“You just don’t seem overly surprised.”
“Why should I be surprised? She was bound to get married at some point.”
“But to an Englishman?”
“Well, Carlton Bao stopped talking to her, and Richie Yang wouldn’t have her, so I think her options in China became quite limited. What is this fellow’s story?”
“He’s a nobody. Some nonprofit lawyer who’s trying to save the planet. I suppose your ex-wife will have to support the both of them forever. Do you know what else I heard? Colette’s wedding gown costs two million dollars.”
“That’s absurd. Is it made of gold?”
“Actually, there are gold chips sewn into it, and it’s encrusted with precious stones. It’s totally outrageous,” Kitty said, as she sniffed a glass container of body lotion placed on the side table and began rubbing some on her arms.
“Well, I suppose she can do whatever she wants with her money.”
“But I
thought you cut her off completely?”
Jack went silent for a minute, then suddenly groaned. “AWWWWW! Why does that hurt so much?”
The therapist kneaded a point on his foot with her thumb and forefinger and sternly pronounced, “Sir, this is your gallbladder—it’s totally inflamed. I think you must have consumed too much cognac and oily foods last night. Did you have those fried oysters and abalone noodles again when I told you not to?”
“Aww! Aww! Let go! Let go!” Jack screamed.
“Jack, answer me. What did you mean by her money?” Kitty pressed on, oblivious to his pain.
Jack sighed in relief as the therapist finally released his foot. “Colette receives income from a trust fund. It was part of my divorce settlement with Lai Di.”
“Why is this the first time I’m hearing of it?”
“Well, I didn’t want to bore you with the details of my divorce.”
“I thought Lai Di only got two billion?”
“She did, but as a condition of her walking away and not making any more noise, I had to set up a trust fund for Colette.”
“Oh really? And how much is that trust fund worth?”
Jack murmured something in a muffled tone.
“Speak up, honey, I can’t hear you…you said what in U.S. currency?”
“About five billion.”
“YOU GAVE YOUR DAUGHTER FIVE BILLION DOLLARS?” Kitty bolted upright on the chaise lounge.
“I didn’t give her five billion. She gets the income from a trust worth about five billion. It’s all tied to shares in my companies, anyway, so her income fluctuates every year depending on the dividend yields. And it’s only for her lifetime.”
“And what happens after her lifetime?”
“It will go to any children she has.”
Suddenly visions of Colette and her future half-white children began flooding into Kitty’s mind. She could see Colette in a white summer dress, running barefoot through a field in the English countryside with laughing golden-haired kids. She began to seethe quietly as she calculated the figures in her head. Even if the trust was getting a measly one percent interest on five billion, this meant that Colette—who she always presumed was being supported by her poor mother who only had two billion dollars—would get at least fifty million dollars in pure income every year! And her unnaturally photogenic children, who wouldn’t even know their Chinese grandfather, would also benefit from this!
“So where does this leave us?” Kitty said in a grave tone.
“What do you mean?”