I glanced, shocked, toward the black Lincoln my parents were getting into. “Not my father?”
“No. If you’d like, we can go to my office. I have some time available if you do.”
At Alaric’s nod, I agreed. “We’ll follow you.”
“Very good.”
Mr. Roriguez rented an office in the ritzy downtown area. He waited at the building’s entrance while we found a place to park, then accompanied us to the fifteenth floor. As we rose the flights in the elevator, he explained that Roxanne had made a new will within the last week and named me as her executor.
“What’s in her will?” I asked.
“I’d rather let you read it.”
His office was pleasant, and yet not expensively maintained. His middle aged secretary brought coffee, while Mr. Rodriguez found Roxanne’s will in his files. He passed the manilla folder across his desk just as the secretary poured a steaming cup for me.
“She left everything to you.”
My coffee went cold as I read the will. Roxanne did indeed leave everything to me. Her wealth, massive amounts of money in excellent investments that brought in a ridiculous amount of cash each month. Shares in companies that I’d read about in the papers as being top money earners. Her house. While burned to the ground, it was heavily insured and could be rebuilt and sold. For millions.
I stared at Mr. Rodriguez. “She didn’t leave anything to our parents. Why?”
“She didn’t confide that reason in me,” he replied. “But she asked that you be given this envelope in the event of her death.”
Like the folder, he passed me a sealed envelope. After a questioning glance at Alaric, I slit it open with my fingernail and slid the single sheet of paper out of it. My mouth fell open.
I’m sorry.
“That’s it?” Alaric asked, as bewildered as I was. “Just ‘I’m sorry’? No explanations?”
I burst into tears, holding the paper against my chest. “She loved me, after all. She did. She knew she treated me badly, and this is her way of atoning.”
Rodriguez handed me a box of tissues while Alaric knelt beside my chair and offered an awkward hug. I accepted both, sobbing in a mixture of fresh grief and a very strange happiness. Roxanne did love me. She was sorry she never knew how to express it, apologizing for having treated me as a second-class citizen. I have no real way of knowing for certain why she suddenly changed.
Only that she did.
And it was a great comfort to me.
***
“I’m now a millionaire several times over.”
I marveled at this knowledge as Alaric drove us back to the coast and his house. “Just a month ago, I was dependent upon Roxanne’s mercy, desperately needed a job, and now I’m wealthy. How weird is that?”
“So when you kick me to the curb, you can find a handsome gigolo to keep you satisfied.” Alaric grinned.
“Exactly. It’ll happen soon, too.”
“But then, you’ll miss out on becoming royalty.”
“Royalty?” I scoffed. “You have delusions of grandeur.”
He laughed. “Uh, nope.”
Waving my hand, I stared through the windshield at the approaching coast. “So, what are you? A king or something?”
“Not something,” he said, catching my gaze. “Iamthe king. My inheritance, remember?”
“No way.” I laughed. “You said Damon wanted – oh,shit.” I stared at him in horror. “Damon was your cousin. He wanted your authority. I thought you were like a mayor or something.”
