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I nodded into the empty kitchen, even though she couldn’t see me.

“Enjoy it, baby,” she continued gently. “You’ve had enough to worry about for one lifetime.”

I reached up and wiped a stray tear from beneath one eye. “Thank you, Henrietta.”

“And Lakelyn?”

“Yeah?”

“Don’t spend all day trying to figure out something neither one of us has an answer for.”

A small laugh escaped my throat. “I’ll try.”

“Good. Give my grandson a big kiss for me.”

“I will.”

“I love you.”

“I love you too.”

I ended the call, shook my head, then searched for a local priest and made another one.

Okay. Apparently I’m fine, so whatever the fuck is in this house needs Jesus.

That was the only conclusion I had left after my doctor confirmed there was nothing medically wrong with me. My exam was normal, my bloodwork hadn’t shown anything alarming, and there was no obvious neurological explanation for the things I had been hearing, feeling, and seeing.

Which meant whatever the hell was happening inside that mansion was starting to feel a whole lot less like a string of bizarre coincidences and a whole lot more like somebody making his presence known.

The priest listened without interrupting while I gave him the watered-down version of what had been happening. I left out a few details because saying I may have had sex with my missing boyfriend who disappeared six years ago and then vanished again felt like a quick way to turn a house blessing into an exorcism of me personally.

Thankfully, he didn’t sound judgmental. He asked a few questions, took down the address, and told me he could come out the following afternoon to bless the house and see if he sensed anything unusual.

At that point, I was willing to let him bring holy water, a Bible, a choir, and the entire church usher board if he thought it would help.

Chapter twenty

Caspian

Lakelyn had been staring at her phone so long I was starting to think she expected the number to apologize and disappear.

I stood a few feet away from the kitchen island, watching her close the banking app, reopen it, refresh the screen, then do the exact same shit all over again. Her eyebrows were drawn tight, her lips slightly parted, and every few seconds she shook her head like staring at it long enough might make the balance correct itself.

I couldn’t help smiling.

Baby, that shit yours.

She read the balance again.

$90,000,012.18.

That extra twelve dollars and eighteen cents almost made me laugh. My woman had been worried about groceries, bills, finding another job, and making sure everybody under this roof had what they needed while twelve dollars sat in that account. Now ninety million was sitting beside it. And instead of celebrating, Lakelyn looked two seconds away from reporting the money as suspicious activity.

That was my baby.

She had never trusted anything that came too easy.

What she didn’t know was that I had been waiting six damn years to get that money to her.