than valid given this development and let Jean see that in my eyes. “She knows all the gossip about every top-tier family. We’re going to war. I’m building an army and that benefits you. I need all the dirty secrets and rumors.

“Not for the council. For us.” I gestured to Winter’s friends and Taylor’s people. Then Clare and me. “And I need to know more about me. She knows those tutors. She can find those books for me like nothing. Let her do what she can instead of getting in your way.” I snorted. “Let her help with the shit of the large familiar housing.”