Page 6 of Worlds Collide

What is the little rich boy doing?I wonder silently while I see his face shift to a serious expression.

Harrison nods and pats his shoulder amicably. I involuntarily narrow my eyes at the gesture. I focus on that hand as they walk over to a wealthy-looking woman. I have no idea who she is but there’s no way she could ever hide her wealth—not that she seems to be trying to anyway.

She has a big-ass diamond on her left ring finger and two more dangling from her ears. She stands on tall as hell heels like she was born wearing them—and like the grass under her is magically denser just for her. Her posture screamsclass.

Harrison says something to both her and CJ, then leaves to go back to Tristan’s side.

My focus goes right back to the little rich boy, and it stays there until Hawk comes over and drags me to his friends.

Yay, I get a pity hang out.

“Hey, why did the little rich boy get an invite?” I ask Adam quietly after greeting everyone else.

“Fuck off,” he tells me, way less friendly than he’s ever been to anyone else as far as I know. “I’m not telling you shit.”

I wish I could be annoyed at the golden boy of football, but I actually respect that level of loyalty.

Maybe Adam is as loyal to CJ as I am to Hawk.

They have known each other for a very long time, but I do wonder what CJ has done to earn that loyalty.

I turn again to see CJ smiling at the rich lady, then she tells him something that makes him smile even wider and she walks away. CJ stares at her back for a long beat, and then he shakes his head and heads back over here.

I make myself look away—no reason to inflate the little rich boy’s ego.

TWO

CJ

“CJ,this is Shirley Wall. Shirley, this is CJ Sounders.” Harrison introduces me to the queen of finance of... the world, basically.

“Nice to meet you,” I say quietly as I shake her hand.

She nods regally at me, then we both turn to look at Harrison. He seems to get the message and nods as elegantly at us. “I’ll leave you to your chat,” he says with a knowing glint in his eyes. I hate the fact that he knows—like the whole fucking world knows.

Speaking of which, I see the same glint in Shirley’s eyes when I turn back to look at her. “You know, don’t you?”

“Anyone who cares about the stock market knows, Mr. Sounders.”

“Please, call me CJ,” I practically beg her.

She nods. “Twenty-eight years ago we all found out your grandfather was changing the trust so it would all go to your mother instead of your uncle, so yeah, everybody knows you’re inheriting billions in less than a week, and you better believe anyone whowrites articles about the financial world is tracking your movements.”

“You know what they’re doing?” I ask through clenched teeth. I don’t have to specify whotheyare.

“They’ve been in Dallas the past six months.” She nods and looks away, over at the party, then takes a sip of her champagne. “They’re trying to find loopholes, I’m guessing.”

“They won’t find any,” I say with certainty. I know the terms of the trust like the back of my hand. A waste of memory space at this point, but I’ve been working toward this since I was sixteen. I’ve made damn sure that my life—on paper at least—looks exactly like what my grandfather envisioned his heir would be. The most vital clause to the trust is that I have to be married and expecting a child to gain control of the trustunlessI became a doctor or a lawyer or was owner of a business that’s valued at more than ten million.

I didn’t choose to become a doctor because of the trust... not really. I had the idea because of it, initially, but the more I thought about it, the more I wanted it. Adam’s mother, the amazing Diana Darnell is a neurosurgeon, and it’s thanks to her that I discovered my love for biology and science and healing in general. I want her to be proud of me more than I want almost anything in this world since she and Adam’s father, Peter, were more like parents to me than my best friend’s family.

“No. Your grandfather was a lot of things but stupid wasn’t one. He never wanted your mother to have power of the Clemson trust forever, he wanted it all to go to a man. It’s harder for her to get it than for you to lose it. I’m not sure she’d want her brother getting everything instead of you. So in the end you’ll get what your grandfather wanted to give you.”

“Only on his terms,” I mutter and look away. I’ve sacrificedmyself in order to get everything my parents covet and the only thing my grandfather—a.k.a. Evil Incarnate—cared about.

Money.

A lot of fucking money.

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