Perhaps Trigger sensed Trenton’s desperation to be free of the place. Or maybe it went deeper; maybe the horse sensed the same winds of change that pushed over the land like an unwelcome worm. Whatever it was, Trigger picked up speed over the snow-covered ground, taking Trenton further from the inn with each trusty trot.
He didn’t owe anyone a warm welcome. Whoever this mystery family was, they could settle into their new place without him.
Chapter 2
Snow. Andie hadn’t expected to see so much of it.
She sighed, glaring through the windshield at the frozen layers of crystal white packed along the hillside. Great. One more thing to dread.
Sure, her “permanent” address was in New Jersey until recently, but that didn’t mean she spent much of her time there. Especially during the winter months. More often than not, Andie could be found on a getaway in Costa Rica, Cancun, or her all-time favorite: the Maldives. But such vacations were much too risky now; dreamy resorts in popular hot spots were a thing of her past.
Her new permanent residence in Haven Hills, North Carolina, would be her future, one with no escape. Not outside of death, anyway. As kind as it had been for the prior owner to gift them, in a sense, a portion of The Homestead Inn, their hideaway would be more of a life sentence. One that would, despite the billions in their bank account, strip Andie’s family of the billionaire lifestyle they’d always known.
In most cases when things went awry, people only wished there was a scapegoat to pin the blame on. But in this rare circumstance, the cause for chaos was clear. Their mafia-linked grandfather, who’d spent the last twenty years imprisoned for criminal behavior, had exchanged his own life sentence for theirs. And though Andie and her siblings had spent the last month in a relocation training program, she still hadn’t been able to reconcile her feelings about it.
“Wish they would have let us keep that letter from Grandpa,” Richard mused from the driver’s seat. He let out a sigh that said he felt the weight of their situation too. Of course he did; he was the oldest and, even before Mom and Dad’s untimely death, he never stopped playing the part.
“I basically memorized the whole thing,” Emmitt bragged from the back seat. A small crunch sounded, followed by the same spitting noise they’d been subjected to for the last five hours.
“Are you seriously not done with those freaking sunflower seeds yet?” Richard griped. “Jeez, how many pounds did you buy?”
“None of your business,Richie.”
“Richard.”
Andie glanced back to make sure the discarded shells were still going into his empty Gatorade bottle. They were.
Emmitt scowled at the back of Richard’s head. “Too badyoudon’t have any. It could have saved us from hearing your hour-long lecture about not slipping up and calling each other by our old names.” He shook his head. “Tsk, like the program didn’t pound that into our brains enough over the last month. I had to rehearse stating and signing my name so many times I started to forget the one I was born with.”
“That’s the idea,” Andie said, feeling relieved that the program was as thorough as it was. “Your old names are dead to me. You’re Emmitt and Richard now and forever. And I’m Andie. That’s the end of it.”
“More like the beginning,” Emmitt murmured. “The beginning of no more housemaids, no sports cars, no night life…”
“No more laying around, either,” Richard added. “You’re going to have to work your butt off here. We all are.”
Emmitt groaned. “Gee, Daddy, can you somehow squeeze a few more lectures into this trip? I mean, we still have a couple minutes before we get to the inn, and I don’t think we’ve heard enough.” An empty soda can flew up and over Richard’s head from the back seat. It bounced off the steering wheel with a tinny thud and fell on the middle seat.
“Way to show how mature you are,Emmitt,” Richard said, putting emphasis on his name. The exchange brought back memories of her childhood, flying from one destination to the next on the family’s private jet. Such interactions called for splitting up, which is what each child preferred anyhow. Sitting in their own private quarters, eating, watching, and doing whatever they wanted with no one to bother or boss them.
Andie snatched the can before Richard could attempt to toss it back. “I have a confession to make,” she blurted, stuffing the can into an empty grocery sack. She tugged a folded note from her pocket. “I snuck in and copied Grandpa’s letter.”
“You did?” Emmitt bellowed.
Richard shot her a hard look of reprove. “You can’t dothat, Andie.”
Her eyes widened in disbelief. “Why would you say Ican’tdo something I’ve already done? Obviously, I could, and I did. But don’t worry, I’ll destroy it.”
“You have to destroy it now,” Richard said. “Before we get there.”
Andie matched his irritated glare and turned in her seat. “If you’re going to be this bossy the whole time, it’s notgoing to work. I’m a grown woman. I’ve been living on my own for years and so has Emmitt, for that matter. We have to coexist now and that means that each of us gives the other respect.”
Richard remained quiet, but he shook his head and gripped tighter to the wheel as his jaw clenched.
“You might be the oldest,” she added, “but that doesn’t make you the wisest.”
“Yeah,” Emmitt grumbled. “Just theannoying-est.”
Andie worked to shake off the adrenaline building in her chest. “I’ll destroy the note. I just…wanted to read it one more time. Maybe let Emmitt read it again too so he reallycancommit it to memory.”
