Page 72 of Jace

But she was enough herself again to miss Zeke so much it felt like someone had carved her heart from her chest.

As quickly as she could, she showered and dressed, replacing the heart necklace carefully around her neck. Then she hurried outside to hang a red dress from the porch rafters.

Zara had promised to come by the house several times each day and return the baby when there was something red outside to indicate the frenzy was over.

But of course, she had done more than that.

The few breaks Jace and Susannah had taken for food were much improved by the wonderful meals left on the porch for them by the community.

She chose not to wonder what the people dropping off the food might have made of the feral noises coming from inside the house.

As she stood on the porch, studying the horizon for a flash of red hair in the trees, her bracelet made a sound she hadn’t heard in days.

“Sweet stars,” she murmured, unable to believe she had comms all the way out here.

The message indicated that the sender had used a priority strength signal to reach her.

With her heart in her mouth, she swiped. Priority signals weren’t cheap. This could only mean something terrible had happened.

But the subject line of the message that popped up in hologram was from her parents:

Regarding your brother

That made sense. Her shoulders sagged slightly in relief. Obviously, they were going to tell her that her brother would get her share of the family trust because she had left the system.

It had never been her intention to take their dirty money. But for the first time, she felt a tiny twinge of regret.

With the family money, she could have saved the mountain from Bard, not just her portion but all of it, maybe. She could have hired a lawyer to go after him for what he had tried to do to sabotage her land, and she could have ensured he never did it again.

As things were, she wasn’t sure they had done anything but temporarily stop him.

Sighing, she looked back to the message.

Dear Susannah,

We know you’ve left the system, however, we are releasing access to your share of the family trust to you anyway, whether you proceeded with your plan to adopt a baby or not.

Your share now includes the portion that would have gone to your brother, had he ever had children.

She nearly gasped, but read on, certain she had misunderstood.

We know you took that hippie cult’s so-called curse to heart. And of course you would, with what happened to Nyk, and then to Fendrake.

It was only after the truth of your brother’s actions came to light that we fully understood.

This will hurt to hear, but your brother wanted to take your share of the credits. He orchestrated both “accidents” to make you think the curse was real. He wanted you to remain single, never to marry or have children, all so that he could have more.

This is not just his failure, but your father’s and mine as well, as his parents. We have been greedy, we have been selfish, and we have always sought more and more and more.

Your brother is facing the consequences for what he did, both legally and within the family.

Your father and I are discussing how we can model better behavior for the both of you, and any grandchildren we might one day have. We no longer want to use our money to pressure you to build a family. We don’t want to use it to do harm of any kind. We have a lot of work to do. On ourselves.

Though we wish ardently it had never happened, this lesson, and your pain, will not have been for nothing.

We hope you will accept the transfer of these funds as the gesture of good will that it is.

We hope you are happy. We hope you open your heart to love without reservation. We hope we will see you again, one day.

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