The Inheritance Games (The Inheritance Games #1)(6)

“You’ll find out what’s in the will soon enough,” Alisa said, the words as crisp and neat as that dare-the-devil-to-ruin-it white suit. “We all will. The reading is scheduled for shortly after your arrival at Hawthorne House.”

Not the Hawthornes’ house. Just Hawthorne House, like it was some kind of English manor, complete with a name.

“Is that where we’ll be staying?” Libby asked. “Hawthorne House?”

Our return tickets had been booked for tomorrow. We’d packed for an overnight.

“You’ll have your pick of bedrooms,” Alisa assured us. “Mr. Hawthorne bought the land the House is built on more than fifty years ago and spent every one of those years adding onto the architectural marvel he built there. I’ve lost track of the total number of bedrooms, but it’s upward of thirty. Hawthorne House is… quite something.”

That was the most information we’d gotten out of her yet. I pressed my luck. “I’m guessing Mr. Hawthorne was quite something, too?”

“Good guess,” Alisa said. She glanced back at me. “Mr. Hawthorne was fond of good guessers.”

An eerie feeling washed over me then, almost like a premonition. Is that why he chose me?

“How well did you know him?” Libby asked beside me.

“My father has been Tobias Hawthorne’s attorney since before I was born.” Alisa Ortega wasn’t power-talking now. Her voice was soft. “I spent a lot of time at Hawthorne House growing up.”

He wasn’t just a client to her, I thought. “Do you have any idea why I’m here?” I asked. “Why he’d leave me anything at all?”

“Are you the world-saving type?” Alisa asked, like that was a perfectly ordinary question.

“No?” I guessed.

“Ever had your life ruined by someone with the last name Hawthorne?” Alisa continued.

I stared at her, then managed to answer more confidently this time. “No.”

Alisa smiled, but it didn’t quite reach her eyes. “Lucky you.”





CHAPTER 6


Hawthorne House sat on a hill. Massive. Sprawling. It looked like a castle—more suited to royalty than ranch country. There were a half dozen cars parked out front and one beat-up motorcycle that looked like it should be dismantled and sold for parts.

Alisa eyed the bike. “Looks like Nash made it home.”

“Nash?” Libby asked.

“The oldest Hawthorne grandson,” Alisa replied, tearing her gaze from the motorcycle and staring up at the castle. “There are four of them total.”

Four grandsons. I couldn’t keep my mind from going back to the one Hawthorne I’d already met. Grayson. The perfectly tailored suit. The silvery gray eyes. The arrogance in the way he’d told me to assume he knew everything.

Alisa gave me a knowing look. “Take it from someone who’s both been there and done that—never lose your heart to a Hawthorne.”

“Don’t worry,” I told her, as annoyed with her assumption as I was with the fact that she’d been able to see any trace of my thoughts on my face. “I keep mine under lock and key.”





The foyer was bigger than some houses—easily a thousand square feet, like the person who had built it was afraid that the entryway might have to double as a place to host balls. Stone archways lined the foyer on either side, and the room stretched up two stories to an ornate ceiling, elaborately carved from wood. Even just looking up took my breath away.

“You’ve arrived.” A familiar voice drew my attention back down to earth. “And right on time. I trust there were no problems with your flight?”

Grayson Hawthorne was wearing a different suit now. This one was black—and so were his shirt and his tie.

“You.” Alisa greeted him with a steely-eyed look.

“I take it I’m not forgiven for interfering?” Grayson asked.

“You’re nineteen,” Alisa retorted. “Would it kill you to act like it?”

“It might.” Grayson flashed his teeth in a smile. “And you’re welcome.” It took me a second to realize that by interfering, Grayson meant coming to fetch me. “Ladies,” he said, “may I take your coats?”

“I’ll keep mine,” I replied, feeling contrary—and like an extra layer between me and the rest of the world couldn’t hurt.

“And yours?” Grayson asked Libby smoothly.

Still agog at the foyer, Libby shed her coat and handed it to him. Grayson walked underneath one of the stone arches. On the other side, there was a corridor. Small square panels lined the wall. Grayson laid a hand on one panel and pushed. He turned his hand ninety degrees, pushed in the next panel, and then, in a motion too fast for me to decode, hit at least two others. I heard a pop, and a door appeared, separating itself from the rest of the wall as it swung open.

“What the…” I started to say.

Grayson reached in and pulled out a hanger. “Coat closet.” That wasn’t an explanation. It was a label, like this was any old coat closet in any old house.

Alisa took that as her cue to leave us in Grayson’s capable hands, and I tried to summon up a response that wasn’t just standing there with my mouth open like a fish. Grayson went to close the closet, but a sound from deep within stopped him.