“How is it, being eighteen?” he asked instead.
“Same as yesterday,” I shrugged. A thought struck me. “There was a lawyer that came to Alan’s house a few weeks ago. He went over Lisa’s life insurance policy. I was to get money.”
“Do you have his name?”
“Uh…Harvey something?”
“Banks?” Peyton said. “Harvey Banks?”
“I think so, yeah.”
“That would have been her husband,” Hannah said with a shake of her head. “Ex, actually. We’ll get in touch with him. Lisa would have definitely left you everything. She wanted that man to have nothing of hers.”
“But she used him as a lawyer?” That didn’t make much sense.
“Yes,” Hannah laughed. “Lisa loved a challenge, and doing that to her ex-husband was the way to go about it. She didn’t trust anyone else to make sure her money was taken care of.”
“He loves her,” Ace said. “Well, he did. It’s his own damn fault he cheated on her and had a secret family.”
“What?” Why hadn’t Lisa ever told me any of this?
“They were married for less than ten years,” Hannah said. “She was head over heels in love with that man. Probably still was when she died. Not that she’d ever confess to something like that. But she loved revenge just as much.”
“I miss her,” I said, looking down at my mostly finished pizza.
“I do too,” Hannah said. “Do you know how she died? I wasn’t able to go to the funeral. Didn’t even know about it until it was too late.”
“Alan happened,” I said, my voice dark and low. “He killed her.”
“He’ll get what’s coming to him, nipotina,” Ace said, patting my shoulder. “I’m gonna make him suffer. For a very long time.”
I didn’t doubt that. I also didn’t want to know how he’d go about that. Right now, I’d rather stay blissfully unaware.
“Oh,” I went on. “Harvey gave me a letter from Lisa. I hid it in Alan’s house.”
“Where?” Peyton said, sitting up, instantly alert.
“In the drawer under the hot pads. He’d never look there.”
“We’ll get it,” Ace promised. “Anything else from the house that you’d like?”
“No.” I shook my head. There was nothing I’d ever want from that house. If I could, I’d want to see that entire thing burning.
“Okay.” He then looked around the room, debating with something inside his head. “You haven’t opened the package yet, I’m assuming?”
“Uh, no?”
“I only picked it up this morning,” Dominic said from outside of the room. “Then I kind of took her for a walk to meet you guys.”
“I see,” Ace said. “Do you plan to open it?”
“Uh…” Not with a room full of people. I could wait. I wasn’t sure I really wanted to know what was in there, anyway.
“Leave her be,” Hannah said. “We’ll have plenty of time to spoil her rotten.”
I dropped my head, hoping to hide my reddening cheeks. I didn’t need to be doted on. Just having everyone here today was more than enough.
“Okay then,” Ace said, clapping his hands together. “I need to speak to my granddaughter. Alone.”
