Page 14
He stares at me. Assessing, evaluating. Then, at last, he nods. My shoulders sag as some of the tension eases between us.
“Ever since I made my first million, I’ve been the target of more than one woman trying to date me for my money or even trick me into marriage.”
I think of the pictures of him from the past few months, always with a beautiful woman on his arm or a bevy of admirers circled around him like a fan club.
“Sucks to be rich.”
Michail blinks, then throws his head back and laughs. Truly, deeply laughs. The sound ripples over me, slides into my skin and drifts down to my core. I press my legs together and focus on a point over his shoulder.
“There are downsides I didn’t anticipate.” He leans forward. “Gavriil mentioned the will you read during our meeting had been delivered by courier that morning. So you hadn’t seen the updated version?”
“No. I didn’t even know Lucifer had a third son until six hours before you walked in.”
“Was the new will completely rewritten?”
Unease creeps over me. “Everything was still my work except for the marriage clause and the amendment naming you as an heir.”
“Who wrote that section?”
“A lawyer from Athens your father had—”
“He was not my father.”
The revulsion coating his words sends a shiver down my spine. I don’t like my birth father, either. From what little I can remember, and based on the few things my mother said, he was lazy and selfish at best. The two memories I have of him are starkly different. The first is me sitting on his lap the Christmas before he left opening a present. Warm, safe, happy. The second is him and my mother screaming at each other around Easter just a few months later right before he walked out. Scared, sad, hurt.
But I never experienced even a fraction of the bone-deep loathing Michail feels for Lucifer.
“Okay,” I say carefully, “Lucifer flew a lawyer in from Athens a few hours before he died. The lawyer drafted the amendment.”
“Is it legal?”
My unease flares into alarm. “The will? Of course it’s legal.”
“No way to break it?”
A dull throb begins to pulse in my temples. “I don’t understand. I thought you wanted nothing to do with the inheritance.”
“I don’t want anything from him.” My relief is short-lived as Michail leans forward, determination burning in his eyes. “But I do want something he took from my mother.”
The throbbing turns into sharp stabs, like a tiny pickax being dug into my skull. I remember there being something about a bequest for Michail’s mother. A collection of paintings. But Lucifer had tied it to the stipulation that Michail marry in order for his mother to receive it.
The man really had been a snake.
“I understand that.” I sigh. “I know the lawyer who authored the amendment. He does things by the book. You could try fighting in court. But I wouldn’t expect it to be broken.”
I brace for an argument, for him to push. But he simply continues to regard me, his face pondering.
“Then I only have one option.”
I stare at him. “You mean get married?”
His nod carries the weight of a death knell. It feels like someone plunged their hand into my chest and squeezed my lungs so hard I can barely catch my breath.
It shouldn’t matter. I didn’t want him to be involved with the baby’s life. Why do I care if he gets married?
“What’s wrong?”
I feel like a bug under a microscope with how closely he’s watching me. I force a small smile that probably looks more like a grimace. “Nothing. Just tired.”
