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Lorna, however, isn’t moving at all. The small puffs to her chest are all too common. Waves of familiarity crash over me from that day in the conservatory when she’d been knocked unconscious.
Today I didn’t know if it was from her own doing or someone else’s. Not that I cared either way, but I bet she and her doctor would once they both realized she neededanothernew nose.
That is if she can afford it. I don’t know many people in jail who can manage the luxury.
Eli waves us over. That gleam in his eye grows more prominent the closer we get. “Come on, guys, hurry up,” he jeers excitedly.
The box, the one I’d set down when I was going to help Cole before Sgt. Daniels stepped in, now sits with a large black hole down the middle where the keyholeusedto be.
“We’re lucky Lorna isn’t a better shot,” Eli jokes—but it feels too soon—handing me the once locked box.
He was kidding when he’d said it, but is she really that bad of a shot? She’d hit the bull’s-eye dead on. Unless that wasn’t her target at all and somehow her aim had been thwarted.
“You do it,” I say, shoving the box at Cole, too nervous. Flashes of white-hot panic crash over me.
“She gave it to you,” he says, gently pushing it back. Reminding me that he doesn’t want it, whatever’s inside.
I give him a droll stare in return but do what he asks. Well, sort of. Idoopen the box, I just let Eli take out what’s within.
Which isn’t much if we’re being honest. It’s nothing more than a single sheet of paper.
I wrap one arm around Iceman’s waist after he tugs me underneath him.
The adrenaline of earlier must be wearing down, the aches setting back in its place because he winces. I silently apologize and he kisses the top of my head, telling me he’s fine in the same wordless fashion.
I inhale as Eli clears his throat.
My grip tightens but this time he doesn’t recoil, a solid body of strength as we wait. Eli’s eyes are skimming the document, growing larger the longer he leaves the rest of us in limbo.
“What’s it say?” Cole, of all people, encouraging him to share.
Eli’s brows dip before separating after he’s finished reading. “It’s a will.”
If Iceman’s lungs weren’t already screaming, I have no doubt they are now. They had to be because mine are. A will?
Eli hesitates, rereading it like he wants to be sure he’s seen it correctly.
My heartbeat thunders, that much more alive while I wait.
“And?” Madison prompts, eager after it’s been quiet for too long.
He blinks, and my heart rate drops.
Only I misinterpret his reaction, those cheekbones of his setting higher. He isn’t upset but in shock.
This is huge. Life-changing big?
“Rory,” he gulps, speaking only to me. “You own everything.” Another swallow. “You’re the sole shareholder to the Hardin fortune.”
My brain stutters, literally every single part of my being pauses. I’d heard him, registered what he’d said but it sounds like a foreign language.
Detached, that’s what I am.
Also numb, I can’t feel a thing. I could’ve been hit with that bullet and my bones would’ve felt less.
“Are you sure, like sure, sure?”
This is serious. Not the time for kidding around or jokes.
