Total pages in book: 108
Estimated words: 100853 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 504(@200wpm)___ 403(@250wpm)___ 336(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 100853 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 504(@200wpm)___ 403(@250wpm)___ 336(@300wpm)
Paige’s glance skipped over to Hawk, who assured Scarlett, “It’s covered. No worries.”
“All right, then,” Scarlett said. “I’m down for a party.”
I was scanning the room to see who we were missing when the front door opened and a second later, Forrest ducked his head in.
“She’s not here?” he asked me about Sterling.
“Not yet,” I said.
“I’ll go get her. She loses track of time when her head’s full of code.” Considering the whole household knew how true that was, no one was surprised.
Forrest was back a few minutes later, Sterling in tow.
“Sorry, sorry, sorry,” she said. “I got an idea, and…” She shook her head. “You know how it is.” She and Forrest slid into their seats, and we were ready to go.
“All right. This doesn’t have to take too long,” I said. “Harvey, you want to do the formalities?”
I looked at Harvey, who picked up a manila file folder and opened it. “This is a lot more fun than the last time we went through this.”
“No video will from Dad?” Royal asked wryly. The first time around, our father had left a video reading of his will, full of sarcasm and spite. Nobody wanted a redo of that.
“No video will this time,” Harvey said seriously. “Not much of anything, honestly. I can officially state that the five-year period outlined in your father’s will, requiring you to live in Heartstone Manor if you wanted access to Sawyer properties or any hope of inheriting your trust funds, has now elapsed.”
A cheer went up.
Covered by the noise, Harvey turned to me. “Your part of the will has also been satisfied.”
I looked to Hope and winked. “Here’s your chance. You can get away.”
“Really?” Her eyes sparkled back at me. “Just pack my things and go?”
“If you want,” I said. “But be warned. I’ll chase you down and bring you back.”
“Well, then I might as well just stay,” she said. “If you insist.”
“I do.” I took her hand and raised it to kiss the backs of her fingers. I was kidding, but I wasn’t. I would never give Hope reason to want to leave me, but if she ever did—
“And what about the trusts?” Sterling asked. “Officially, I want to know if I win my bet with Forrest.”
“What’s your bet?” Harvey asked.
“My bet is that dear old Dad left us all a big fat goose egg of nothing. Because honestly, I can’t see him doing anything else.” She flipped her platinum ponytail over her shoulder, her vibrant blue eyes bright with amusement.
“What did Forrest bet?” I asked.
“Forrest bet that he left us all a token amount, like five bucks.” Sterling rolled her eyes at the thought. “So, which is it?”
I looked at Forrest, who met my eyes, one brow raised. My brother-in-law was an optimist. He’d had to be, to win over Sterling. I knew he didn’t care about the cash. Forrest had plenty of his own, and these days so did Sterling. He just wanted her to feel like her father had cared, if only a little bit.
“Sterling wins,” I said, expecting to see shoulders slump and disappointment spread across my family’s faces. I should have known better. I was met with an array of expressions that ranged from Sterling’s smug grin of triumph to Parker’s amused head shake.
“I told you no one would care,” Hope said, leaning in to whisper in my ear.
“Not even a dime?” Forrest asked. “Damn, he was a bastard.”
“You’re not wrong,” I agreed, remembering how furious I’d been the day the will was read. My father had always known how to twist the knife he’d stabbed in my back. “But I wouldn’t take it personally. A lot of the will was a big fuck-you to me.”
“Vintage Dad,” Sterling said. “That’s why I was so sure the trusts were empty. Because in that dumbass video will, he told you to drain our trusts if you needed money. But he was trying to punish you, too. So why would he give you access to a pile of cash?”
“He didn’t,” I confirmed. “He gave me the Manor and the company, but almost every penny of his personal funds went into the trust to maintain Heartstone Manor.”
I looked to Harvey, who slid a folder my way, his face bright with anticipation.
I held up the file. Prentice’s will might have been intended as a fuck-you to me, but finally, I got to make it right. “Now that the terms of the will are up, Harvey was able to execute a few things on my behalf as the head of the family. I decided to make a few changes to the way things are run. Harvey has some paperwork that some of you will need to sign, but we can do it tomorrow. Today is for fun and celebration. I’ll keep it short. Tenn and Royal—the Inn at Sawyers Bend is yours. Quinn, your guide business is yours,” I went on. “And Avery, you and Finn need to discuss how you want to handle the building the brewery is in, considering his restaurant takes up almost as much space as your brewery these days. But whatever you decide, it’s yours.”