Page 77 of The Broken Note

“A kid?” Zane’s eyebrows arch. “Like a human child?”

Finn looks disturbed. “A year?”

“There’s more.”

Both of them look like they’re bracing themselves.

“If one of us can’t fulfil the requirement… dad gets everything.”

“Abso-freaking-lutelynot.” Zane explodes from his seat.

Finn stares into the distance, running my words over in his brilliant mind. Finally, he glances up at me. “The marriage to Miss Jamieson’s mom. Dad chose her for a reason, didn’t he?”

“To fulfil the will’s requirement and to keep Zane away from…recreatingwith her daughter.”

Zane stops cold.

I give him a sympathetic look. “Two birds. One stone.”

“Miss Jamieson wouldn’t have married me even if I paid her.”

“Would you havewantedto marry her though?”

He stares at the ground, saying nothing.

“That’s why dad’s at Redwood. He’s keeping an eye on us so we don’t even dream of touching the inheritance.”

There’s a moment of silence as my brothers absorb what that means.

Our father is a damn psychopath.

Finn’s dark gaze meets mine. “Tell me there’s not more.”

“That’s it.” I raise both hands to show that I’m empty.

“What about you two?” Zane points a trembling finger. “Why go after me?”

“What do you mean?”

“You both have the tools to make a baby in a year. You could make freakingthreejust to be safe.”

“That’s because…”

“Dad thinks I don’t qualify as a son.” Finn’s words are subdued. He looks like he just got run over by a truck.

“We don’t know that,” I mutter.

Finn shakes his head, clearly unwilling to talk about it. “What about Cadence? Pictures of you and her are all over Jinx’s app. Even if dad’s not subscribed, just talking to a couple people will have them pointing to you two as a couple.”

I stiffen, already suspicious of Cadence being on dad’s radar. The fact that Finn thinks the same way is confirmation.

My brother studies me. “Jinx mentioned that Cadence and dad are having secret talks after class. You think it was about this?”

“How the hell is dad going to bring this up?” Zane mutters. “‘Hi, seventeen-year-old student. I’ll pay you a million dollars if youdon’tmarry my son?’”

“It’s not below him,” Finn says.

“Nothing’s below him because he’s lower than dirt. But dad is smart. He wouldn’t out himself like that.” Zane presses his lips together. “Besides, dad wouldn’t need to pay a dime. She’dnotmarry you for free.”