Page 10 of Vengeful Seduction
I would split the money with David Black.
It felt strange, in a way, to even consider such a thing. I still wasn’t sure how I felt about David, other than deeply conflicted.
Still, something had come between Theodore and David, something they hadn’t managed to fix before Theodore’s death. Maybe I could help bring them together again. It was too late for Theodore, but maybe not for David.
It was worth a shot.
Then I would take my half of the money, and I would divide it in half again. That would give me a quarter of the original 100 billion to see me through the rest of my life and the same amount to give to charity.
The decision felt good and I smiled as I finally let myself drift off to sleep. I was halfway there when something else hit me.
I had absolutely no idea how to reach David Black.
There was social media, of course, but it wasn’t like David Black was the most uncommon name in the world. I could try, and I would, but I might need something else to reach him too.
Then it hit me. I was being an idiot and making this all much harder than it had to be.
John Dixon.
The lawyer obviously knew how to reach David, since he had done so to get him to that terrible meeting in the first place. I could reach out to him, ask him to get into contact with David, and tell him what I wanted to do with the money.
It would be better if Mr. Dixon did it anyway. For whatever reason, I found it greatly unsettling to be around David. He didn’t seem to be all that fond of me, either, and I suspected that, even if I did find him, he would never accept my call. If by some minor miracle he did, he would likely just hang up the second he realized it was me.
This would work, though. Or it could. The whole thing could probably be handled without me even needing to see David again, so I could do the right thing and not have to worry about any sort of awkward fallout from it.
Though maybe David would be nicer if he knew he was getting some money after all. It seemed to me he was more likely to be upset that he hadn’t gotten it all, and probably he’d even call me hurtful names again.
Contacting John Dixon would work though. I was sure of it. And with all of that decided, I was able to finally close my eyes and actually drift into a deep, restful sleep, something I hadn’t experienced since the night before Theodore Black passed away.
For some reason, though, my sleep was far from dreamless. It was filled with thoughts of David—his smile, as rarely as I’d seen it, the sparkle in his dark eyes, and the humor and warmth I could almost swear was there.
In real life, the man unsettled me deeply and made me feel strange in my own skin. But in my dream, he was both incredibly exciting and strangely soothing to me in a way that I wasn’t used to.
I slept through the whole night and into the next morning, and by the time I woke up, I could almost swear I smelled the man. It was almost infuriating how he could get to me so easily.
During the day, I could keep my guard up and sternly refuse to let any pleasant thoughts of him into my head at all. Night time, though, had been proven to be a different matter entirely.
In the night, something was different. Something approaching sensuality took over my body, my mind, and maybe even my heart. I had always been too cautious to let anything like this happen before. I’d guarded my heart well, but here I was, obsessed with a man who had seemed indifferent toward me at best and outright hostile at worst.
I had never been such an idiot before and in the cold, bright light of day, I was surer than ever that any interaction I had with David should take place with a lawyer present.
The ideal situation would be for me to never see the obnoxious man ever again, and that was exactly what I intended to make happen. I was still going to do what my conscience told me was right, but I was going to do it while protecting myself too.
Something told me seeing David Black again would be pretty much the worst thing I could do.
But I had to see him in order to do what I thought was right. Giving him the money would be the right thing to do. That was that.
I’d talk to the lawyer ASAP.
David
I knew I needed to get my revenge—I had never wavered on that. Not even for a second. What I hadn’t figured out, though, was exactly how I was going to make that happen. I didn’t know just what I could do to get what I wanted.
Of course, I knew I could contest the will. I could take it to court. I didn’t know what the chances of me winning were, though, and a court verdict was pretty damn final. If I pursued that option then I’d be stuck with the choice I made.
Something told me there was a better option. If I played my cards right, I could get everything I wanted. So I waited, and I didn’t so much as consult a lawyer.
To the world, it would look like I had totally accepted what my loving grandfather had done to me. Inside, though, I was brooding, just biding my time. Soon, enough, the idea would come, and I would be ready for it when it happened.
