Chapter 20 - The tent
After I said:
“I left it to the man you stepped over,”
Daniel stared at me.
“You’re insane.”
Thomas moved slightly.
I lifted one hand.
“No.”
This was mine.
Marcus looked toward the security silhouettes behind them.
“Are we being detained?”
“No.”
Evelyn’s voice came through my phone on the table.
“You are free to leave at any time.”
Marcus looked at the phone.
“Evelyn.”
“Good evening, Marcus.”
Daniel threw the renunciation papers down.
“You set this up.”
“I knew you were coming.”
“You hid in a tent.”
“I stood six feet behind a canvas divider.”
“Same thing.”
Thomas said:
“I told your lawyer I wasn’t signing.”
Daniel turned on him.
“You think you can run Whitmore?”
“No.”
“You think my father’s money makes you one of us?”
Thomas looked almost tired.
“No.”
“Then why take it?”
I watched.
This was the question I had also asked silently.
Thomas answered:
“Because your father finally convinced me accepting help isn’t the same as owing him my life.”
Good.
Daniel laughed.
“Help? He gave you our inheritance.”
I said:
“Your inheritance is whatever I lawfully choose to leave.”
“You built that with us.”
“I built most of it before you graduated college.”
Marcus flinched.
Daniel continued:
“Dad, this is retaliation.”
“Partly.”
Evelyn made a noise through the phone.
I ignored her.
“I was furious.”
Daniel smiled.
“There.”
“But the structure was reviewed by independent counsel, trustees, doctors, tax advisers, and corporate counsel. My anger does not make your entitlement a property right.”
Marcus looked at me.
“How much?”
“Enough.”
“No. How much does he get?”
Thomas said:
“Less than you think.”
Daniel:
“More than he deserves.”
That sentence.
There.
I looked at him.
“What did you deserve when you were twenty-two and I gave you your first six million?”
Silence.
“What did Marcus deserve when I guaranteed his first fund?”
No answer.
“What did I deserve when I was on the sidewalk?”
May you like
Daniel’s face changed.
No one spoke.
