“I don’t like it here,” Eli signed.
We hadn’t set foot inside and I couldn’t help but agree.
“We have to make the most of it,” I said, speaking while I signed. “It’s better than me being on the streets and you stuck in a foster home.”
He didn’t look convinced.
Eli and I got out and collected our meager possessions from the trunk. Most of what we owned was seized by the authorities. All we had were clothes and the few books Eli was allowed to grab.
The butler hung around long enough to point us in the direction of our rooms. We were put on the third floor in the two bedrooms at the very back. Far from the rest of the household, but I wasn’t complaining about the queen bed, ensuite, or the room next to Eli. Like I said, this was infinitely better than me being on my own and Eli sent away.
Eli hopped on his new bed and went back to reading. I took up the task of putting away his things. Maybe with his books on the shelves and photos of our trip to Disney on the nightstand, this would feel more like home.
I went into the bathroom to set out his toiletries. When I came out, the book was cast aside and he was on his laptop. The nosy bugger I was, I jumped up to see what he was looking at. One glance and I immediately took it away from him.
Eli shot up, eyes flashing.
“Don’t give me that look,” I snapped. “Why do you torture yourself looking at this stuff?”
On the screen, a rather flattering photo of my parents on their honeymoon shone under the glaring news title: “The Most Notorious Con Artists in America.”
“I’m not torturing myself,” he replied. “I just want to know what’s going on.”
“From this? It’s click-bait trash,” I said. “I can name three people off the top of my head who scammed hundreds of millions more, so Mom and Dad are hardly the most notorious. It’ll be filled with half-baked truths and enough leading statements to make their readers draw the worst conclusions.”
“Then you tell me. None of it makes sense. The land is real. Dad took us out there. He showed us the plans. How can it all be made-up?”
I sighed. I did my best to shield him from all of this. He was fourteen years old. He shouldn’t know how devious and heartless his parents truly were.
He must have read the hesitation on my face. “If you won’t tell me, I’ll find out the truth myself. They have gotten it wrong. We know Mom and Dad. They would never do something like this. They wouldn’t leave us.”
I stiffened. I couldn’t have this. Eli holding out hope that our parents were innocent and on their way back to us, would only cause him more pain as time passed and that day never came.
I went back and forth for so long, Eli reached for the laptop again. I closed it and put it behind me. Gesturing at the nightstand, I said, “Pass me that pen and paper.”
Eli handed them over. We sat in silence as I scribbled.
“All right.” I set my drawing down between us. “This is the town of Raven River. The big circle smack in the middle is the Estate and the surrounding area is the OB, the Outer Borough.”
Eli knew these things but he didn’t interrupt me.
“Further out from the OB is private land, forest, and a couple other neighborhoods like the one we lived in,” I explained. “Raven River is in the middle of nowhere. We’re three hours from the nearest city but we’ve got the river. It’s perfect for fishing, kayaking, canoeing, and nature lovers. Total untouched beauty waiting to be enjoyed but only if you can get tourists this far. Which you can’t because there are no nice places to stay in the OB, and the Estate is off-limits to outsiders.”
He nodded, going with me this far.
“The whole thing is ripe for someone to come in and build a luxury retreat on the water, and when this patch of land finally went up for sale”—I pointed to a spot next to my makeshift river—“that is exactly what Mom and Dad said they would do. They bought the land and then got people to invest in the Raven River Lodge.
“It was sure to be a success. Mom and Dad guaranteed it.” My voice shook. “People from the Estate dropped millions and those from the OB were lured in by Dad’s promise to source locally. Produce from Han’s Grocery Store. Linens from Martha’s. Fishing gear from Bert’s. Some people forked over everything they had to win the bids for the contracts, and others invested everything they had period.”
“So what happened?”
“There was never going to be a lodge, Eli. After Mom and Dad ran off with the money, they investigated and found out the land is on a floodplain. If the river overflowed, the guests would be swimming to reception. Even if they could have gotten around that, an environmental report revealed that there are golden-cheeked warblers on the land. They’re a protected species.
“The land used to be private property, so no one knew any of this, but when the reports came in, Dad bribed the officials to keep it quiet. Those officials confessed to it after our parents ran. They knew what they were doing, Eli. They knew they couldn’t build a lean-to there, let alone a resort, and they took people’s money anyway.”
Eli lowered his head. His chin wobbled as wetness collected on his lids. He held up his hands and signed, “How much?”
“Over twenty-five million dollars.”
He flinched. The same reaction I had when the FBI agents told me. Followed by screaming, shouting, and tears of disbelief until they laid it out for me like I was doing for Eli. Frank and Lenora Bancroft spearheaded the project and approached the investors themselves. There was no way they didn’t know they were flogging a losing horse, and whenever a part of me wanted to believe they were innocent, I thought of those empty drawers and the note on the pillow.
“But I still don’t understand,” he signed.
“Don’t understand what?”
Eli met my gaze, eyes brimming over with tears. “Why they left us.”
My hands stayed in my lap. Leaning in, I kissed his salty cheek. Then I stood and walked out.
“TELL ME ABOUT IT. KIMBERLY should have gone back and demanded a refund. They made a complete mess of her wax.”
Aunt Violet reclined on the couch, a cup of tea perched on her knee, and a phone glued to her ear. I sat on her other side and seriously contemplated how long it would take her to notice if I snuck away.
Three weeks passed since we were driven from the courthouse to the Estate. The entire time we hadn’t set foot outside of it. Actually, Eli and I didn’t venture farther than the front driveway. This was the first time since I arrived that I left the property.
And of all places, my aunt dragged me to Oak Mall.
“You start at Raven River Academy in one week and you need proper clothes,” she said when she barged into my bedroom. “This family has suffered enough embarrassment. I won’t have anyone see you walking around in those rags and think we’ve fallen into bankruptcy too.”
By rags, she meant my ripped jeans and cropped t-shirts.
Oak Mall had a simple name but it was in Estate territory and therefore only had clothes that cost the same as the rent of an apartment in Manhattan. Not my style at all.
I didn’t grow up middle class by any stretch of the imagination. The Bancrofts were a wealthy family, and although the older brother, Harrison, took over the security company, my dad, Frank, lived off a healthy trust fund that provided us a three-story house, pool, jacuzzi, three cars, and a boat.