Chapter 1

 

 

"I'm so sorry Angelica; my hands are tied on this."

Angelica Lawson sighed as she looked across the desk at her Uncle Clayton, her grief stricken blue eyes meeting his sympathetic brown ones. Uncle Clayton was the brother of her recently deceased father, Richard Lawson. He was now the executer of her late father's estate, which equalled a hefty sum of 2.3 billion dollars. Her mother had died after a year long battle with cancer two years ago and now she'd just lost her father in a fatal car crash. With both her parents dead, twenty-two year old Angelica was left alone with her Uncle Clayton being her only known living relative.

"But who is this... this... Logan Sinclair? And why in the name of God would he want me to get to know the man, much less live with him for a month!" It simply made no sense to her. No sense at all. And by the look on her uncle's face she doubted she was going to like the reasoning behind it.

Clayton steeped his fingers under her chin and shook his head slowly. "I told Richard to tell you about Logan years ago. Begged him even. But for whatever reason he wanted to keep this a secret. Logan is, in a way, your brother... Well, of sorts. But not really..." Clayton sighed. Opening the top drawer of his desk he pulled out a bottle of aspirin, opened it up, shook a couple into his hand and tossed them into his mouth chasing them down with some water.

"What!" She shook her head, her shoulder length blonde hair fanning out around her. "No, dad wouldn't have kept that from me and mom."

"Your mother knew, Angel." Clayton reached across the large oak desk and covered her hand with his, giving it a reassuring squeeze. "Richard was briefly married before he met and married your mother. He left his first wife for your mother actually."

"But, I-" Her head was spinning. How could they have kept something this big from her? She had always thought their little family was close. She thought her parents respected and cared for her enough to tell her everything. It just made no sense. "So Logan is his son?"

Clayton shrugged. "Yes and no. Richard's first wife couldn't conceive a child so they adopted Logan when he was five - which makes him twenty-eight now. But, Richard wanted a biological child; he kept saying he couldn't establish a bond with Logan. Not the kind of father- son bond he'd been wanting. So he met your mother, got a quick divorce and went on with his life."

"I just can't..." Her father had always been such a great man, it seemed so unlike him. How could he have abandoned them like that? It seemed so cold. Completely unlike the Richard Lawson she called her father.

"I'm sorry Angelica, but it's true. I think this is his way of trying to make up for what he felt was a selfish act. He didn't want you to be without a family, aside from me, and I think he wanted to make it up to Logan, in his own way."

"Okay, so I am entitled to nothing until I can convince Logan to leave his home, and live in the manor with me for a month?"

"I'm sorry sweetheart, but you can't even move back into the manor until he's agreed to move with you and all you have to live off of is the money in your bank account."

Terror rushed through her. Her bank account was seriously depleted. She had enough money to pay for her penthouse for exactly one month. She usually just used credit cards, but being that they were all under her fathers name, they were also now off limits. It seemed bizarre, but then again, in the will - Logan was entitled to half of the inheritance, so what person in their right mind would turn down over a billion dollars when all they needed to do was move into a multi-million dollar mansion for a month. Shit, she imagined he'd be falling over himself to get moved in.

Angelica sighed loudly and shrugged. "Alright Uncle Clayton. Tell me where to find him and I'll convince him to move into the manor."

The sympathetic smile returned as Clayton straightened in his chair and jotted down the address to her sort-of brother on a slip of letterhead and then passed it to her. "Good luck Angel."

Good luck? What a strange choice of words. She shook the thoughts of fear from her mind. Considering the emotional trauma she'd been through recently she was sure she was just imagining his apprehension.