My blood runs cold. Millions of dollars? My mother embezzled millions of dollars from someone I looked up to as a grandfather. How could she do such a thing?

“How could she take so much money and not get caught?” I demand. “He had to have discovered it.”

“The old man has almost as much money as those damn Parks, so he hasn’t noticed she’s been stealing from under his nose,” Darren states. “Plus, when your mother wants something, she’s really, really good at getting it.” He pats her on the top of the head. “But no matter how good she is, it would have caught up to her eventually because the oxy was beginning to make her sloppy.”

Oxy made her a lot of things and sloppy was one of them. Once she got off those, she did better. The Xanax doesn’t make her sloppy, just sleepy. Probably because she takes a lot more than she’s supposed to. At least she somehow manages to pull herself up to go into work, even on Saturdays.

“Before I opened my own firm, I worked for Leo,” Darren says. “I came in one Saturday to find her digging through Leo’s office, slurring her words. She confessed what she’d done and begged for me to take her to rehab.”

“That summer…” I mutter.

“That summer I did take her to rehab. But I also saw an opportunity. Your mother, despite her addictive ways, was a genius and ruthless when it served her own needs. Having her on my side could be beneficial to me. I told her I’d keep her secret if we were to marry.” He chuckles. “I reminded her she had a child to think of. That I could help care for and protect that child. No one had to go to prison. She just needed to be smarter and more careful.”

“You’re a monster,” I snap.

“No, I’m an investor. Not only do I have a beautiful, intelligent wife, but I have one who pays like interest. An annuity if you will.”

“You disgust me. You’ll pay for this.”