Page 87 of Devil's Riches

She lifted a palm. “I know. I just meant…” She trailed off and hesitated. “Obviously, it would be amazing if you could prove that Dad was innocent all along. But it would help you with your whole journalism thing, too, and that’s what he always wanted for you. Remember? He always thought you’d follow in his footsteps.”

A tiny smile tilted the corners of my lips. “Yeah. You’re right.”

She leaned forward to inspect her lipstick in the sun visor mirror. “Things are finally looking up for us, aren’t they?” she said after a few moments of silence. “You have a new boyfriend and you’re going to solve a bunch of murders together, and on top of that, we’re finally going to have grandparents. It’s awesome.”

I nodded and kept my gaze firmly trained on the road ahead. I couldn’t look at Sascha. I felt too guilty. She was so excited about the prospect of having a relationship with the Paxtons, and she had absolutely no idea that it was all going to come crashing down when Nate and I outed them as depraved criminals.

It was going to devastate her, and there was nothing I could do about it.

“I told you this would happen, didn’t I?” she went on.

“What?”

“That they’d come around and want to see us again. The Paxtons, I mean,” she replied. “I kept telling you to believe, didn’t I?”

I nodded. “Yup. You did.”

“Well, I take full credit for everything that’s happening now.” She put her fingertips on her temples. “I totally manifested it.”

She stuck her tongue out at me, and I couldn’t help but smile again despite my dark mood. “You seem a lot less nervous now,” I said.

She nodded. “Yeah, I feel much better. You were right earlier,” she replied. “It’s just a birthday dinner. What could possibly go wrong?”

“Exactly. Just be yourself, and it’ll be fine,” I said. Guilt started needling at my guts again as soon as the words were out of my mouth. There was a hell of a lot that could go wrong tonight, but Sascha couldn’t know that. It was too risky.

She smiled. “You know, if tonight goes well, and we start seeing our grandparents regularly, they might introduce us to our aunt and uncle one day,” she said. “They have kids. Our cousins.”

“Yeah, Edward told me.”

“How amazing would it be to have a big family like that?” she said, eyes sparkling. “It’s so exciting.”

I swallowed hard. “Yeah, it’d be nice,” I murmured. “Just don’t get your hopes up too much.”

Her brows dipped in a frown. “Why are you being so negative?”

“Sorry. I’m not trying to be negative. I just meant… I’m not sure about our aunt and uncle. Edward made it sound like they aren’t very close anymore,” I said, hoping she’d buy the excuse for my suddenly-sour attitude.

She nodded slowly and settled back in her seat. “Oh, right. Who knows, though? Maybe they’ll still want to meet us.”

I forced another smile. “Yeah. Maybe.”

We arrived at the Paxton estate a few minutes later. The large gate was lit by lamps on top of stone pillars, and more lamps along the short driveway illuminated the property all the way up to the house.

It was a magnificent white three-story mansion, built in a classical Grecian style with columns, pediments, arches, and Palladian windows. A majestic marble fountain lay outside the main entrance, shooting glittering streams of water into the air.

“Now I’m nervous all over again,” Sascha muttered, clutching my arm as we stepped past the fountain.

I squeezed her arm. “It’s okay. Just breathe.”

We walked up to the huge wooden double doors in the portico and pressed on the doorbell. A maid dressed in black and white answered a moment later. “Sascha and Alexis Livingston?” she asked, smiling politely.

I nodded. “That’s us.”

She stepped aside and let us into the foyer. “Please, follow me.”

The interior of the mansion was just as impressive as the exterior. Chandeliers and lights in golden sconces lit the large space, and the walls were adorned with beautiful paintings.

The maid led us into a spacious dining room with a long table covered in a delicate white cloth. Edward appeared a moment later, through another doorway. “Hello, girls. Sorry I’m a little late,” he said as he headed over to us. “I was helping the staff set up the decorations in the ballroom, and time got away from me.”

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