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“I figured you would,” I reply. “No one ever accused you of being dense, I take it?”
“I doubt you’d be here if they had.”
“True.” I gesture towards my brother. “Curse will be the executor. He’s the only person in my family I fully trust around this issue. If Deirdre needs help managing anything after the event of my death – winding down a corporation, for example, or if she decides she wants to sell some of my property later on – Curse can assist her with that.”
“As Accursio also subscribes to the same liability-laden lifestyle that you do, who do you want to manage things in the case of his death?”
I mull on that for a moment. If Valentina weren’t Uncle Vinny’s daughter, then maybe her, but as it is she’s not the right choice.
“There’s no one else,” I say after a pause. “If Curse is unavailable then you will be the executor and will act as Deirdre’s lawyer and advisor. You can take your future pay out of the estate.”
He tilts his head slightly, making light gleam on the metal frames of his glasses.
“You should know that I typically bill more than two thousand dollars an hour. Even with your stipulations and investments and corporations, a will like yours wouldn’t be overly complex for one of our junior partners to take care of.”
“I didn’t come here to pass this off onto anybody that has junior in their title,” I snap. “I want perfection. And I am willing to pay for it.”
As evidenced by the millions I spent on my flawless fucking fiancée…
“Understood,” Hades says. “But I’m a corporate lawyer. I don’t typically do estate work like this. Why should I take this project on?”
“Double your usual fee. Quadruple it. I don’t give a shit. And don’t forget,” I add, “that having a Titone for a friend is a powerful fucking thing.”
“I don’t need any friends.”
“You might one day,” I counter. “There may come a time when you need an ally who has more than just money, one who didn’t come from a fancy office like this.”
His face is a smooth mask. I can’t really tell if my argument is swaying him, and I’ve already worked out that threats aren’t going to get me anywhere.
But then something shifts in those ghost-grey eyes of his.
“Acceptable,” Hades suddenly says.
He walks behind the desk he’s been standing in front of this whole time. Bending slightly, he activates a button I can’t see from here, but it must be for an intercom system, because then he says, “Margaret, bring me a client intake form for Mr. Titone.”
He releases the button then turns back to Curse and me.
“Alright, Mr. Titone,” he says. “I’ll help you draft your will. Not for quadruple, but quintuple the price of my usual fee, and...” His eyes glint. “One future favour.”
Chapter 28
Elio
The will stuff takes longer than I thought it would. After hashing out multiple scenarios and untangling every nitty gritty aspect of my estate, my head is a ticking, throbbing mess. Even Curse grows a little agitated being shut up in that office the whole time. Not Hades, though. It’s like the guy sucks energy out of this academic, legal shit, his eyes and intellect sharpening the more into the complicated weeds we get. There’s something almost predatory about it, like a type of bloodlust that takes over. But it doesn’t make him sloppy. If anything, it seems to make him more intensely calculating. By the end of the multi-hour session he seems invigorated, his words coming crisp and quick, while I feel like there’s a big, dull bullet making its very slow way through my brain.
But it’s done. And that’s what counts. There’s immediate relief at that. That I’ll be able to take care of Deirdre, to protect her, even if I’m gone. Which I don’t plan to be. But recent events have put everything into sun-sharp clarity. That fever was not fucking around with me. Shit could have gone south real quick, and then Deirdre would have been left with nothing. We aren’t married yet. We aren’t even considered common law at this point. She’d have no legal rights or recourse, plus, my uncle doesn’t give a fuck about her. If I’m gone, he could turn her out of my house with nothing to her name, and he likely would. I’m pretty sure Curse or Valentina would try to at least make some arrangements to help her out, but with all my money getting tied up in the family estate, there wouldn’t be much they could do.
But now, no matter what happens to me, she’ll be protected.
After we leave the offices of Hades, Mason & Gould, we get into the car and Curse begins to drive. Thank fuck night has fallen and the sun is no longer searing itself into my skull. Because I’m not ready to go home just quite yet.
“One more stop,” I tell my brother.
“Where to?”
“O’Malley’s place.”
It’s the house Deirdre used to live in, but I call it O’Malley’s because it isn’t hers. Not anymore. She will never live there again. She lives where I tell her to, in the house that I own.
