“Swallow my fucking come,” I say to her.
“Yes, Daddy,” she says, sucking me even faster.
I come hard in her mouth, and she doesn’t even hesitate to swallow every drop. She cleans it up with her tongue when I’m finished.
“Fucking hell,” I say.
She stands up, smiling. “All better?”
“All better,” I say, grabbing her and kissing her deeply.
She laughs when I’m done and I head inside. I drop the mail on the counter along with my briefcase, then I head back into the bedroom.
“What do you want for dinner?” I call out to her. “I was thinking about ordering some Indian food.” I pull on some clean boxers and jeans. “Or we can go out somewhere. Or I can cook. Whatever you want.” Once I’m dressed, I head back out into the kitchen.
Sadie is standing at the counter, staring at a piece of paper. A torn open envelope is on the counter in front of her.
“Sadie?” I ask. “What’s wrong?”
Her face is stuck in a mask of horror, fear, and disbelief. She looks up at me slowly.
“It’s a letter,” she says.
“What does it say?” I ask gently.
She hesitates a second. “Here, take it.” She thrusts the piece of paper at me.
I take it from her hands, frowning. The letterhead is from a major law firm in the city, one of the best, if not the best. The name at the bottom is hand signed, and it’s one of the names of the founding partners.
I know what this is without even having to read it. I skim through the legal jargon and read enough just to get a sense of what the letter means.
I put it down on the counter with a sigh and pull her against me. “You’re going to be okay,” I say to her.
“I didn’t expect this so soon.”
“I know. But we’ll get through it.”
“Why are they like this?” she asks me, her voice barely a whisper.
“I don’t know.”
“I mean, I get being angry. And upset. I hoped maybe they’d come around. But they want to kick me out of the family, Gavin, and not just informally. They want to make it legal. They want to bury me.”
I nod and hold her tightly. The letter basically said that her father wishes to set up a meeting to go over her status as a member of the family. It goes on to say a bunch of other legalistic jargon, but if you read between the lines, she’s pretty much right. Her family wants to get rid of her, and they want to do it for real.
That surprises even me. I know her family is a bunch of bloodsucking assholes that only care about their name and their fortune. They don’t give a shit about Sadie at all. But part of me thought they’d at least wait until the baby was born to disown her.
But no, apparently they gave her one month, and now she’s done.
I think I understand why she’s upset. It’s not about the money, although of course part of her is angry about that. Her two brothers will get even more from the estate now because she’s been written out. And even Peter hasn’t reached out to her, which I know is tearing her up inside.
No, it’s really just about her family. She always thought she was a member of their tribe, a part of their family, an important person in their lives. She’s a daughter and a sister to them, and yet now they’re formally kicking her out. Family is supposed to be something you’re stuck with no matter what, even if you hate your family, they’re still family. That never changes.
But apparently that’s not the case with the Tillmans. Apparently, if you make a mistake, and then you go against their wishes, they just kick you out.
“What am I going to do?” she asks me.
I gently let her go and sit her down at the counter
“I don’t know what we’re going to do,” I say finally. “I have a lawyer and I can get him involved if you want.”
“No,” she says quickly. “God, no. I don’t want to get into that.”
“Sadie,” I say softly. “They want to take everything from you.”
“I know,” she says, a little angry. “And not just the money. They want to take my identity away. They want to erase me.”
I nod and cross my arms. “Which is why maybe we should fight them.”
“To what end?” she asks me, her eyes wide. “What can we possibly achieve by going up against my family?”
“I don’t know,” I admit slowly. “I really don’t know.”
“And I know they’re bleeding you dry, too,” I say. “Maybe if I do this, they’ll leave you alone.”
“We can’t be sure of that. And if you do walk away, you’ll be giving it all up. Forever. There’s no going back.”