Master of the Game

Eve had gone very pale.

"You’re a whore. I think I could live with that. But you’re also deceitful and cunning and a psychopathic liar. I cannot live with that."

It was all happening too fast. Eve said desperately, "Gran, if Alexandra has been telling you lies about me – "

"Alexandra doesn’t know anything about this. I just had a long talk with Mrs. Collins."

"Is that all?" Eve forced a note of relief in her voice. "Mrs. Collins hates me because – "

Kate was filled with a sudden weariness. "It won’t work, Eve. Not anymore. It’s over. I’ve sent for my lawyer. I’m disinheriting you."

Eve felt her world crumbling around her. "You can’t. How – how will I live?"

"You will be given a small allowance. From now on, you will live your own life. Do anything you please." Kate’s voice hardened. "But if I ever hear or read one word of scandal about you, if you ever disgrace the Blackwell name in any way, your allowance will stop forever. Is that clear?"

Eve looked into her grandmother’s eyes and knew this time there would be no reprieve. A dozen excuses sprang to her lips, but they died there.

Kate rose to her feet and said in an unsteady voice, "I don’t suppose this will mean anything to you, but this is – this is the most difficult thing I’ve ever had to do in my life."

And Kate turned and walked out of the room, her back stiff and straight.

Kate sat in her darkened bedroom alone, wondering why everything had gone wrong.

If David had not been killed, and Tony could have known his father…

If Tony had not wanted to be an artist…

If Marianne had lived…

If. A two-letter word for futility.

The future was clay, to be molded day by day, but the past was bedrock, immutable. Everyone I’ve loved has betrayed me, Kate thought. Tony. Marianne. Eve. Sartre said it well: "Hell is other people." She wondered when the pain would go away.

If Kate was filled with pain, Eve was filled with fury. All she had done was to enjoy herself in bed for an hour or two, and her grandmother acted as though Eve had committed some unspeakable crime. The old-fashioned bitch! No, not old-fashioned: senile. That was it. She was senile. Eve would find a good attorney and have the new will laughed out of court. Her father and grandmother were both insane. No one was going to disinherit her. Kruger-Brent was her company. How many times had her grandmother told her that one day it would belong to her. And Alexandra! All this time Alexandra had been undermining her, whispering God-knows-what poison into their grandmother’s ears. Alexandra wanted the company for herself. The terrible part was that now she would probably get it. What had happened this afternoon was bad enough, but the thought of Alexandra gaining control was unbearable. I can’t let that happen, Eve thought. I’ll find a way to stop her. She closed the snaps on her suitcase and went to find her sister.

Alexandra was in the garden reading. She looked up as Eve approached.

"Alex, I’ve decided to go back to New York."

Alexandra looked at her sister in surprise. "Now? Gran’s planning a cruise to the Dalmatian coast next week. You – "

"Who cares about the Dalmatian coast? I’ve been thinking a lot about this. It’s time I had my own apartment." She smiled. "I’m a big girl now. So I’m going to find the most divine little apartment, and if you’re good, I’ll let you spend the night once in a while." That’s just the right note, Eve thought. Friendly, but not gushy. Don’t let her know you’re on to her.

Alexandra was studying her sister with concern. "Does Gran know?"

"I told her this afternoon. She hates the idea, of course, but she understands. I wanted to get a job, but she insisted on giving me an allowance."

Alexandra asked, "Would you like me to come with you?"

The goddamned, two-faced bitch! First she forced her out of the house, and now she was pretending she wanted to go with her. Well, they’re not going to dispose of little Eve so easily. I’ll show them all. She would have her own apartment – she would find some fabulous decorator to do it – and she would have complete freedom to come and go as she pleased. She could invite men up to her place and have them spend the night. She would be truly free for the first time in her life. It was an exhilarating thought.

Now she said, "You’re sweet, Alex, but I’d like to be on my own for a while."

Alexandra looked at her sister and felt a deep sense of loss. It would be the first time they had ever been parted. "We’ll see each other often, won’t we?"

"Of course we will," Eve promised. "More than you imagine."

Chapter 26

When Eve returned to New York, she checked into a midtown hotel, as she had been instructed. An hour later, Brad Rogers telephoned.

"Your grandmother called from Paris, Eve. Apparently there’s some problem between you two."

"Not really," Eve laughed. "It’s just a little family – " She was about to launch into an elaborate defense when she suddenly realized the danger that lay in that direction. From now on, she would have to be very careful. She had never had to think about money. It had always been there. Now it loomed large in her thoughts. She had no idea how large her allowance was going to be and for the first time in her life Eve felt fear.

"She told you she’s having a new will drawn up?" Brad asked.

"Yes, she mentioned something about it." She was determined to play it cool.

"I think we had better discuss this in person. How’s Monday at three?"

"That will be fine, Brad."

"My office. All right?"

"I’ll be there."

At five minutes before three, Eve entered the Kruger-Brent, Ltd., Building. She was greeted deferentially by the security guard, the elevator starter and even the elevator operator. Everyone knows me, Eve thought. I’m a Blackwell. The elevator took her to the executive floor, and a few moments later Eve was seated in Brad Rogers’s office.