Chapter 2
All the relatives sucked in a breath.
Stella looked like she wanted to say something, but Vivian quickly pulled her back.
I looked at my dad, and suddenly he felt like a stranger. This was the man who taught me to ride a bike, braided my hair, and always called me his little princess. But for another woman, he was kicking me out.
"Fine," I said, folding the bank statement twice and shoving it back into my pocket. "I'm out of here."
As I turned to leave, I glanced at my mom's memorial portrait.
She was still smiling.
She watched this whole farce unfold with gentle, pitying eyes.
I had nowhere to go.
My dorm was already empty, and crashing at a friend's place wasn't going to work.
All I had left was 700 bucks in my account, saved up from working part-time last semester.
On the third day of crashing at a budget hotel, I got a call from my counselor.
"Zayla, your dad's at school," she said, sounding awkward. "He wants to put you on leave, and he brought... your stepmom?"
When I got to the admin building, Sarah was sitting on the couch in the reception room, sipping her coffee.
She was wearing a cream-colored sweater and pearl earrings, looking so graceful and put-together. My dad was right next to her, holding my school records.
"Zayla, you're here," Sarah said, setting down her cup and getting up as she tried to take my hand.
She added, "Come on, talk to your dad. Taking a break from school is a big deal, not something to mess around with."
I dodged her hand.
"Why are you making me drop out?" I asked.
"Things are tough at home right now," my dad said, not even bothering to look at me as he shuffled through the documents.
He continued, "Sarah's not feeling well and needs someone to take care of her. I want you to come back and help out for a while. Maybe after a couple of years..."
"A couple of years? Then, I'll never get back to school, will I?" I cut him off. "You just want to trap me at home, make me wait on your new wife, and marry me off to some random guy just so you can pocket some bride money, right?"
Sarah's tears started flowing instantly.
"Zayla, how could you think that..." she choked up. "I really do want us to get along. Your dad just wants what's best for you.
"What's the use of a girl getting so much education? Settling down and starting a family early is what really matters..."
"My mom had a PhD," I shot back. "While she was hitting the books, you were working the sewing machine at a garment factory, weren't you?"
Sarah's expression froze.
She really only had a high school diploma. My mom's private investigator discovered it. The report was tucked right behind those bank statements, black and white.
It read, [Sarah, 38, married a small-time boss her first time, scored a payout in the divorce, and spent her days prowling upscale spots, fishing for rich guys.]
My dad was the biggest, dumbest catch she ever made.
"Zayla!" My dad slammed his fist on the desk, his voice shaking with anger. "Apologize to Sarah, right now!"
My counselor tried to mediate, sounding anxious. "Mr. Lester, Zayla's so close to graduating. It'd be a real shame for her to take a break now..."
"I'm her father! What I say goes!" my dad barked, throwing the documents onto the desk. "You're signing these today, whether you want to or not!"
I stared at the Leave of Absence form.
The reason section said, [Family's short on cash, so the kid has to work to help out at home.]
Seriously? How ironic it was.
Sarah's new watch could cover my tuition for all four years.
"I'm not signing," I said.
"Then don't even think about getting your diploma," my dad sneered. "Who's been paying for your tuition? Who's been covering your living expenses? Without me, you'd be nothing!"
Just then, someone knocked on the door of the reception room.
A man in a suit stuck his head in. "Excuse me, is Zayla Lester here?"
We all froze.
"That's me," I said, standing up.
The man walked in and handed me a folder. "Hi, I'm Kenneth Miller from Motia Law Firm. Your mom asked me to come here and handle the paperwork for your inheritance."
Inheritance?
My dad jumped to his feet. "What inheritance? Her mom blew all the money on medical bills!"
"Mr. Lester, you might not be aware," Kenneth said, pushing up his glasses. "Ms. Tina Brown, your late wife, owned a property in her own name before she married you.
"She also left behind a trust fund for Zayla, but she can only access it once she turns twenty-two or graduates from college."
Sarah dropped her coffee cup.
Hot coffee splashed onto her cream-colored pants, leaving a wet mark that quickly spread.
"No way..." she muttered, her voice shaking. "She told us the family was broke..."
Kenneth said with a smile, "The trust fund money is off-limits for household spending. It was property Tina owned before she got married, totally separate from anything shared with her husband.
"According to the agreement, if Zayla is forced to leave school before she turns twenty-two, the trust gets locked up until she's back in class."
My dad's face went from red to white, then turned ashen.
"She was hiding this from me..." he slumped back onto the couch. "She really kept this from me..."
"She wasn't hiding it," I said, looking at this broken man. "She was protecting herself and me."