Trusting You (Second Chances #2)(51)
“Excuse me? What are you talking about?” she questioned. “Why wouldn’t I be speaking to him? He’s the one not speaking to me for some reason.” She finished pouring a glass of wine and slid it over to me. Confused, I took it and drank the fruity, sweet goodness in a matter of seconds. I was going to need more … lots more.
“He told me what was in your mother’s will,” I informed her.
She smiled and poured me another glass. “Yeah, I was wondering if I was going to have to call and tell you. I bet you’re excited, aren’t you?”
Taken aback, I looked back at the guys and shrugged my shoulders. “Umm … why would I be excited?” I asked, turning back to her and furrowing my brow.
She crossed her arms over her chest and gazed at me incredulously. “Did he not tell you about you being in the will also?”
Wide-eyed, I spewed out my wine and coughed. “I was in the will? No, he didn’t tell me that. What did your mother put in it?”
Claire lifted a finger for me to hold on. She walked out of the kitchen and disappeared down the hall. Immediately, I turned around to see Brett and Mason were just as confused as me. I was completely lost.
“I was in the will,” I whispered incredulously. “I had no clue.”
Brett shrugged and shook his head. “I don’t think she knows what Daniel’s doing. She seems clueless. He probably sent her off to London so he could get this all planned behind her back.”
“That would make sense,” Mason cut in. “Especially, if he’s ignoring her calls. I bet he doesn’t plan on answering them any time soon.”
At that moment, Claire came back with a folder clutched in her hands. She laid it gently on the kitchen table and motioned for me to sit down with her. Brett and Mason both hovered over our shoulders. She pulled out the thick cream colored paper and set it in front of me, excited.
“Read it,” she ordered with a grin on her face.
Narrowing my eyes, I carefully read over each line of the document. I reread it twice just to make sure I read it right. Nowhere in that version of the will did it say anything about Daniel inheriting any patch of earth from his family. He did, however, have a substantial amount of money in his name. But what really got me was when I saw my name, in black print with an inheritance right beside it. I gasped the first time I read it and even gasped again the second time.
“What is it?” Brett and Mason asked at the same time.
Tears welled in my eyes and I searched over Claire’s face for confirmation. She nodded and took hold of my hand before saying, “You read it right, Melissa. My mother left you our other estate out past the northern vineyards. If you remember correctly it’s about two miles north of here. It’s a little smaller than this place, but personally I think it’s the most beautiful.”
“No, I remember,” I muttered shakily.
Claire squeezed my hand and I looked up to see nothing but truth in her bright blue gaze when she explained, “Momma asked me if I minded if she gave it to you. She really liked you and admired the way you took to her teaching you about all the different aspects of running a vineyard. She had high hopes of us working together some day.”
“Really?” I shrieked. “I had no clue,” I admitted. But then my face fell and anger settled in my gut. Daniel deliberately kept that bit of information away from me. How could he want me back and keep this kind of information from me? It didn’t make any sense.
Claire looked hopeful when she asked, “Do you think you’ll ever move out here now and help me? I know it’s a long move, but I want you to know that it’ll be a wonderful experience. I can’t wait to get going with all of my ideas. I have a new wine I want to try.”
My cousin took a seat at the table and pierced me with his steely glare. He was angry and ready to get on with the action. “You need to tell her, now. She has no clue what’s going on. All I know is that I’m going to rip that f*cker a new * by the time I’m done with him.”
“Whoa,” Claire shrieked, sitting back in her chair, glaring at Mason. “Are you talking about Daniel? What did he do this time?”
Brett scoffed, “What hasn’t he done is the question.”
Claire looked confused and terrified, so I got up and grabbed the bottle of wine, filling up her glass. I filled mine up as well and sighed. “You might want to drink up, babe. You’re going to need it after everything I’m about to tell you.”
Her face fell and she groaned, placing her head in her hands. “Oh shit, this isn’t going to be good,” she muttered.
No, it’s not, I thought to myself.
Twenty-Eight
“I can’t believe he threatened you like that,” Claire sputtered angrily. She carefully placed her mother’s will back in its folder and tucked it away in her carry-on bag. “And what’s worse is that he thinks he can get away with fraud. He must be delusional.”
“Or desperate,” Mason interrupted from the seat behind us. After telling Claire everything about Daniel, she insisted on coming back with us to North Carolina. I sat beside her while Mason and Brett sat behind us on the airplane.
While Mason tried finding his buzzing phone, Brett poked his head around the side of my seat and glanced at Claire. “You know none of us have asked this yet, but please tell me you have more than one copy of that will you brought with you. If Daniel gets his hands on that then he could easily destroy it.”