Total pages in book: 75
Estimated words: 77857 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 389(@200wpm)___ 311(@250wpm)___ 260(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77857 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 389(@200wpm)___ 311(@250wpm)___ 260(@300wpm)
“Come on, Don,” Dale says. “You didn’t actually think it was a phoenix feather.”
“Of course not. But guys, all this shit that’s coming down? Our dad was shot, for God’s sake.”
“Not by a phoenix,” Dale says dryly.
I stifle a chuckle.
“Of course not,” Donny says. “But the ring was gone, and a feather was there. My mind went places. I figured whoever stole it was trying to tell us something.”
“About a phoenix?” I ask.
Donny rolls his eyes at me. “Fuck off.” Then, to Dale, “And you fuck off too.”
“We’re just giving you shit, cuz.”
“Unfortunately,” Uncle Talon says, defusing the situation, “I wasn’t able to uncover anything more about the ring. If the ring did belong to my mother, I think we need to assume that she got it from her mother, Lucy Wade, whose initials were LW.”
“But you said—” Dale begins.
“Yes, she didn’t come from money. But maybe it was an heirloom? I don’t know that there’s any way to find out.”
“There has to be a way,” Donny says.
“Maybe. I don’t know. But I’ve talked to the rest of the family, Don, and we want you to have the ring. We want you to give it to Callie.”
“I agree,” Dale says.
“So do I,” I offer.
Donny shakes his head, though. “I would like Callie to have it one day. I mean, the ring was made for her, and it was left for me in a safe-deposit box in my name. Someone wanted me to have it. But until we know who left it, until we know what all of this means, I want the ring kept here in a safe place.”
“All right. We’ll keep it here in the safe,” Uncle Talon says, “but I’m changing the combination.”
Dale and Donny both widen their eyes.
“You haven’t changed that combination in”—Dale pauses—“at least since I turned eighteen and you gave it to me.”
“I haven’t,” Uncle Talon says, “and that was negligence on my part. From now on, I will be changing the combination every month. I’ll leave it in a safe place. Only your mother will know where it is.”
“Dad,” Dale says, “that’s not enough.”
“I agree, so you, as my firstborn, will also know. And only the two of you”—he nods to Donny and me—“will know who has it. That’s it.”
I clear my throat. “You don’t want to tell my dad?”
“If your dad needs it, he’ll know where to find it.”
“He will?” I ask.
“He will come to me.”
“I think what he means is… What if something happens to you, Dad?” Dale says.
“First of all, nothing is going to happen to me, but if it does, anyone who needs the combination will go to your mother. Or to you, Dale, as my firstborn. And if they don’t think to do that, if they go to Donny instead, or to you, Brock, you will know where to direct them.”
“And no one else is going to know?” Donny says. “Not Diana or Brianna?”
“This is my decision for now. I may change my mind, but for now, only you and your mother will know where to find the combination, and only Donny and Brock will know who else has it.”
Uncle Talon is being overly cautious, but I can’t say that I blame him. No one broke into the safe and left a feather, thank God, but someone did get into the house and leave that safe-deposit key for Donny, not to mention Uncle Talon’s shooting.
Uncle Talon rises and removes the painting of the horse named Phoenix to reveal his safe. He opens the safe, places the ring inside, and then closes it.
“Now”—Uncle Talon takes his seat behind his desk once again—“it’s time for the three of you to level with me. What hasn’t your father”—he nods to me—“told me?”
I gulp.
What am I allowed to say?
Can I tell Uncle Talon that my father and Uncle Bryce have deliberately kept things from him and the rest of the family over the years?
Does he even know about Pat Lamone and his alleged claim to the Steel fortune?
Surely my father told him that much.
But I have no idea. I don’t feel like I know my father at all.
And I’m not sure I know my uncle either.
But these two blond men, my cousins, I know them.
And together we’ll figure this out.
“Uncle Talon?”
“Yes, Brock?”
“Have Dale and Donny told you about the nurse who poisoned you?”
Uncle Talon draws in a deep breath. “They have.”
“So what do you think? Who could be behind all of this?”
“The only people who I know for sure could be behind this are dead,” Uncle Talon says.
“My father says the same thing, but what if they’re not?”
“They are.”
“But are they, though? My father also told me that his father—your father—faked his own death twice.”
“Yes, he did.”
“And the other guys—the ones who…”
“It’s okay, Brock. You can say it.”
Except I can’t. I can’t say those dreadful words. Something in my throat keeps them lodged. So I continue as if I said them. “Are you sure they’re all dead?”