She's just a silly little girl-what does she know about running a household?

Give her three days, tops. She'd come crawling back, desperate to hand all that power right back over to me.

"The arrangements, you mean?" Yvonne echoed, giving Mona a fleeting glance.

Everything that needed to be hers was hers now. The signatures were on the dotted lines, the paperwork done. But at Mona's question, the pleasant façade vanished. The sweet girl who'd just been calling Tristan "Dad" with such gentle affection was gone, replaced by someone ice-cold.

Her tone was curt, all warmth gone. "From now on, you and Yale each get a thousand dollars a month for spending. No more credit cards, either."

"I'll be calling the bank in the morning. Every one of your cards is getting canceled."

Yale went pale.

Mona's jaw dropped.

A split-second transformation. One moment ago, Yvonne was all gracious promises while wrangling Tristan's signature. Now the papers were hers, she'd dropped the mask entirely.

Yale ground his teeth. "A thousand bucks? What are we panhandlers now?"

A thousand? Mona's whole face changed. What could you possibly do with that? Her dear Berry was in Novaderma right now; nothing in her beauty regime was finished, and the maintenance costs alone would eat that up in a heartbeat. This had to be some kind of joke.

Mona shot Yvonne a caustic look. "This is your idea of 'proper arrangements'?"

Yvonne shrugged, unbothered. "With the way the economy is? I think it's pretty reasonable."

Her smug certainty was enough to give both Yale and Mona a heart attack.

Yvonne turned to Yale. "Panhandlers, huh? Go out and find one. Show me a beggar getting a thousand a month—I'd love to see it. If you do, maybe I'll sign up myself.”

“You... you're twisting things!” Yale spluttered.

Yvonne grinned, clearly enjoying herself. "Or you could try panhandling for a day. If you manage to scrounge up even fifty bucks, I'll bump your allowance to ten grand a month. Sound fair?"

Xander glanced sideways at the woman next to him, fighting a smile. That mouth of hers...

Yale's face was thunderous. "Who are you trying to humiliate?"

"You and your mother, who else?" Yvonne fired back, not even bothering with courtesy.

Yale and Mona both fell silent.

Even Tristan was speechless.

Seriously? Not even the slightest attempt at tact? Wasn't she supposed to fake a little grace at least?

Mona, at her absolute limit, snapped. "Tristan!"

The ink wasn't even dry, and she was showing her true colors.

Tristan's expression had soured as well.

But Yvonne cut in coldly, "Don't bother calling him. It won't do any good. I'm in charge here now."

The paperwork was done-Tristan couldn't help them even if he wanted to.

Mona clutched at her chest, feeling a tightness there.

Yale was speechless with fury.

Before they could even respond, Yvonne drove the knife home: "Keep causing trouble, and I'll take away even that allowance."

Yale fell silent, livid. This wretched

woman! Not even a token attempt at playing nice. Most people would at least pretend for a day or two before pulling a stunt like this, but her? She didn't even wait an hour!

He wanted to argue, but Yvonne was already on her feet. She turned to Xander. “I'm exhausted."

Xander rose at her side. "All right, let's get you to bed." He turned to the butler. "Rooms ready?"

The butler nodded. "Yes, sir. Everything's set."

With that, Xander took Yvonne's hand. "Come on, let's get you some rest."

"Hold it right there!" Mona blurted.

Now they wanted to just walk out and go to sleep? No way. After keeping them up half the night to get her way she couldn't just send them off with a measly thousand k and call it done. Not happening! Mona seethed.

But Yvonne simply yawned, eyes watering theatrically. “Pregnant women need their sleep. We'll talk about it tomorrow."

Yale nearly jumped out of his chair. "Now you want to sleep? What were you doing just now, huh?"

Yvonne shrugged. "I did stay up just now. That's why I can't anymore."

Yale and Mona were left speechless.

Tristan's face only darkened.

Only Xander looked as though he might burst out laughing at Yvonne's unshakable logic.

Seeing Xander's expression only

enraged Yale further. "What are you laughing at? What you think this is funny? Who are you trying to disrespect?"

Xander answered blandly, "You."

Yale was at a loss for words.

Yvonne snorted and nearly doubled over in laughter at that, unable to help herself.

Yale's complexion was nearly purple. “You two are incorrigible!"