The Final Gambit (The Inheritance Games #3)(85)

I threw Tobias Hawthorne under the bus. Thoroughly and without mercy.

Dead men didn’t get to be picky about their reputations, and that went double for dead men who’d used me the way he had.

Tobias Hawthorne had killed a man forty years ago—and covered it up.

That was the story I was telling, and it was one hell of a story.

“Where are you going?” Jameson called after me once I’d hung up with Landon.

“The vault,” I replied. “There’s something I need before I go to confront Vincent Blake.”

Jameson ran to catch up with me. He made it past me, then turned back just as I took a step that put his body far too close to mine.

“And what do you need out of the vault?” Jameson asked.

“If I tell you,” I said, “are you going to try to lock me up again?”

Jameson lifted a hand to the side of my neck. “Is it risky?”

I didn’t look away. “Extremely.”

“Good.” His green eyes intense, he let his thumb trace the edge of my jaw. “To best Blake, it will have to be.”

Some words were just words, and others were like fire. I felt it catching inside of me, spreading, as searing as any kiss. We’re back.

“And once you’ve bested him,” Jameson continued, “because you will…” There was no feeling in the world like being seen by Jameson Hawthorne. “I’m going to need an anagram for the word everything.”





CHAPTER 76

After the vault, I made it as far as the foyer before chaos descended on me in the form of one very pissed-off Alisa Ortega. “What have you done?”

“Welcome back,” Oren told her dryly.

“What I had to do,” I answered.

Alisa took what was probably supposed to be a calming breath. “You didn’t wait for me to get here because you knew I’d tell you that calling the police was a bad idea.”

“You would have told me that calling the police on Blake was a bad idea,” I countered. “So I didn’t call them on Blake.”

“We have local PD at the gate,” Oren informed me. “Given the circumstances, my men can’t refuse them entrance. I suspect the DPS

Special Agents aren’t long behind.”

Alisa kneaded her temples. “I can fix this.”

“It’s not yours to fix,” I told her.

“You have no idea what you’re doing.”

“No,” I replied, staring her down. “You have no idea what I’m doing.

There’s a difference.” I didn’t have the time or inclination to explain everything to her. Landon had promised me a two-hour head start, but that was it. Any delay past that and we might lose our opportunity to control the narrative.

If I waited too long, Vincent Blake would have too much time to regroup.

“I’m glad you’re okay,” I told Alisa. “You’ve done a lot for me since the will was read. I know that. But the truth is that Tobias Hawthorne’s fortune will be in my hands very soon.” I didn’t like playing it this way, but I didn’t have a choice. “The only question you have to ask yourself is whether you still want to have a job when that happens.”

Even I wasn’t sure if I was bluffing. There was no way I could do this on my own, and even though I’d doubted her, I trusted Alisa more than I would trust anyone else I could hire next. On the other hand, she was in the habit of treating me like a kid—the same wide-eyed, overwhelmed, never-had-two-nickels-to-rub-together kid I’d been when I’d gotten here.

To take on Vincent Blake, I had to grow up.

“You’d drown without me,” Alisa told me. “And take an empire down with you.”

“So don’t make me do this without you,” I responded.

Fixing her gaze on me with almost frightening precision, Alisa gave a slight nod of her head. Oren cleared his throat.

I turned to face him. “Is this the part where you start talking about duct tape?”

He cocked an eyebrow at me. “Is this the part where you threaten my job?”

On the day that Tobias Hawthorne’s will had been read, I’d tried to tell Oren I didn’t need security. He’d calmly replied that I would need security for the rest of my life. It had never been a question of whether he would protect me.

“This isn’t just a job to you,” I told Oren, because I felt like I owed him that much. “It never has been.”

He’d told me months ago that he owed Tobias Hawthorne his life. The old man had given Oren a purpose, dragged him out of a very dark place.

His last request to my head of security had been that Oren protect me.

“I thought he’d done something noble,” Oren said quietly, “asking me to take care of you.”

Oren was my constant shadow. He’d heard Tobias Hawthorne’s message. He knew what my purpose was—and that had to have shed new light on his.

“Your boss asked you to run my security. Taking care of me…” My voice hitched. “That was all you.”

Oren gave me the briefest of smiles, then he allowed himself to fall back into bodyguard mode. “What’s the plan, boss?”

I retrieved the Blake family seal from my pocket. “This.” I let it fall into my palm and closed my fingers around it. “We’re going to Blake’s ranch.