Page 24 of Her Wolf

Nick craned the side to see what Lars was pointing at. “Ah, yes, you see…with the fall in commodities last quarter—”

“Fucking rich people,” Lars muttered, shoving the paper back at Cora.

There was a long, retracted silence. Then Finn reached for the paper and glanced at it. He handed it to Bailey.

Nick cleared his throat again. “I completely understand if you wish to appoint a new trustee, Ms Rivera. I would of course appreciate the opportunity to handle the transition on November second, but if you’d prefer I hand over the investment portfolio to another—”

“This—” Cora washed a hand down herself “—isn’t anger. It’s shock. Just give me a minute.”

She sat back in her chair, bringing her coffee cup with her.

If the ringing in her ears could just quieten down, it would make thinking a hell of a lot easier.

583,000,000

Bailey put the page down. His eyes were wide, his lips parted.

Had it been 583? Or 385? She gestured, and Finn slid the paper back over the table to her.

583 million.

She swallowed down the rest of her coffee, burning her mouth.

When she made eye contact with Nick again, he wore a tiny frown above the bridge of his nose. “You’re joking, right?”

Nick dropped his eyes. “I understand your frustration, Ms Rivera. If you would like me to present a detailed explanation of your share holdings—”

“Nick.”

“—then I’ll just need a day to prepare. I can have a PowerPoint presentation—”

“Nick!”

The man looked up.

“Nick, I can’t wrap my head around how much money that is,” Cora said. She laid her hands over the sheet. “Stop apologizing, okay?”

Nick looked a little concerned at this instruction, but gave a wary nod in her direction.

“Okay…” Cora sat back, hands still on the table, and tried to breathe. “I’m guessing that’s not…it’s not all just, money piles in a vault somewhere, right?”

At this, Nick perked up. “Your investments have been spread across several very—”

“I mean, I can’t just go and get money from…from like an ATM?”

Nick blinked, took off his spectacles, and began cleaning them with his tie. “Uh…Not quite. There is a day-to-day fund which I can make withdrawals from, if you do need anything—”

“So it’s my money, but I can’t touch it?” Cora cut in.

“Not yet.” Nick gave a decisive nod. “Not until November second.”

“That’s pretty specific,” Lars said, crossing his arms over his chest.

Nick gave him a quick glance, but his eyes shot straight back to Cora. He’d been uneasy sitting down with all three men, but he’d probably been around enough cartel folk to know that the higher up someone was, the meatier their entourage became.

“It’s my birthday,” Cora said through numb lips.

“What, Tuesday’s your birthday?” Lars grinned at her. “You should have said sooner. Didn’t exactly leave us much time to pick out presents, did you?”

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