Page 126 of Destiny

Already I know what it’s going to be before I draw it.

And there it is.

Death.

A skeleton riding a horse and wielding a sickle.

Dying people—from the highest elite to the lowest peasant—surround death.

I drew the card upright.

And already I know what it means.

It doesn’t signify Wendy’s death or my own. Or anyone’s, for that matter.

It simply means…the end.

The end of the mystery. The end of the story. No, I didn’t get all the answers I sought, but I got a lot of them, and I understand myself better.

My grandmother is gone, and that’s the best thing for my family. Especially for my father.

It’s time to move on.

If Lauren turns out to be his full-blooded sister, we’ll deal with that then.

And the Steel Trust.

I have my own ideas about how to deal with that fallout.

I’ll be talking to the attorney Wolfram soon.

My phone rings.

A Denver area code, and not a number that I recognize.

“Hello?” I say.

“Hello, Ms. Steel. This is Duke Wolfram from Wolfram and Burke in Denver.”

“Funny, I was just thinking about you guys. What can I do for you?”

“I think maybe it’s whatIcan do foryou, Ms. Steel. An envelope came to our office this morning. It was hand-delivered, but no one saw who dropped it off. Inside is the last will and testament of Wendy Madigan. And you are her sole beneficiary.”

“What?”

“Yes. It appears to be legal. The will was signed about a year ago.”

“Before she went into a coma.”

A pause. “When was Wendy Madigan in a coma?”

“It was self-induced. Or something. None of us got any concrete answers.”

“Apparently, Wendy Madigan was the sole principal of the Fleming Corporation, which is the trustor for the Steel Trust.”

“So this all means…”

“What this means, Ms. Steel, is that you’re a very rich woman. As the beneficiary of the trust, and as the beneficiary to Ms. Madigan’s sizable estate, you’re now worth about thirty-five million dollars.”

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