Page 77 of Gilded Shackles
Gayle exhales through her nose. Narrows her eyes. "There's a matter regarding your trust."
My stomach tightens. "My what?"
"Your trust fund. It still falls under my oversight until you're thirty, and since certain agreements weren't honored, the terms must change."
"What agreements?"
"You were supposed to marry Egor. That was the deal."
The words crash through my brain. "I never agreed to that. You did."
Gayle waves a dismissive hand. "It would have benefited us both. His family was prepared to invest heavily until you ran off with your Russian."
"My husband," I correct. "And I didn't run off. You made me marry him."
Her lips curl. "Raphaella..."
"It's Elle. Only Elle now. Always. "
"Fine, Elle. Your choice to behave like a slutcaused my alliance with Egor to fail, and there are significant complications."
"Your alliance. What's that got to do with my trust?"
"I'm forced to revert it to compensate for the loss." She bites it out like she's already decided.
Natalia tenses beside me. I place a hand on her arm.
"So you came here to steal my money," I say.
"It's not theft." She lifts her chin.
"Viktor already paid for me. You made a very profitable deal."
"Grow up." Her face turns nasty. "I lost money, Elle. Real money. Egor's family cut me out after you disappeared, and Viktor refuses to play ball. That's not embarrassing. It's expensive."
There it is. Underneath the armor, she's bleeding. Not emotionally. Financially. Gayle Donovan is running out of leverage, and that makes her more dangerous than she's ever been.
"Are you even hearing yourself?" I snap.
I hold her stare. Think of all the times she called me dramatic, ungrateful, too much.
Only this time, I'm not ten.
I wait for the pain. The loss. The familiar crash of disappointment.
It doesn't come.
Instead, I feel something unexpected.
Relief.
"Keep it," I say.
Her eyebrows shoot up. "Excuse me?"
"The trust. The money. All of it. I don't want it." My voice is steady now, coming from a place she's never heard from me. "That money was always just a way for you to control me."
She takes a step forward, towering in her heels. "Viktor Ivanov paid for you, is that it? You think because he bought you, you don't need your own money?"
