Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 89331 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 447(@200wpm)___ 357(@250wpm)___ 298(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 89331 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 447(@200wpm)___ 357(@250wpm)___ 298(@300wpm)
The lawyer hands me a few forms to sign, and I do. Then I tell the maid who opened the door for me the first time, a Mrs. Medea, I will be going to my penthouse to collect a few things and to please prepare my mother’s room for me.
“Please don’t clean out her things. I want to do that myself. But if you could dust, vacuum, and put fresh linen on the bed.”
“Of course, Ms. Godwin.”
“Athena, please,” I correct. I don’t mind being addressed as Ms. Godwin in business, but I don’t like it in my home. And since this gothic, vampire den is going to be my new home, I had better set the standard now.
I take all of two hours to make it back to the mansion with a single suitcase packed. I just need enough for right now. I’ll hire movers as I figure everything else out. I also asked for the PI to do some digging on these psychopaths my mother somehow trusted. They seem to know all about me, and I know nothing about them. Not that I care to know every detail, but at least the basics. It’s likely I’ll be having to live with the enemy. I should at least know what that means.
Being in my mother’s room brings out a torrent of emotions I’m not sure how to handle. So I don’t. I force them down. Right now, I have things that need my immediate attention. The parties will be easy enough. The mansion is huge; it needs some work, but it’s suitable as a venue for any kind of society party. Or it will be as soon as I hire gardeners and maintenance workers. As for the parties themselves, Seattle is full of event planners who will jump at the chance for steady work and fat commission checks.
Withdrawing from Medusa is going to send my father through the fucking roof. But I am owed some vacation time, and it will give him a chance to see that no, Apollo and Phoenix would not be better suited as men to run the company. Six months should be just enough time for him to figure out my absence is not worth pissing me off. I type out a quick email telling him of my intentions to step down for now, and how Apollo should know my job well enough to handle it. I laugh as I turn off my phone, not wanting to deal with the backlash.
One overgrown man child down, one to go.
I’m also not ready to have the conversation with Phoenix and Apollo that our dead mother was actually alive. But dead now. And oh hey, guess what? She left you guys out of the will but gave money to some adopted son and her lost boys. That conversation is sure to go over really well.
It takes far longer than I like for me to find Perseus. When I do, he is swimming laps in a heated pool under the house. There is a full gym down here. Good to know.
I take a seat and wait for him to finish his laps. I have a plan, a logical plan where we can both get what we want with minimal interruptions to our lives. Any reasonable person would see the value of what I have to propose.
“What the fuck do you want now? Come to steal the clothes off my back?” he says, climbing out of the pool in nothing but tiny swim shorts. I try and fail to not rake my eyes down his body.
Fuck, this man is gorgeous, too bad he is a raging asshole.
“As tempting as it would be to see you without those shorts to see if your dick is as big of a dick as you are, no. I’m here with a truce.” I hand him a towel, which he takes and then throws on the seat next to him before crossing his arms in front of his chest, and I’m pretty sure he is flexing.
“So, are you are going to leave? Give up your claim to my home and my money? That works for me.”
“Not quite.” I resist the urge to roll my eyes, barely. “And it isn’t your money. It was my mother’s.”
He huffs. “Funny this is coming from spoiled rich girl. Little Miss Godwin princess.”
“I’m not leaving so—”
“Then we have nothing further to discuss.” He stands there staring at me, still dripping. It’s a struggle to keep my eyes on his and not following the trail that drops of water make down his tight, toned abs.
“Look, it’s a big place. I’m sure we can co-exist peacefully,” I try. “I’ll stay out of your way. You stay out of mine. Really, we can be roommates with the added benefit of this place being so large. The only space we actually have to share is the kitchen.”