Free Divas by Rebecca Chance Page A

that: Benny was a
Jersey boy made good too.
    ‘Oh George! ’ It was actually, Lola realised, very hard to answer the question of how she was doing. Her vicious headache was fading, but still present, overlaid and muddled up
by the champagne and the Vicodin, which was definitely beginning to have an effect. The combination made her feel as if someone were driving nails into her head, but had been kind enough to replace
her brains with cotton-wool first.
    ‘I don’t know where to start! ’ she said hopelessly. ‘Daddy – Jean-Marc – I’m locked out of my house—’
    ‘You’re locked out of your house?’ George sounded baffled.‘Jeez, Lola, call a locksmith!’
    ‘No, you don’t understand! I rang Daddy because the key didn’t work and Carin answered his phone and she says she has power of attorney and my house is in Daddy’s name,
or the name of one of his companies, so she’s not letting me in, and my credit cards are being declined—’
    ‘Shit, ’ George said. ‘This isn’t good.’
    In her entire time of running to George with problems, this was the only time that Lola had ever heard George say those words. From a long way away – wow, the Vicodin really had kicked in
– she felt her heart sink to her stomach.
    ‘You mean she can do this? ’ Lola gasped.
    ‘Lola, baby, I don’t know! Your dad – or I should say Carin – fired me six months ago! Didn’t anyone tell you?’
    Lola sagged back into the soft sofa cushions.
    ‘No!’
    The idea of George no longer working for her father was almost blasphemous, like hearing that God had told the Holy Ghost that its services would no longer be required.
    ‘Uh-huh. Carin finally got to him. She had some fancy Park Avenue guy all lined up instead a me.’
    Lola flashed for a second on George’s offices, the whole floor of a nondescript Manhattan building on 36th Street between 6th and 7th Avenues. It was a shitty, ugly block, lined with
delivery trucks, dumpsters and lost tourists wandering in circles, looking for Macy’s. But George, and Benny, liked it that way. What was the point in spending big money on Park Avenue office
space when you didn’t need to?
    ‘But Carin didn’t just sack you because you weren’t on Park Avenue, ’ Lola said weakly.
    ‘Honey!’ George sighed. ‘I know you’re in shock, but you gotta wake up! Carin’s clearly got some shyster to draw her up a power of attorney, and now your
dad’s’ – he paused – ‘um, temporarily out of circulation, she’s calling all the shots! That’s why I’m on the phone with you now! You want me to act
for you?’
    Lola’s face brightened.
    ‘Oh George, would you?’
    ‘Of course! You nuts! We gotta find out what’s going on here!’ His voice became even more serious. ‘But Lola, baby, things could be pretty bad for a while. You know how
your trust fund works?’
    ‘Um, it gives me money?’ Lola suggested hopefully.
    ‘It’s all administered by your dad, ’ George continued. ‘He’s the sole trustee. I did tell him he ought to give you more responsibility, but he wouldn’t
listen to me.’
    ‘So how come Carin got him to give her power of attorney?’ Lola said. ‘That means she controls everything, right?’
    ‘Exactly.’ George sighed. ‘And she must have got him to make her a co-trustee too, otherwise she couldn’t control your trust fund. OK, here’s what I’m going
to do. I’m going to fax over to you a letter confirming you’re hiring me to act for you. You sign it and send it right back to me. I’ll get onto this new lawyer now and get a look
at that power of attorney, check everything out, see if we can find any way to get your trust fund under your control, or at least give you access to it.’
    ‘Oh God, that would be great .’ Lola sagged with relief. ‘But what about Daddy? I need to find out how he is!’
    ‘You hafta come to New York as soon as you can, ’ George said.
    ‘I know! But Jean-Marc – my fiancé –