I could stop her,” Austin replied with a laugh.
Kingsley looked at Ivy House one last time and then turned toward Austin’s waiting Jeep. Austin gave me a quick kiss.
“Will you be around later?” he asked.
“Of course. I just have to finally sign the papers to make everything official with Ivy House, and then I’m free to leave.”
“My house, then?” He chuckled softly and kissed me again. “I love you. See you tonight.”
He was striding away before I could respond. Which was maybe for the best. My heart fluttered with joy to hear it, but I was still afraid to say it. To feel it. It seemed too soon. It seemed not soon enough.
Shaking my head, I headed into the house, up the stairs, and into the office, the furniture still the same as it had been on my last visit. I sat in the creaking leather chair and took a deep breath, placing my hands on the desk.
“Mr. Tom?”
“You rang?” He stepped into the room.
I rolled my eyes. “The ledger, if you please.”
“Yes, miss,” he said, and I could tell he was almost giddy with excitement and trying not to show it.
He laid a large tome on the desk in front of me, years and years of markings contained within its pages. He opened to the last used pages, the neat scrawl only reaching halfway down the second page. The total number in all the combined accounts stared back at me.
“This is after the winery expenses, right?” I asked.
“Yes, as you will see here.” He traced a line farther up the page. “The cash has been sent to the escrow account. Tomorrow you go in to sign a few more documents and then it is all done.”
“Right.” I blew out a breath. “The blood oath is done, but I have to sign something, right?”
“Yes, for legal purposes.” He brought over a rolled-up parchment, flattening it out in front of me. He held out a fountain pen. “Make your mark at the bottom.”
A large X waited in front of a long line at the bottom of a document that was written in Latin or some other language I couldn’t read. The text was dirty red and looked suspiciously like dried blood.
“It isn’t blood, though, right?” I asked Mr. Tom.
“It is blood,” Ivy House said. “It is your blood, collected from the soil and transferred here after you assumed your power. You have but to sign, and it is done.”
I hadn’t put that much blood in the soil, but I didn’t see the point in saying so. They’d just tell me this could all easily be explained by magic.
I scribbled my name down.
Mr. Tom nodded, collected the paper, and rolled it back up. “Fantastic, miss. You are now officially the rightful heir to Ivy House. Congratulations. The Havercamps no longer have a claim to this house, not that Peggy wanted it anyway after she was denied.”
“Okay, then.” I stared at the ledger. “We’re going to automate this, I hope you know. Get a proper bookkeeping system up and running. Pay things online.”
Mr. Tom pursed his lips. “If you say so.”
“And this money…” I tapped the last number on the right. “I get that I can’t pass it down or anything, but are there rules on what I can spend it on? Can I, like, buy a vacation house?”
“Yes, and Ivy House has several vacation houses and castles already. I haven’t been to any of them, but the documents and details are in the filing cabinet. They probably all need work. Otherwise, you can do anything you like with it, miss, within reason. You can’t give it all away to Austin Steele, or anything like that, for example. You may donate to a reputable charity up to a certain percentage per year. And no, you cannot take it with you when you die. It stays with the house, and will be transferred to the next heir. But you can pay off Jimmy’s school tuition and your debts, and maybe buy yourself a nicer car and better clothes and fix up the furnishings.”
“Yes, yes, I get it.”
“Maybe a haircut and something besides sweats and jeans might be nice—”
“I got it. Fix myself up. Loud and clear.” I shook my head, letting it sink in. “I’m a billionaire.”
“As long as you are living, yes, you are a billionaire. One hundred and sixty times over. Not all liquid, though, let’s be realistic.”
I felt faint. “I might be the richest person in the world.”
“Those things always change, but you’ll certainly be one of them.”
“What a crazy life.”
“Yes, miss, I believe we covered that when you were trying to wrap your head around magic. Now, would you like to make any changes?”
I rubbed my eyes. “Give me some time to look through everything, Mr. Tom. I’m a whiz with a budget, not that I expressly need that skill now, but I need some time to sort through all this handwritten…stuff.”
“Yes, miss. I’ll bring up some coffee and snacks. Anything else?”
My head slid to what happened a week ago. To what would happen next month.
“No, thanks,” I said, because money could fix many things, but it couldn’t help me prepare for what I would be facing. I wasn’t sure anything could. I’d need to learn attack and kill spells, and if I didn’t basically use them before Elliot Graves could open his mouth, I’d be beaten before the duel started.
Because it would be a duel—of that I was certain—and I did not intend to lose.
. ~ . ~ . ~ .
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Try Sin & Chocolate
Check out Sin & Chocolate, the first book of the Washington Post & Amazon Charts bestselling series Demigods of San Francisco…
Some people are ordained for greatness…
Those people usually have a lot of drama in their life. Drama I happily do without. I live in a forgotten corner of nowhere for a reason: there is safety in anonymity. I have enough problems just trying to get by.
But when Kieran, a sinfully sexy demigod at the pinnacle of power, crashes into my life, suddenly my whole world is turned upside down.
He’s harboring a deadly secret, one that could destroy all he holds dear. He thinks I’m the key to his salvation, and he wants me to help him claim vengeance.
He also wants me with a passion that burns my body from the inside out.
To ignore him is impossible, but to give in to my desires, even for a night, would thrust me into danger I might not survive.
Remember what I said about drama? Now I’m in it up to my eyeballs, and I’m not sure if I should run…or fight.
Try it here
Also by K.F. Breene
Leveling Up
Magical Midlife Madness
Magical Midlife Dating
Magical Midlife Invasion
Magical Midlife Love
Magical Midlife Meeting (coming soon)
Demigods of San Francisco
Sin & Chocolate
Sin & Magic
Sin & Salvation
Sin & Spirit
Sin & Lightning
Sin & Surrender
Demon Days, Vampire Nights World
Born in Fire
Raised in Fire
Fused in Fire
Natural Witch
Natural Mage
Natural Dual-Mage
Warrior Fae Trapped
Warrior Fae Princess
Revealed in Fire (coming soon)
Warrior Chronicles
Chosen
Hunted
Shadow Lands
Invasion
Siege
Overtaken
Darkness Series
Into the Darkness
Braving the Elements
On a Razor’s Edge
Demons
The Council
Shadow Watcher
Jonas
Charles
Jameson
Stand Alone
Secret of McKinley’s Mansion
Finding Paradise
Fate of Perfection
Fate of Devotion
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About the Author
K.F. Breene is a Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Washington Post, Amazon Most Sold and #1 Kindle Store bestselling author of paranormal romance, urban fantasy and fantasy novels. With over four million books sold, when she's not penning stories about magic and what goes bump in the night, she's sipping wine and planning shenanigans. She lives in Northern California with her husband, two children, weird dog and out of work treadmill.
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