LITMIR.BIZ

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felt as if she’d been victimized from the instant she’d arrived home. First Wade, then Dexie’s disapproval, and now this.

      “They were mine to use,” she said, a defensive note in her voice.

      “Of course, of course.” The old man made a shushing sound in a vain attempt to placate her.

      But Piper would not be placated.

      “So where is it?”

      “It?”

      “The money,” she clarified, holding onto her temper by a thread.

      “You know that with your father as a Trustee, the funds were managed very carefully. Over the years he frequently diversified the investments, but as you must be aware, financial markets worldwide have been hit very hard. Even investments that appeared to be sound suffered, and you subsequently lost some rather large sums.”

      Piper shook her head. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Her father had always been the most prudent and cautious of investors.

      “So, I have nothing?”

      “I’m so very sorry.”

      “But what about my father’s estate?”

      “Miss Mitchell, what your father didn’t use to carry Mitchell Exports through some tough times, he used to fund alternative treatments for his illness. There really is very little left. The investment losses your fund endured hit him, also.”

      Everything Wade had told her last night had been true. She wished she could blame him, hold him responsible for her father’s weak financial position at the time of his death, but it was clear Wade had conducted himself the same way he always had. With honor and loyalty to the man he revered above all others.

      Mr. Chadwick continued, completely unaware of the turmoil in her mind. “I must say that Mr. Collins has been most benevolent. When he realized the situation your father was facing he personally acted to assist him. Rex was fortunate that Mr. Collins was compassionate enough to give him a lifetime right to reside in the house.”

      The sick taste of bile rose in Piper’s throat.

      Piper swallowed. “And my mother’s art collection? That should have been left to me in my father’s will. What has happened to that?”

      At least if she had that, all was not lost. As much as she hated the idea of selling a single piece, she’d be able to liquidate some funds.

      “All with Mr. Collins now. I understand the collection is on loan to the Sydney Art Gallery at the moment.”

      “But it wasn’t my father’s to give. It was supposed to be mine.”

      She fought to keep the panic from her voice. Without the collection, she really had nothing.

      “Under the terms of your mother’s will, it was your father’s to dispose of at his discretion. While she stipulated her preference that it be given to you when you reached your majority, it was still left to your father to decide in the end. Some years ago, he mentioned to me that he had some concerns that you might feel compelled to break the collection up and he wanted to avoid that at all costs. Moreover, he wanted to be certain you were settled before entrusting it to you. In all fairness to your father, he honestly expected your trust fund to support you for your lifetime. Hardly anyone foresaw the long-term ramifications of the global financial crisis until it was too late.”

      Piper slumped in the chair. Her life couldn’t get any worse, could it?

      “There is one other thing,” the lawyer said carefully, making all the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end.

      Piper sat up. She didn’t like the way he’d prefaced what was coming next. There was something in his posture and tone that warned her that what she’d learned already was small-fry compared to what was coming next.

      “Tell me,” she demanded. She may as well get it straight on the chin now.

      “Your trust fund. With your withdrawals and the depreciation of the investments’ value over time, it became overdrawn. Mr. Collins had taken charge of your father’s affairs by that point, and personally advanced money to the fund to cover the shortfall when he was made aware of the situation.”

      “Just how much money did he advance?”

      The lawyer named a sum that caused black spots to swim before her eyes.

      “So you’re saying he advanced several hundred thousand dollars to my trust fund?”

      Wade had been the one responsible for the money she’d used to finance schools and health clinics, food and clothing and farm supplies in the counties she’d visited in the past four years? She was struck with an urgent need to understand the conditions of the loan and expressed as much to Mr. Chadwick.

      “The loans were rather open-ended. As your trustee, your father entered into deeds acknowledging the debt between the fund and Mr. Collins. Obviously Mr. Collins has the right to recall those loans, with interest, at any time.”

      “So no repayments have been made to date?”

      “None, Mr. Collins hadn’t requested such repayment.”

      “Not at all?”

      She was confused. How could anyone afford to make such huge sums of money available like that and not expect something back in return?

      “No, not at all.” Chadwick hesitated a moment, his mouth twisting into a moue of regret. “Until now.”

      “Now?” she gasped. “He wants me to repay the debt now?”

      “Yes, Miss Mitchell, I’m afraid so. And he has specified it must be repaid in full.”

      Three

      In full? Piper vibrated with ill-concealed anger, earning a look of concern from the elderly man across the table from her. No wonder Wade had arranged to not be at the appointment with her, the rat.

      “Thank you,” she finally managed to say through gritted teeth. “Could you tell me exactly when Wade Collins made that specification?”

      “We received his instruction this morning.”

      This morning? It was unbelievable. While she’d been sleeping in, or even while she’d been lazing about in her bath, he’d been demanding she clear a debt he knew full well she had no ability to repay.

      Forcing a smile on her face, she stood and offered her hand to the man who’d been her father’s longtime legal counsel.

      “Is there anything I can do for you, Miss Mitchell?”

      “Short of conducting a miracle, I doubt it.”

      She kept her composure until she got outside the office and saw the car Wade had ordered for her waiting in the loading zone outside. Every instinct within her urged her to turn in the opposite direction and to keep walking. To put as much distance as possible between herself and the awful truth about her financial position. But where would she go?

      The driver of the car got out and came around to the passenger side, opening the door for Piper and waiting until she’d settled herself in the soft leather. The drive back to the house passed in a blur. She couldn’t have said whether they’d taken one route or another but when they drove into the long driveway that led to the imposing stairs and entrance to the house, Piper found her eyes locked on the building she’d grown up in.

      The immaculate white painted woodwork, the wraparound verandas on the ground and next story, the green-capped pinnacles that marked the four corners of what had begun as a two-story farmhouse. She’d taken every part of it for granted. Its history, its shelter, its place in her life.

      She had thought she’d changed, but she hadn’t changed at all. Even without a home to call her own, she’d still assumed she had the money to make a new one. But now she didn’t have

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