My Fake Sister Cried on Cue, So I Billed Her for the Tissues novel · Chapter 23 of 24

Chapter 23: The Only Gift

Mason's POV

Godfrey Prescott had written out his reckoning on three sheets of yellow legal paper.

He read it standing, with the sheets shaking.

I stood at the study window with my hands behind me.

He had asked me to be present and had not said as what.

Emme sat in the leather chair with the green bag on her knees.

Frank sat beside her, on the edge of the sofa, holding his cap.

It was Tuesday morning, and the gala flowers were still dying on the hall table.

"First," Godfrey said, and cleared his throat. "The mill. I'd like to transfer ten percent of Prescott Millwork to Emme. It's worth, by my accountant's count, about nine hundred thousand dollars."

Emme did not move.

"Second. A trust, for her, in her own name. Two million dollars, with no conditions."

"Godfrey," Frank said, very low.

"Third. The room at the top of the stairs, for as long as she lives. It's hers outright. Nobody will ever take it back."

He lowered the paper.

It was the longest speech I had heard him give.

It was also the first time I had seen him look straight at anyone while he made it.

Emme sat quite still.

Then she turned her head and looked at me.

"Mason," she said. "I need a quorum."

I nearly said something stupid. I came across the room.

She bent toward me, and I bent toward her.

We conferred in whispers, in front of the father who had just offered her nine hundred thousand dollars.

"What's the monthly cost to him?" she said, into my ear.

"Nothing he'll feel," I said. "The mill stays solvent."

"Then who gets to be upset if I spend it wrong?"

"Everyone. For as long as he lives."

"That's what I thought."

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