Page 24 of Overnight Inheritance

“From a pool of one,” he pointed out. “Though, to be fair, that’s the reason you’re my favorite sister.”

She grinned and headed for the kitchen, where she found Sarah making coffee and chatting to Lauren.

“Morning,” her aunt said.

Mae handed her the bag. “Heath brought bagels.”

“Andthat’swhy he’s my favorite nephew.” Sarah took the bag from Mae and kissed Heath’s cheek.

Heath pumped a fist. “Man, I’m really creaming the competition in the categories where I’m the only candidate.”

Lauren chuckled as she took a mug of coffee Sarah handed her. “Morning, Heath. Morning, Mae.”

Heath pointed at Lauren. “I wasn’t sure if you’d be here for breakfast or not, so I got enough bagels just in case. I guess that makes me—” he raised his eyebrows hopefully “—your favorite future son-in-law?”

“Maybe,” Lauren deadpanned. “So far, you’re ahead of both of Freya’s ex-husbands, but let’s see how it goes, hey?”

Heath clutched his chest. “I’m wounded.”

Mae grinned and began pulling bagel toppings from the fridge. Over the years, people had sometimes commented on how she’d missed out on having an extended family, growing up with just a mother and a brother, but the three of them had always been close. Now that she had Sarah, as well as all the O’Donohues from her mother’s side, and even Lauren living downstairs—all of a sudden she had a bounty of riches in terms of family. Her heart was full from having them all in her life, and she just wished her mother was here to see it, to be part of it.

Her thoughts drifted to Sebastian, alone in his apartment. He’d been abandoned by his mother, his wife had died, and his father was horrible. Now, with his son gone for a few days, he had no family at all. It made no sense how much luck and arbitrary circumstances affected whether a person had family around them or not.

I’m not welcome in the enemy camp.

They walked through the kitchen to the dining table, carrying food, coffee mugs, and plates.

As she took her seat, Mae looked at the other three. “Can I bring a plus one to the dinner on Friday?”

Sarah’s eyes lit up. “Of course you can.”

Her brother frowned, and she could see his wheels turning. “Who?”

She grabbed a bagel and put it on her plate, attempting to look casual. “Sebastian.”

Sarah’s butter knife clattered onto her plate. “SebastianNewport?”

Lauren’s concerned gaze cut to Sarah then back to Mae, but she remained silent.

“Yes,” she said simply and cut her bagel.

Sarah and Heath exchanged a glance, before Sarah said, “You said you were there to investigate, not...make friends.”

Her brother was very still. “I don’t trust him.”

That didn’t surprise her. Their entire childhood had revolved around them hiding from their father and being suspicious about new people in case they were private investigators. They’d changed identities more than once and moved around a lot. If Heathhadn’tbeen suspicious it would have been weird.

“I’m not sure I trust him either, but I do know that there’s a lot of bad blood between the families, and the cause was our father and his. Not him, and not us. If we’re going to find a way forward, we at least need to find a way to talk to each other that’s not combative.”

Heath regarded her in silence for a long moment. “You know what you’re doing?”

Honestly, she had no idea what she was doing, or what she was feeling, but she said, “Absolutely.”

He nodded and went back to his breakfast.

Lauren cut into a banana and arranged the slices on her bagel. “It doesn’t have much to do with me, but in case anyone’s interested, I won’t mind if there’s an extra person at my daughter’s engagement dinner.”

Mae threw her a grateful smile, and Lauren gave a small nod before biting into her breakfast.

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