Page 69 of Burning Daylight
Sorrow passes through my father’s gaze. “I’m sick.”
His words hit me like a sledgehammer, but I mask the look on my face. “You look fine to me.”
He grimaces. “Prostate cancer, unfortunately. Stage four. It’s in my bones. My liver. My brain.”
I sit with the words for a few moments, but I’m not sure what to say. What to do. I hadn’t expected this. Should I feel sorrow? Grief?Will I miss him?I don’t think so. How do you miss a person you’ve never really known?
I’ve mourned the loss of my father for years. This is nothing new.
My father leans forward, and I take in how pallid his skin is. How his frame is lean and frail beneath his outfit. How there are bags under his eyes that make him look like he’s been running from something for years and is tired of the fight.
“I want togiveyou my legacy.”
My back hits the chair, and I exhale heavily, running a hand through my hair. “This is…this is a lot. How long do you have?”
He lifts a shoulder and shares a heavy look with Frederick. “We’re not sure. Months, maybe?”
“Do people know?”
Another look with Frederick. “No.”
I think about my mom, and I wonder if this will be the thing that sends her over the edge. I’ve seen her at what I thought was rock bottom, but there’s a new fear brewing. If the man she’s been obsessively in love with for my entire life is dead…there might be farther to fall.
“I want Brooke’s trust to go to her immediately. None of this ‘once she’s twenty-five’ bullshit. You give her the funds. You get her health insurance. You auto pay it every year. That’s the deal, or I’ll leave and never look back.”
It’s a risk to make demands from my situation, but if they want me here as badly as they say, then I have some bartering power.
“Done,” my father agrees.
Frederick places a large hand on my shoulder and squeezes. “This is a good thing, I think.”
Blowing out a breath, I resign myself to my fate, my eyes skimming over the trusts that will be put in place for both me and my little sister.
As long as I stay, that’s the deal.
I sign the papers. And just like that, my fate is sealed.
SPOTTED: A Midnight Mystery at Montgomery Manor
Is Marcus Montgomery making a comeback, or just cleaning house?
The former kingpin of Rosebrook Falls, silent and reclusive for the past few years, just opened his gates for a mystery man dressed in black.
Even juicier? He was personally escorted by Benjamin Voltaire, Marcus’s very polished nephew.
So who’s the guy bold enough to stroll into Montgomery Manor under the cover of night?
We’re not sure. We didn’t get the pictures.
But one thing’s for sure: the house that built an empire doesn’t open its doors for just anyone.
#MontgomeryWatch #WhoIsHe #BenjaminVoltaire #RosebrookRag #MontgomeryMoves
17
JULIETTE
The sheets in my bed are so soft they feel like cashmere. I stretch slowly, muscles tensing and releasing as I luxuriate in the feel and listen to the birds chirp in the early morning air outside. It’s dark in my room, but that’s thanks to the blackout curtains that cover the private balcony.
