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“I’m still not following.”
“Well, according to the lawyer, Uncle Jax left it to you.”
“What?”
“Yeah. When you turn twenty-one, it’s yours. Mr. Jamison said Uncle Jax has made sure that the house should be held in trust for you if anything happened to him.”
“Why did he leave it to me?”
Odin shrugs a shoulder. “I’ll inherit our house. Maybe he knew that and wanted to make sure you were taken care of.”
“I’m not sure I want it. He died in it.”
“I know. It’s a lot to process. There’s one more thing. It’s weird although I guess not, now that we know. Uncle Jax had left specific instructions that Mr. Jamison was only to deal with you or me. Not our father. No matter what. I wonder if he always knew things could go badly with Dad, and considering…”
He doesn’t finish. He doesn’t have to, and I don’t want him to. “What happens now?”
“This is his card,” he says, reaching into his pocket to hand over a business card.
“He arranged for a meeting on your birthday,” he says. “I’d like to be there with you.”
“Of course. I don’t want to go without you. But what am I going to do with it?” I haven’t been inside since he passed away.
“He wanted you to have it. You can decide what you’ll do with it later.”
I nod and tuck the business card into my pocket. “Did Dad know?”
Odin hesitates.
“Tell me.”
“He tried to take control of it with the excuse he’d look after it until you came of age, but Uncle Jax’s will was very specific to protect against that.”
“God. I don’t like thinking about this.”
“Then don’t. Not yet. You have time to process. Is Santos here?” Odin asks.
I shake my head. “No. Why did he go to Rick’s house, by the way?”
“Oh, nothing.” Odin doesn’t quite hold my gaze, but comes clean in a minute because we have never lied to each other. We can’t start now. “I’ll let him tell you.”
“That sounds ominous.”
“It doesn’t really have anything to do with you or me.” I raise my eyebrows and open my mouth, but Odin stands up. “I’m hungry after all. Can we get something to eat?”
“You’re trying to distract me.”
“Is it working?” He holds out his hand, palm up. “Just let him tell you, Maddy. I think it’s up to him.”
I place my hand in his. “Okay.”
We walk out of the library and as soon as we turn the corner, I stop dead in my tracks. I hear Odin mutter a curse behind me. He sets his hand on my shoulder as if to draw me back.
“There she is,” says Caius. He’s standing just inside the foyer talking to Jocelyn—or more accurately, listening to her do the talking. He straightens, then steps away from her. He looks me over, shifts his gaze beyond me to Odin, and smiles. He dismisses Jocelyn with barely a nod. She walks away, obedient. I guess she still feels like she works for him since he used to live here.
I remember our last conversation, two distinct pieces of it coming to mind. One was where he’d made the comment about becoming less human. The other, his threat that he’d hurt me if I hurt Santos.
“Caius,” I say, forcing a smile and walking toward him.
