as CEO from the takeover onwards.”
“All personal assets?” Lady Ellen wailed. “You can’t mean our home.”
“And its contents. Everything,” the solicitor confirmed, then glanced appealingly at Jack. “You may be able to negotiate with Mr. Maguire about jewellery and other personal belongings.”
Jack made no response. Let her stew, he thought, ruthlessly intent on giving her a taste of being shut out in the cold with nothing to hang on to. The look he gave her telegraphed, You turned your back on me too many times, you mean-hearted bitch!
“The horses,” Sally said faintly, her face drained of colour.
They were important to her.
Jack filed that information away for future use.
“The horses were bought by Sir Leonard,” Victor gently reminded her. “They were listed as his property. They now belong to his son. You must understand that all of these possessions would have been forcibly sold up, had Sir Leonard been declared bankrupt. You have continued to have the use of them, only because Mr. Jack Maguire stepped in and allowed that to happen during his father’s lifetime.”
“It broke his heart!” Lady Ellen spat at Jack. “You killed him with your … your backstabbing takeover!”
Jack answered her heat with ice. “I believe a prison term and public disgrace would have broken his heart much earlier, Lady Ellen. My rescue package gave my father … gave all of you—” he shifted his gaze to Sally, wanting to hammer the truth home “—an extra year of the life you were accustomed to.”
A life that had been closed to him when he was seven years old.
Sally was now twenty-four. She’d had the best of it up until now.
Her eyes said she knew it. There was sadness in them, but no hatred or blame for what he’d done. Did she feel the weight of justice on his side?
“And that year has provided you with an inheritance, Lady Ellen,” Victor quickly pointed out. “Sir Leonard’s investment broker has the details, but I believe it is in the vicinity of four million dollars.”
“Four! But Leonard was worth billions!”
The burst of outrage confirmed her mercenary interests which, to Jack’s mind, had always motivated her determination to keep him out of his father’s life.
“Not at the end,” Victor stated firmly.
“I’ll fight this!” she declared vehemently, jumping to her feet, slamming her hands down on the table, leaning forward to fire her fury at the solicitor. “Possession is nine-tenths of the law. I’m going to keep my home. He made a mistake by letting us live in it.” She turned a venomous glare to Jack. “Don’t think for one minute you’re going to take it from me.”
“My father paid me rent for the Yarramalong property. You’ll find you have no legal right to it,” he advised her mockingly. “In fact, you’ll be receiving an eviction notice when you return to it today.”
“How dare you!” she fumed.
“Eviction for eviction, Lady Ellen.” The words rolled sweetly off his tongue.
She puffed herself up with futile righteousness. “You won’t get me out!”
Victor rose from his chair, picked up the manila folder and walked with great dignity to the end of the table. “I understand how deeply shocked you are, Lady Ellen,” he said, presenting her with the folder. “However, I feel duty-bound to warn you that legally, the situation I have outlined to you is a fait accompli, and there are no grounds for contesting any part of it.”
“We’ll see about that,” she snarled, snatching the folder from him and hurling a command at her daughters. “Girls, we’re going!”
The two sisters instantly leapt to their feet, ready to obey.
“Sally!”
Her name whipped off Jack’s tongue, cracking its own command for her attention.
Her head jerked towards him as he stood to make his formidable presence felt. Her eyes held a kind of hopeless appeal, as though she wanted to give him the time he wanted but loyalty to her own family forbade it.
“I’d like to have a private word with you,” he pressed.
“About what?” she asked quickly, almost breathlessly.
“You are not to speak to that man!” her mother sliced in, moving forward and grabbing Sally’s arm to pull her away from any connection with him.
“The horses,” Jack threw out.
It was enough to stop her from following her mother’s lead. She resisted the tug of the maternal arm, glancing back at him in anxious inquiry.
“I wanted to discuss the future of the horses with you,” Jack pushed, his eyes challenging her to make her own stand. “I know how committed you are to a career in showjumping.”
He wasn’t sure of that but it seemed likely bait for her to stay.
“Ignore him!” her mother insisted. “You can’t trust a word he says. Come on.”
“No.” Boldly decisive. “I want to hear. I want to know.”
“You’re doing what he wants, you stupid girl.”
“I’m not going to lose my horses if I don’t have to.”
Music to Jack’s ears.
“You and Jane go on,” Sally urged. “I’ll catch up with you later.”
“I wash my hands of you,” her mother said furiously, releasing her arm and grabbing her sister’s. “Come, Jane!”
They made a swift exit from the meeting room.
And Jack had what he’d aimed for … time alone with Sally Maguire … time to probe the inner workings of her mind and twist them to his advantage.
Just how far would she go in order to keep her horses and the lifestyle she had always enjoyed?
CHAPTER THREE
SALLY’S stomach was in knots. Her mother would tear her to shreds when she got home. But it wasn’t their home anymore. It belonged to Jack Maguire. Everything did. And if she could save something from this total annihilation of all she’d known, why not give it a chance?
So what if he was intent on dishing out some humiliation! He’d taken it for years, being treated as an outcast from the family. She could take it, too. At least, she would find out what was on his mind, satisfy some of the interest he’d evoked in her.
“Would you like me to be present for this discussion?” the solicitor asked, jolting Sally into wheeling around to face Jack, her gaze whizzing to him for an answer.
“No,
