First And Last

Chapter 3

Still Jessica's POV

I just nodded and prepared myself for whatever my dad was getting ready to lay on me, it couldn't be any worse than what I just went through.

"Jess, I want to begin by telling you, that I love you very much and so did your mother. We hid some things from you, because we wanted you to have a normal, happy childhood. See, your mother came from a very long, very entitled, very snobby, line of people. Her parents passed before you were born, so you never got to see that part of her life, but she never wanted you to anyway. She hated that life and walked away from it the minute she turned 18. She wanted a normal life and when she met me, I promised her I would give her that and more. About a year after we were married, her parents - your grandparents, passed away in a plane crash, leaving your mother and her brother their entire fortune, split right down the middle. We were genuinely surprised, because your mom had not spoken to her parents in years. At this point, our lives were set, your mom and I both had jobs and were pretty happy with the life we had made for ourselves, without help from anyone. We decided to keep a small portion and invest the rest for any future children we may have. Your mom had a miserable life before us and she attributed most of it to wealth and her parents; so, when you came along, she was determined to keep you away from all of that. Your uncle is not a good man, he fought to keep your mother's portion of the inheritance as well, but the will was ironclad and he lost that battle. The decision to have you emancipated if anything should happen to us was decided a long time ago. When she died, she left you the money we had invsted, it has gained a considerable amount of interest and according to our investment manager, you are worth $842 million dollars today."

My mouth dropped. I feel like he's playing a trick on me, but his face is telling me otherwise. I've never seen him so serious.

"What am I supposed to do with this?" I said.

"Whatever you want to, I suppose." He replied.

I can't believe this. I stood up to get out of there, I need some fresh air, this is too much for me. I'm just a kid, I thought, I haven't even had the time to be a proper teenager because I've been taking care of my dad. He begged me to stay, he wasn't done yet.

He sighed and said, "Look Jess, your uncle would try to win custody of you, just so he could get his hands on your inheritance. Even though they're not as bad, my family would probably do the same. Money does weird things to people, it changes them and I just want to protect you. Please understand, this has to be done."

I nodded my head and told him I needed a moment to myself. I walked out to our backyard and sat in the swing my father had made for me several years ago. Looking back, I should have known, I mean, we never really struggled and I was rarely denied when I asked for something. I just thought my father made good money. Maybe he did, he never touched the money that my mother had left me. I didn't even know that I had an uncle, what if he comes after me anyway? My parents hid this from me for a reason, maybe it's best that I do as well.

That's settled, I'll do what I have to when I go to court for the emancipation and I'll keep my secrets and distance from people. It's probably for the best anyway, everyone I love seems to leave and it fucking hurts too much.

I made my way back into my dad's room, but he was fast asleep, so I pulled his covers up, kissed his head and went to my room, then cried myself to sleep.