Polished Rust (Wilkins Brothers Book #4)

Chapter 9

ROSEMARY

I was up most of the night thinking back to the conversation that I had with Katherine about my mother’s estate. I still couldn’t believe that all the money and everything in the trust would be granted to me. I didn’t want to come off as a spoiled rich girl, but the fact was I came from money after two generations of a very successful business and very smart investing from my father and a life of luxury was something that I was used to.

Could I live without the designer clothes and a driver taking me places? Absolutely. Did that mean I wanted to? Not really. I also wanted Mercy to have the same opportunities I did. I went to a really great private school and then had my college paid for, including my Master’s degree. I wasn’t confident I could do that for her with just my salary from my position without Vinnie’s involvement.

Mostly I was just so angry when everything went down with my dad and Vinnie that I needed to put myself in a better position to not lose everything. Now that I have the financial security that I do, Mercy and I can do whatever we want. We aren’t stuck with whatever Vinnie wants to do or what he’s willing to pay for. Today is a new day and I’m going to make the best of it.

After spending hours on the phone with multiple financial institutions yesterday, I finally removed Vinnie from every single one of them. I was up early this morning to hire an accountant to go through each of the accounts to see if there were any discrepancies. I had my reasons to believe that Vinnie was probably taking some money for himself, not just supervising how my mom was using the money. Katherine called saying that the paperwork from the court was ready for me, so I made the stop there before heading to the company headquarters ready to kick ass and take names.

The first stop was the sales floor and then my office where I made sure to pack away a few important things in the event that Vinnie was going to prevent me from coming back to the office. After dropping everything off at my car, I took a deep breath and steeled myself, ready for battle. I gave Vinnie’s secretary a friendly wave and she let me right past, his door was halfway opened and I slid in.

Vinnie was facing towards the desk, but I could see his reflection in the back window, I knew he knew I was standing there. “Close the door, Rosie.”

I did what he asked me and then resumed my position, arms crossed over my chest, “I take it you’ve received all of the news this morning?”

“I did,” he scoffs, still not turning around to face me. “You work quickly.”

I’m sure his comment is in response to him being off accounts already, I wasn’t going to let him spend another dollar of my mother’s money that he wasn’t entitled to. “I was just doing what I had to do, Vinnie. Aren’t you the one that always tells me I don’t make good business decisions because I’m always too worried about the outcomes?”

He chuckles, finally turning around. He leans back against his desk, looking the part of a man in control, but I’ve learned a lot about him in our time together and I know he’s nothing close to in control right now. “You’re going to tell me this was all business and not personal one bit?”

“I don’t even think the ink was dry on my dad’s will when you were already spending his money and making changes to the company.”

“That was different and you know it. I had been working towards taking over this company for months before your dad passed away. It is what he would have wanted and you know it. No room for mourning when you have a business to run. He would have been pissed at me if I didn’t keep going with business as usual. Once again, why he left the company in my capable hands and not your overly emotional ones.”