The Legacy, Caroline Bond [popular books to read txt] 📗

Liv now knew, with absolute certainty, that it wasn’t.

‘Oh, you’re trying to be fair, are you?’

‘Yes. I think it’s important, even if no one else does.’ Liv was as startled as the others to hear the vehemence in her own voice, though, if anyone had asked her, she would no longer have been able to articulate who or what she was fighting for.

Their mother assumed an amused expression. ‘Well, good luck with that.’ She sat back in her chair and folded her arms. A clear signal that she was washing her hands of the issue – just like she used to do if they ever came to her to resolve an argument when they were kids.

Noah visibly brightened. ‘So that’s agreed then. We divide the money equally, in three, and see Mum right between us.’ He looked relieved.

‘What about Megan?’ Chloe asked.

‘Like Mum said, that’s up to each of us.’ Noah bristled.

‘And I can guess what you’ll give her,’ Liv said.

‘Oh, can you now, Sis?’

There it was again, that nasty edge to his tone. Liv was ashamed of him. Such naked avarice made her uncomfortable, and angry. ‘I’m guessing you intend to give her absolutely nothing.’

‘Indeed I do!’

‘Whatever we may think of Megan’s relationship with Dad, she did look after him through it all. She bore the brunt of his care. Was here every day and every night as he got sicker, when we weren’t.’

Liv ignored Chloe’s plaintive ‘I was here.’

‘We may not like the woman, but we do have to do right by her.’ Liv wanted to see just how brutal Noah was prepared to be.

‘You do what you want, Liv. Keep on polishing that big old halo of yours. Me, I can live with not giving away our legacy to Dad’s mistress.’

And with that pronouncement, Noah made up Liv’s mind. Megan could keep her house. Could keep it secret, if she chose to. Her father had been wrong to trust in their kindness and their ability to put the needs of others before their own. His experiment had been cruel. And it had failed.

‘Are you going to bother with a donation to the MND charity? Didn’t he stipulate that they should get it all, if you couldn’t agree?’ Eloise added a few more drops of oil to their already-stormy waters.

Noah was swift to respond, no doubt wanting to keep his decisions close to his chest, where they could be as self-serving as he saw fit. ‘We can donate separately.’

Liv fought back. She was sick of Noah getting his own way. ‘Mum’s right. We should make a donation. And we should do it from the estate, so that the bequest is in Dad’s name.’

‘Does that really matter?’

‘For God’s sake, Noah. Yes, it does! Dad obviously wanted to leave some money to help people suffering from the same awful illness as him. That has to be part of his legacy.’

Finally Noah reacted with something that looked like shame. He flushed, a deep, unsightly crimson, which sat oddly on top of his sallow complexion. It made him look quite ill. But when he opened his mouth, it was not contrition that emerged, but spite. ‘Oh, stop, can’t you? Just for one sodding minute, stop! Why do you always have to be the noble one, Liv? We all know Dad thought the sun shone out of your arse – that you were his golden girl. Me and Chloe have always been the “also-rans”. But Dad’s not here any more, is he, Liv? He’s dead. No amount of cash to some charity is going to change that. Give your share away, if you want to. Be the saint. But some of us mere mortals need that money!’

Liv was sick of it all.

Sick of Noah.

Sick of Chloe’s passivity and their mother’s aloof indifference.

Sick of the responsibility.

Sick of the secrets and unfairness.

She felt her self-control slipping. It was a horrible feeling, yet at the same time it was exhilarating. This was what happened when you pushed someone who was at the end of their tether too far. ‘How dare you? If it wasn’t for me, we’d be nowhere. I’ve spent hours liaising with the solicitor, and the pension company, pulling everything together. Hours and hours of work. Me! Me and my head-girl tendencies and my full-time, full-on job, and my two kids, and my house, and my husband, who I never see; and my family, who seem to think that I’m a robot with no troubles of my own!’

‘What do you want, Liv?’ Noah taunted. ‘A round of applause for being so wonderful? Is our lovely, self-righteous big sister feeling undervalued? Oh, I do apologise.’ Slowly, mockingly, he put his hands together and began to clap.

Liv was incensed. ‘At least I stand on my own two feet like an adult. Unlike you!’

‘Meaning?’ Noah snapped.

‘What was the seventeen grand for, Noah?’

That shut his mouth.

Chloe seemed finally to wake up. ‘What seventeen grand?’

Liv rounded on her sister. She didn’t get to slide out from under this, either. ‘Oh! I’m sorry, didn’t you know?’ Sarcasm was not simply Noah’s preserve. ‘You weren’t the only one Dad was doling out cash to. He gave – or should I say “loaned” – Noah seventeen thousand pounds. Which, as far as I can tell, he never paid back. Not a single penny of it.’

Noah glared at Liv. ‘You petty, mean-spirited bitch!’

‘Petty! Petty! You call thirty thousand pounds between the two of you petty!’

Chloe lowered her head and whispered, ‘Please’, but neither of them heard her.

Liv no longer cared. ‘I’ve always known Chloe leant on Dad. She’s the baby of the family, after all. Always has been. Always will be. But I thought you had a bit more self-respect!’

‘At least he liked me!’ Noah yelled.

There was a beat.

A point of no return.

Noah ploughed straight on through it. ‘We had fun together, even towards the end. I knew how to cheer Dad up. I brought some joy into his life. All you did was bang on about his physio and his diet, and