Page 60 of The Hawthorne Legacy
Not on the fact that I could feel his heart beating, too.
The footsteps stopped directly outside the closet. I felt Jameson’s breath on the back of my neck and pushed back the urge to shiver. Don’t move. Don’t breathe. Don’t think.
“The bodyguard positioned at the door is a dead giveaway,” Zara called, her voice as clear as a bell and sharp as a knife. “You might as well come out.”
Jameson pressed a finger to my lips, then stepped out of our hiding place, leaving me hidden in shadow, still feeling the ghost of his touch. “I was hoping we could talk,” he told his aunt.
“Of course,” Zara replied smoothly. “After all, the proper way of starting a conversation often involves lurking in your conversation partner’s closet.” She peered past Jameson to the rack of clothes where I was still hiding. “I’m waiting.”
After a long moment, I stepped out.
“Now,” Zara said. “Explain.”
I swallowed. “Your father left you his wedding ring.”
“I am aware,” Zara replied.
“Twenty years ago, when the old man first revised his will to disinherit you all, he left you the exact same thing,” Jameson added.
Zara arched an eyebrow at us. “And?”
“Can we see it?” That was Xander, who had poked his head out of the bathroom. Even though he was the one who’d asked the question, I was the one who received the response.
“Allow me to get this straight,” Zara said, staring past Jameson and straight to me. “You, to whom my father left virtually everything, want the one and only thing he left to me?”
“When she puts it that way,” Max said, appearing in the doorway, “it does sound like kind of a deck move.” Behind her, I could see Eli. He wasn’t acting like Zara was a threat.
“Five minutes.” Jameson flipped into negotiation mode. “Just give us five minutes with the ring. There must be something you want. Name your terms.”
Again, Zara’s attention stayed focused on me. “Five million dollars.” Her smile didn’t come even close to reaching her eyes. “I’ll give you lot five minutes with my father’s ring,” she enunciated, “for the low, low price of five million dollars.”
CHAPTER 51
Five million dollars?” I said those words repeatedly as we retreated from Zara’s wing to Tobias Hawthorne’s study to strategize. “Five. Million. Dollars. Does Zara honestly think that Alisa is just going to agree to cut that kind of check?”
The will was still in probate. Even once the estate was settled, I was a minor. There were trustees. I could practically hear my lawyer throwing out terms like fiduciary duty.
“She’s playing with us.” Jameson sounded more pensive than outraged.
Grayson tilted his head to the side. “Perhaps it would be wise to—”
“I can get the money,” Xander blurted out. His brothers stared at him.
“You want to pay Zara five million dollars to show us your grandfather’s wedding ring?” I said, stunned.
“Wait.” Grayson narrowed his eyes. “You have five million dollars?”
Each year on their birthdays, the Hawthorne grandsons had been given ten thousand dollars to invest. Xander had spent years dumping it into cryptocurrency, then sold at just the right time, and that money wasn’t part of Tobias Hawthorne’s estate. It was Xander’s—and apparently, his brothers hadn’t been aware of it until now.
“Look, ash-hole,” Max said, pointing a finger at Xander, “nobody is giving anybody five million dollars. We’ll just have to find another way to get the ring.”
“You’re still a minor,” Grayson told Xander, his voice low. “If Skye finds out you have that kind of money…”
“It’s in a trust,” Xander assured him. “Nash is the trustee. Skye isn’t getting near it.”
“And you think Nash is going to let you write Zara a check for five million dollars?” I asked incredulously. That seemed about as likely as Alisa letting me access the funds.
“I can be very persuasive,” Xander insisted.
