George groaned as he tilted his head back and stared up at the ceiling. "What am I going to do with a billion dollars, Ford?"
"One point six billion dollars."
"You heard your dad. I only get the full amount if I take it in installment payments over twenty years. I get nine hundred and thirty million if I take it in one lump sum."
"Nine hundred and thirty million is still a lot of money, George."
George's eyes rounded. "Yeah."
"Well, what do you want to do with it?"
"I don't know. That's the problem." George pushed a hand through his hair, brushing the edges back from his face. "I know I want to do something for your folks. I just haven't figured out what yet."
"Send them on a cruise with Uncle Robert and Aunt Maggie."
Robert and Maggie Colton weren't really related, but Helen and Maggie had been best friends since grade school, so they might as well be. Since George was related through Uncle Allan, who was his father's brother, he'd always felt a little weird around Robert and Maggie and their kids, no matter how nice they had all been.
"A cruise?" That didn't seem like a good enough thank-you for all they had done for him.
Ford nodded. "There's this cruise that goes up to Alaska that Mom's always dreamed of. It stops off in different places where they can get the fur on and run free without worrying they might freak someone out."
"Okay, I can do that, but I was thinking of something more substantial, like paying off their mortgage and putting some money aside so they'd never have to work again."
Ford shook his head. "They'd never go for it."
George's shoulder slumped. "I was afraid you'd say that."
"You know Mom and Dad. They have a lot of pride, and they won't accept anything like that that they didn't earn themselves."
George blew out a breath. "Yeah, I know."
"I wouldn't turn down a nineteen sixty-seven teardrop Corvette."
George chuckled. "What color?"
Ford snorted. "Black, of course. Is there any other color for a classic Corvette?"
George wouldn't have a clue. He didn't own a car.
"I was thinking of setting up some shelters for shifters who'd been kicked out of their homes."
"Like you were?"
"Yeah, although, I don't imagine there are a lot of shifters out there who were kicked out of their homes because they wouldn't challenge their alphas. I've done some research, and most of them get kicked out because they won't conform to their alpha's wishes."
"You mean gay shifters."
George nodded. He'd actually been shocked at how many stories he'd read about young shifters being banned from their clans because they were gay. That had never seemed to be a problem in the clan he'd been born into. No, his problem had been that he grew too big, and maybe a bit too scary.
Even now, just walking down the street, more than one child looked at him with shock and a little bit of fear. Mothers crossed the road with their kids as if afraid he'd eat them or something.
And then there were the ass wipes who tried to pick fights with him to prove they were men, which was pretty much macho bullshit as far as George was concerned. How picking a fight with someone proved one's manhood, he'd never know.
His biggest problem was Raymond Barker, the alpha's son. The man was a prick plain and simple. He used his status as next in line to be alpha to terrorize pretty much everyone, including George, and his father was oblivious.
George couldn't do anything about the genetics he was born with. He was who he was. But maybe he could help out others who were in the same boat, unable to change who they were. He'd certainly have the money for it…just as soon as he claimed it.
"The lawyer your dad sent me to said there was some sort of trust thing I could set up so I wouldn't have to go public with my name."
