“Yes, yes.” Winston waves his hand at her. “But it will be merely a formality. Jaxon is the spitting image of a young Count Bucataru. Even a blind man could see that they are related. He looks exactly like the painting hanging above the entrance to the house!”
“Yes, I almost swallowed my tongue when he walked in,” Daniel agrees with his brother, but Patricia only sniffs disdainfully.
“We will see.” She stands and lifts up a briefcase. Opening it, she removes two plastic-covered cotton swabs and passes one to me and one to my sister. “If you could just swipe it along the inside of your cheek, we will have them sent off to be tested right away.”
Dad’s lawyer clears his throat while also opening his briefcase. “We will be sending off our own independent analysis too.” He pulls out his own set of swabs as Jazzy and I do as we are asked before passing them back to Patricia. Forrest then hands us his set, and we repeat the process before handing them over to him. “If you could send over the DNA sample you have on record, we can have them compared as well.” Patricia has a distinctly sour look on her face, like she’s just been asked to bite into a lemon rather than share a DNA sample with our legal team. Thank god her partners seem to make up for her lack of social skills, softly and quickly agreeing to Forrest’s request.
“Okay, shall we go over the terms of the estate?” Daniel looks to me and my sister, and we exchange a quick look before I nod for him to continue. “I’m not sure if you are aware, but I’ll give you the backstory as far as we know it. Whatever we share today is a matter of some public record, so please be assured that we are not violating the family’s privacy. Count Bucataru and his son went missing probably twenty-six years ago now. Disappeared without a trace. Though the count’s personal vehicle was found in the main parking lot of LAX, it doesn't seem that either of them got on a flight, nor were they ever spotted anywhere else. Now, please remember we were appointed trustees after the fact. Although the count had a will, he had no set lawyer, so we had no personal relationship with the count. After a little bit of investigation, it seems that the elder Count Bucataru’s dealings may not have been completely above board, but it could never be proven.” Daniel has a small frown on his face as he says this, not disapproving so much as just disappointed that he has to be saying it.
Winston takes over. “Because it couldn't be proven, none of the assets were seized, and we were appointed to preserve all the assets in case they ever reappeared. After five years, we had them declared legally dead, and the trust was set aside for twenty-five years. If, in that period of time, no legal heirs appeared, it was to be divided up by the people who had been caring for it—which included Ms. Cullen’s father, and now her, as well as the three of us in this room.” Jacinta and I look to Emma, whose mouth has dropped wide open as if this is the first time she’s hearing this. “But now that will no longer be the case, though there is a stipend set aside for Ms. Cullen so that she can find new accommodations.”
“Emma can stay for now,” Jacinta interrupts, opening her mouth as if she’s got more to say. However, I know my sister. Whatever comes out next is likely to be laced with bitterness and as sharp as a knife, so I put a hand on her leg and squeeze, hoping she reins it in for now.
“Yes, we have invited Emma to stay while we sort out everything. The last thing we want to do is stress her out about finding somewhere new to live.” As seems to be the general pattern, the two men nod in agreement, while Patricia’s scorn is obvious. “We will also have our lawyers take over, though we appreciate everything you and your firm have done in such a difficult situation.”
“It’s no problem. We were happy to do it, and we’re thrilled that a family member has been found. There were always rumors of Dragos’ girlfriend being pregnant, but she was incredibly difficult to track down. Not that she could have claimed any of the assets anyway, but she would have had a stipend to support her until the children were of age.” Well, that sounds like something Dad—Brad, I mean—would do, so maybe our possible bio-dad is actually the kind of person we’ve been assured of thus far. There’s something about Daniel that just makes me trust him. Plus, I want to believe that my biological father—if that really is Dragos—would be the kind of guy who would make sure his kids and their mother were taken care of.
“How did you come to adopt them?” Patricia asks, eyeing Dad suspiciously, and Winston gasps.
“That is none of our business and extremely unprofessional,” he scolds her. “Please ignore our associate.” He addresses that comment to Dad, receiving a throat clearing and a nervous hand through the hair in return. Dad’s going to go bald at this rate. All that hair ruffling can’t be good for a man his age.
“Yes, well, shall we just go over what the inheritance involves? Unfortunately, we have other pressing matters that we need to get through, completely unrelated to this,” Dad suggests.
“Yes, of course.” Daniel opens the file in front of him. “Count Bucataru’s will initially indicated that his son was to inherit everything, and if for some reason he had outlived his son, it was to go to any remaining blood relative. Should the DNA tests provide confirmation of the relationship, it will split equally between the two twins as we were never able to find any other blood relatives here, or in Transylvania. The count was an only child, and any of his parents’ siblings had perished when he was a child. Dragos’ mother died in childbirth, so you guys would be the last of the line.”
Daniel gives us both sympathetic looks, but it really means nothing to me. These people are names and nothing more. How am I supposed to feel sad about that? I don’t know if that makes me cold, or damaged, or something else that would make people look at me aghast, but I can’t force myself to feel something that isn’t there.
“We will start with the inheritance in Romania and then move on to what is here.” Daniel pulls out a picture and passes it to Jacinta and me. On it is a gothic-looking castle surrounded by a dark and imposing forest. “There is a fully furnished estate in the Transylvania region of Romania. It’s nestled at the base of the Carpathian mountains, and it has a groundskeeper much like the one across the road.” Jazzy meets my gaze with complete shock on her face, but I can see a gleam of interest in her eyes. Good, I’m glad she’s not burying her head in the sand about this. I thought she would just wipe her hands of it completely, but this just might be the thing to keep her interested.
“There is also a house on the French Riviera, a vineyard in Tuscany, and a chalet in the Swiss Alps.” He hands over three more images as my mouth drops, but he still has more to say. “All properties are fully furnished and have had management companies looking after them for the past twenty-odd years. You will need to decide what to do with each of those.”
Winston opens the folder in front of him. “Here in the States, there’s the property down the road. All of the exotic animals were donated to zoos throughout the country, and as such are no longer a part of the inheritance. I’m not sure if any of them would still be alive for you to claim anyway. There is a garage full of what I’m assuming are now classic automobiles, but we would have to get a mechanic in to check them over and evaluate them. There’s a substantial amount of money in various shares, stocks, and investments, as well as a hefty bank account.” His finger trails down the sheet of paper. “There is also a safety deposit box at his nominated bank and two bank accounts in the Cayman Islands, though we only have records of those—no in-depth financial details. Then there’s the vault...”
If I wasn't actually studying her at that very moment, I might have missed it, but Patricia stiffens ever so slightly, and her annoyance smooths out to carefully concealed interest.
“We actually have no clue what the inventory of the vault contains, only that it is activated by a biometric scanner. We don’t even know where it is, but then we haven't specifically looked for it. We didn't think it was our place to do that. In any case, it’s certainly not glaringly obvious, so we assume it's hidden behind a fake wall or a painting. I couldn't even tell you how big it is since it’s only referred to as the vault. Apart from taking a general inventory of furniture, the only people that have been in the house are Ms. Cullen and any tradesmen that were needed for any reason, and they were fully supervised while there.” Patricia deflates the slightest bit when no more information is given, but nobody else notices the way she stares at the file. Finished with those details, Winston takes back everything he has shown us and puts it into an envelope that he sets aside. “As soon as we have confirmation of DNA, we will pass everything on to your lawyers.”
“Do you know anything about this vault, Emma?” Jacinta asks, and Emma shrugs casually.
“I may have an idea or two, but we can discuss that later.” She side-eyes Patricia. Well, that’s another point in Emma’s favor. She’s sharp enough to know where she should be looking while everyone else is distracted.
Daniel takes over again. “There is also an estate in Columbia. Rumor has it that he was good friends with Pablo Escobar, which may explain the zoo he housed here. The estate there is managed by a man whose father managed the estate for the count before he went missing. There is actually a Colombian law firm that manages all of those assets, and once we get the DNA results, we will pass on your lawyer’s information to them. I’m sure a meeting can be arranged to deal with all of that. All in all, the count’s estate is worth close to ten billion dollars.”
“Holy fuck!” I can’t stop the words from leaving my mouth as my mind runs at a million miles an hour, trying to come to terms with everything I just discovered. Jacinta grabs my hand and squeezes it hard.
“Pinch me, Jax. I’m having a really weird dream. I must have drunk way too much last night. I could have sworn he said tenbilliondollars.” Jazzy sounds incredulous, but I can’t blame her. Yes, Dad is wealthy, probably twice over, but ten billion… for just Jacinta and me? That’s a level of wealth that blows your mind.
The two men stand up, followed quickly by Patricia. “We know it’s a lot to take in. We’ll let you be and will be in touch with the results,” Daniel says gently. Before they can take their leave, Forrest whips some paperwork out of his briefcase.
“I’m sure you can understand the reluctance that the Summers have in this getting out prematurely. If the three of you could please sign these NDAs, we would appreciate it.” Daniel and Winston are quick to comply, and although Patricia seems reluctant, she ultimately has no choice. She sends alarm bells through my systems, but Jazzy distracts me from blurting something out right then and there.
“Holy shit, that was a lot more than I thought it was going to be.” She looks at me with wide eyes, and I chuckle.
“And you told me you wanted nothing to do with it. Well, I’m certainly not dealing with it on my own.”
Emma, Forrest, and Declan escort the trust lawyers out, and Dad clears his throat. “Guys, I know it’s a lot, and we will come back around to this in a little while, but right now Forrest and I need to move on to the next disaster.”
“Oh god!” Jazzy sits up straight. “Harlow! How is she?” She looks at me and so does Dad. I run a frustrated hand through my hair, feeling way too much like Dad, before sighing loudly.
