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Hector put his beer down. “What did you do, Danni?”

Danni took a sip of her beer before answering. “I sold it.”

Silence. Heavy, stunned silence.

“You what?” Indi shrieked, startling the entire bar. “Are you out of your mind?”

“Possibly,” Danni said.

Tommy, looking like he’d just been slapped, shook his head. “You wouldn’t sell the farm to save yourself from going broke, but you’d sell it now? What the hell changed?”

“Let me guess,” Hector said. He had a large, comforting hand on Danni’s shoulder. “You made a deal.”

Danni nodded. “I sold the farm, meaning the developer had one large plot of land. But only on the condition that Eleanor’s estate was left out of things.”

Indi’s jaw dropped, Tommy looked genuinely dumbfounded, Hector just studied her with something like admiration.

“It wasn’t all me,” Danni said. “Elizabeth helped. She pointed out that the house couldn’t be touched because it’s protected, and half the woodland in the estate is protected too. There’d be so much red tape getting the estate developed that it could hardly be worth it. In the end, they backed down, said they didn’t need the rest of the land.”

“You save Eleanor’s house,” Indi said.

“Well damn, that’s kind of romantic,” said Tommy.

Indi shook her head in disbelief. “And now what? You’re just… what? Walking away?”

Danni hesitated. The truth was, she really hadn’t thought any further away than this. No further than giving Eleanor what she wanted, needed. “I don’t know,” she admitted, staring down into her beer. “I have absolutely no idea.”

Chapter Thirty-Three

Eleanor was not the sort of person that ignored telephone calls. In fact, she had always prided herself on being the kind of person who promptly returned all correspondence, who was always prepared, and always professional.

And yet, here she was, staring as her phone vibrated incessantly in her hand, displaying Elizabeth’s name again and again. She declined the call yet again with a swipe of her thumb.

The problem was that she knew why Elizabeth was calling.

And all of this was difficult enough without Elizabeth’s entreaties about… heritage or responsibilities, or sound financial decisions, or whatever else.

Not that she wasn’t going to follow her decision through. She most certainly was. Once decided, this seemed like the most sensible course of action. To cut herself free, to become who she wanted to be, to, perhaps, one day deserve the love of someone like Danni. And, in return, to be able to fully give herself to that person.

But Elizabeth, ever the pragmatist, was trying to talk her out of her impending meeting. Her mind was made up, though. Today she would stand in front of the trust and the bank and do what needed to be done.

Her phone rang again, she ignored the call again, and she straightened her blazer, striding into the conference room, head held high. She was ready.

ELEANOR STEPPED OUT of the meeting feeling as if she’d been hit by a runaway tractor. And she, of all people, should know what that felt like.

The world outside the quiet discretion of the bank seemed unnaturally bright, the sounds of cars too loud, the air too crisp. She reached for her phone with trembling fingers and, for the first time in an hour, attempted to return Elizabeth’s call.

A clipped, professional voice answered on the second ring. “Elizabeth Allen’s office.”

“I need to speak to her,” Eleanor said, her voice steadier than her legs as she leaned against the brick wall of the bank.

“I’m sorry, Ma’am, Ms. Allen is currently in court. Can I take a message?”

Eleanor clenched her jaw. Of course she was. Elizabeth had warned her that she had a hearing today, which could mean that she wouldn’t be reachable for hours yet. Eleanor stared blankly at the phone, then at the bustling street in front of her.

What the hell had just happened in that meeting?

ELEANOR PULLED THE car up in front of The Willows, not entirely sure how she’d gotten there. One moment, she’d been standing outside the bank, and the next she was pulling into the long drive. She left the car, marched into reception, and demanded to see her grandmother.