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“Yeah. Oscar didn’t give a shit about the female members of his family. Treated them like trash their entire lives. Makes what happened more shocking.”
Chance quirked an eyebrow.
“The old man had a change of heart. Left his heir with fuck all and the girls everything, including his billions,” Pyro dropped the bombshell.
“Wanna run that past me again?” Chance asked, bemused.
“Seems the guy died suddenly, massive heart attack. His son put Madisen in charge of organising the funeral, and all Oscar’s nearest and dearest came out to pay their respects. More likely to make sure the motherfucker was dead. The four girls and the boy, Jere, were taken into the study to hear the will, and then a bomb went off.
“Oscar left Jere a house in New York and one hundred thousand to run it and fifty k to start his own business. Nothing else. Everything left, Chance, and I mean everything, was left to his daughter apart from three bequests to his nieces. And he left them a decent home and two million dollars each, too.”
“What the fuck?” Chance said with a frown.
“Yeah, that shit doesn’t make sense. I think the girls had something to do with it. Within two months of being left the money, they sold all assets and banked the profits. And then charities started to get handouts.”
“Damn!” Chance exclaimed, his mind making connections. “You think this girl killed him? Then faked his will and began playing Mary Christmas?”
Pyro sent him a disgusted look. “Ain’t even gonna ask how you know about Mary Christmas. But yeah, the whole thing seems to be suspect. And then the brother got arrested for having enough coke hidden in his car that he was charged with possession of schedule two substances with the intent of drug trafficking. He’s going down for twenty-five years. Thing was? Cops discovered it when they nicked him for assaulting Madisen at the funeral,” Pyro added.
“Holy shit. So, is Madisen clean?” Chance pried.
“Apart from murdering her father, stealing his estate, setting up her brother, and single-handedly dismantling her father’s empire? Yeah, Madisen and the other girls are clean.”
“Too clean,” Chance said, sitting thoughtfully.
“Even more interesting, she shows no signs of wanting to run her dad’s business. Madisen upped and walked away without a sign of interest. A few pushed their luck and got slapped back pretty quickly. Rumours are—Oscar’s death is suspect, but nobody has evidence. And no fucker is talking, that’s for sure. Everyone who knows Jere agrees the kid is dumb enough to have been carrying enough coke to put him away. But at his father’s funeral? The timing? Smacks of a set-up.
“But no bull, he nearly killed Madisen. The little bastard choked her out right in front of a lawyer; Jere’s going down. And a seriously powerful crime family has been shut down. As soon as Jere was arrested, Madisen quietly let his men go. A few rivals tried to force her into marriage and were cut off at the knees. Basically, the agreement is to leave her alone. Madisen’s no longer important in their world.
“And the girl herself seems to want to be left with her cousins. She’s opening a speakeasy opposite and has some other plans. I’ll have them by tonight and will let you know. But can’t see her causing trouble,” Pyro said.
“Is Justice interested in her?” Chance asked cautiously. Justice, Pyro’s alter-ego who loved burning and torturing people to death who deserved it, went after those who escaped legal justice and made sure they paid for their crimes. He was sought after by the police, and Chance knew, one day, either Justice would get caught, or Pyro would let go. Ever since Janey had come into Pyro’s life, he’d been calmer and more settled. Chance hoped that would grow and Justice would fade away. God forbid anything happened to Janey.
“Nope. Girl’s innocent. She may have murdered her father and stolen her brother’s inheritance, but she stopped a murderous bastard in his tracks. We all know how many deaths were placed at Oscar’s feet, and the fucker escaped justice each time. As far as Justice is concerned, Madisen simply did what he would have done,” Pyro said.
It was fuckin’ weird to hear Pyro speak about himself like that. But as Pyro explained, he and Justice were two different people. They just inhabited the same body. Chance knew that Justice had come from the trauma that Pyro had suffered as a child. But no matter what happened, Chance would always take his brother’s back.
“No probs; everything good?” Chance asked.
Pyro looked at him like he’d gone mental.
“Not doing girlie shit, Prez.”
“Ain’t fuckin’ girlie to ask if a brother’s okay!” Chance snapped, bristling.
Pyro cocked an eyebrow and walked out.
Chance sighed. God damn, ornery bastard. Screw this. He wanted his wife and kids. Chance got to his feet and stepped out of his office. Time for snuggles, yeah, Chance Michaelson said snuggles.
Madisen
I regarded the guy opposite me. I was on a date and bored bloody stupid.
At first, when I met him in the English café that a woman called Clio owned, it seemed like a good idea. Now I was wondering what the hell had made me agree to give him a date. The few times we’d bumped into each other for coffee had been fine. Brooker had been witty and charming, and I had agreed to meet at the café again for a date. Little had I known, it’d turned into a restaurant at night. When Brooker had invited me, it felt nice to be noticed. I felt normal for once.
Then, Mr Charming transformed into Mr Brag and Boost and Mr Egotistical faster than I could keep up. Brooker’s charm now seemed smarmy and practised. He’d been pleasant when I arrived at the café, but when ordering the wine, he hadn’t consulted me or even asked if I wanted wine. That had been alert number one. Then, when I looked at the menu, I discovered he was trying to order food for me I didn’t like. When I challenged him and ordered my own, Brooker turned petulant.
Then Brooker proceeded to tell me all his accomplishments, which really made me struggle not to roll my eyes. Not once did Brooker ask anything about me; it might have been nice if it wasn’t simply because of his ego. I found it very disconcerting to see such a change in him. Although I was used to being ignored and shoved into the background while men flexed their muscles—or lack of—it didn’t make it any easier to stomach.
