Her Billionaire Father Spoils Her Rotten novel · Chapter 22 of 24

Chapter 22: Her Name

The trust officer's desk was oak, and the pen was a plain blue ballpoint.

That was the thing I kept looking at.

Marla had put three pages in front of me on my birthday and tapped the line with a pink fingernail.

Now there was one page, and the line was mine.

"Name of claimant," said the trust officer. She was gray-haired and brisk, and she had clearly been told not to be moved by anything. "In full, please."

"What does it say now?"

"Your legal name is Abigail Diekema. The adoption was registered in Lucas County."

"Then that's not what I'm writing."

I wrote *Abigail Laura Dunning.*

My hand shook only a little.

The trust officer looked at it, and at me, and for the first time her face moved.

"The court will need a petition to make that legal," she said.

"I filed it this morning," Dominic said from the chair by the window. He looked pleased with himself and slightly sick. "At seven. Before you woke up. I'm sorry. I should have asked."

"Dad."

"It only asks for what you decide. I left the name blank. You wrote it in the car."

"You read it over my shoulder."

"I did," he said, shamelessly. "It's a fine name."

I signed at the bottom.

It was the first paper I had ever signed that was entirely mine.

Behind me Jonas gave a quiet nod of approval.

"Where would you like the first disbursement to go?" the trust officer said.

I had written it on the back of my hand in the car, so I would not lose my nerve.

"Two hundred and twelve thousand dollars to the building fund of that church in Toledo, to be paid back in full today."

"And the rest of what they lent my aunt?"

"The rest is hers. She can pay the bank."

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