I almost laughed. “Even if I wanted to, I can’t give you a cent.”
He looked confused. “What do you mean? You’re the guardian. You have the papers.”
“Mom said in her letter the trust is only for their benefit. I can’t transfer it, and I definitely can’t give it to a man who hasn’t seen them since they were in diapers.”
“But…” He stepped closer, trying to look pitiful. “Wouldn’t it be better for them if I was… handled?”
“Handled?” I said slowly. “You’re saying it would benefit them if I paid you to stay away.”
He nodded. “When you put it like that—yes. It’s a win-win, isn’t it?”
Something inside me settled. All the years of wondering where he’d been disappeared. He wasn’t a mystery or a monster. He was just small and selfish.
“You know what’s wild?” I said. “For a moment, when you knocked, I actually thought you came back to see how we were doing.”
He opened his mouth with some rehearsed excuse, but I didn’t let him speak. I crossed the room and opened the front door wide.
“You don’t get the money, and you don’t get to rewrite this story. You left because you were selfish. You came back because you’re greedy.”
