Eleanor smiled.
“Does she know how much the trust pays you?”
“She doesn’t care.”
“Everyone cares.”
“Skyla doesn’t.”
His mother gave a soft laugh.
“Some women ask immediately.”
She lifted her teacup.
“Others are clever enough not to.”
Archie stared at her.
“What does that mean?”
“It means patience can be very profitable.”
His father was worse.
One evening on the terrace, Charles Vance lit a cigar and told his son:
“Never mistake humility for innocence.”
Archie rolled his eyes.
“She works two jobs, Dad.”
“So?”
“She refuses my money.”
Charles smiled.
“That should make you more suspicious, not less.”
Archie frowned.
His father continued.
“A woman who refuses five thousand today may be waiting for fifty million tomorrow.”
“That’s ridiculous.”
“Is it?”
Charles tapped ash into a crystal dish.
“If you lost everything tomorrow, would she still be there?”
Archie didn’t answer.
“Money gives people patience, son.”
