Extraordinary by Nancy Werlin Read Free Book Online Page A

“I’m sorry,” she said. “Will you be nice to Ryland? Make him feel welcome? For my sake?” Mallory’s eyes were huge. If she hadn’t known better, Phoebe might have thought she was holding back tears.
    â€œI—of course I will,” said Phoebe, thoroughly abashed.
    â€œPromise?”
    â€œI promise,” said Phoebe.

chapter 6
    After she dropped Mallory off, Phoebe went home and peeked into her mother’s office. Catherine was taking a meeting on her computer, probably with people in Tokyo or Taiwan or someplace else where it was already Monday morning. Maybe even Australia.
    Professor Catherine Rothschild, whose only official title was Senior Lecturer in Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, was actually at the center of an enormous, intricate global web of money, power, and influence. Being her mother’s daughter was, Phoebe thought, a little like being the daughter of the U.S. president, except that Catherine’s position in the world was neither dependent on elections nor subject to the scrutiny of the media. Catherine’s power was like a swift, wide, underground river, fed not only by family wealth and history, but by decades of personal accomplishment and connections.
    Phoebe had done an Internet search on her mother once and gotten hundreds of thousands of hits, almost all on pages having to do with finance and monetary policy. There was much more information online about Catherine than there was about her ancestor Mayer Rothschild, who—with his five extraordinary sons—had established the family empire in Europe two hundred and fifty years ago.
    There had been one blog where it said that Catherine had won a top-secret penny-poker tournament that had happened during the wee hours of a weeklong world economic summit. There was even a ten-second section of a video, showing her grinning, her white-streaked hair rumpled, while she raked in an enormous pile of pennies and the president of the World Bank bellowed in mock outrage. The next time Phoebe looked for it, though, the video had disappeared.
    Occasionally Phoebe had talked with Mallory about her mother’s place in the world. Mallory liked to ask probing, even disturbing questions about how having such a mother made Phoebe feel. But Phoebe could only guess as to how her mother’s reputation might affect her own future life and choices.
    â€œI wonder,” Mallory had said, “if you’re going to be vulnerable the way a child movie star is. You know. People will want to get close to you because they want something, not because they like you.”
    â€œMaybe gorgeous international playboys will want to marry me for my inheritance,” Phoebe said. “They’ll line up for my approval like in a beauty pageant. It wouldn’t be all bad.”
    Then Phoebe had felt compelled to add, “Except, I don’t actually know if I will inherit much money. My mother has these ideas about how you have to earn your own way in the world. How each of us has to contribute, and how you especially have to do that if you’re, well, privileged. The more you’re given, the more you owe, that sort of thing. And she supports a lot of good causes that need her money.”
    She groped for words. “She’d be so angry at me if I wanted a life where I just, I don’t know, went to parties and shopped. Or even if I chose a career that she thinks is frivolous, like acting.”
    â€œYou don’t want to be an actress anyway,” Mallory pointed out. “You sounded like a robot when we had to read Julius Caesar aloud in English class.”
    Phoebe laughed. “That’s just an example. What I mean is that I can’t take anything for granted with my mother. She wants me to be worthy. I have to live up to her and everything she’s given me. I have to make her proud.”
    â€œDo you really?” Mallory asked. “Be honest, Phoebe.