I heard the words but couldn’t process them. “Hiswhat?”
“His will,” Grayson repeated, a slight smile crossing his lips. “I don’t know what he left you, exactly, but your presence is required at the will’s reading. We’ve been postponing it for weeks.”
I was an intelligent person, but Grayson Hawthorne might as well have been speaking Swedish.
“Why would your grandfather leave anything to me?” I asked.
Grayson stood. “That’s the question of the hour, isn’t it?” He stepped out from behind the desk, and suddenly I knewexactlywhat direction the train was coming from.
His.
“I’ve taken the liberty of making travel arrangements on your behalf.”
This wasn’t an invitation. It was asummons. “What makes you think—” I started to say, but Libby cut me off. “Great!” she said, giving me a healthy side-eye.
Grayson smirked. “I’ll give you two a moment.” His eyes lingered on mine too long for comfort, and then, without another word, he strode out the door.
Libby and I were silent for a full five seconds after he was gone. “Don’t take this the wrong way,” she whispered finally, “but I think he might be God.”
I snorted. “He certainly thinks so.” It was easier to ignore the effect he’d had on me now that he was gone. What kind of person had self-assurance that absolute? It was there in every aspect of his posture and word choice, in every interaction. Power was as much a fact of life for this guy as gravity. The world bent to the will of Grayson Hawthorne. What money couldn’t buy him, those eyes probably did.
“Start from the beginning,” I told Libby. “And don’t leave anything out.”
She fidgeted with the inky-black tips of her blue ponytail. “A couple of weeks ago, we started getting these letters—addressed to you, care of me. They said that you’d inherited money, gave us a number to call. I thought they were a scam. Like one of those emails that claims to be from a foreign prince.”
“Why would this Tobias Hawthorne—a man I’ve never met, never even heard of—put me in his will?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” Libby said, “butthat”—she gestured in the direction Grayson had gone—“is not a scam. Did youseethe way he dealt with Principal Altman? What do you think their agreement was? A bribe… or a threat?”
Both.Pushing down that response, I pulled out my phone and connected to the school’s Wi-Fi. One internet search for Tobias Hawthorne later, the two of us were reading a news headline:Noted Philanthropist Dies at 78.
“Do you know whatphilanthropistmeans?” Libby asked me seriously. “It meansrich.”
“It means someone who gives to charity,” I corrected her.
“So…rich.” Libby gave me a look. “What ifyouare charity? They wouldn’t send this guy’s grandson to get you if he’d just left you a few hundred dollars. We must be talking thousands. You could travel, Avery, or put it toward college, or buy a better car.”
I could feel my heart starting to beat faster again. “Why would a total stranger leave me anything?” I reiterated, resisting the urge to daydream, even for a second, because if I started, I wasn’t sure I could stop.
“Maybe he knew your mom?” Libby suggested. “I don’t know, but I do know that you need to go to the reading of that will.”
“I can’t just take off,” I told her. “Neither can you.” We’d both miss work. I’d miss class. And yet… if nothing else, a trip would get Libby away from Drake, at least temporarily.
And if this is real…It was already getting hardernotto think about the possibilities.
“My shifts are covered for the next two days,” Libby informed me. “I made some calls, and so are yours.” She reached for my hand. “Come on, Ave. Wouldn’t it be nice to take a trip, just you and me?”
She squeezed my hand. After a moment, I squeezed back. “Where exactly is the reading of the will?”
“Texas!” Libby grinned. “And they didn’t just book our tickets. They booked themfirst class.”
CHAPTER 5
I’d never flown before. Looking down from ten thousand feet, I could imagine myself going farther than Texas. Paris. Bali. Machu Picchu. Those had always beensomedaydreams.
But now…
Beside me, Libby was in heaven, sipping on a complimentary cocktail. “Picture time,” she declared. “Smoosh in and hold up your warm nuts.”
