Page 78 of Exiled

“One more time, Mr. Bowen; what does this have to do withme?”

“The update made four months ago was to make you the sole inheritor to all of his assets upon his death.”

“What?”

“Once the tower, estate, and various businesses and enterprises were sold, the sum total to be distributed upon signature acknowledging receipt, is fourteen billion, eight hundred seventy-seven million, five hundred forty-three thousand, two hundred and thirty-one dollars and twenty-one cents.”

My brain is spinning. “And twenty-one cents?”

Bowen checks the number. “Yes, twenty-one cents.”

“You’re serious?”

“About the twenty-one cents?”

“No, Mr. Bowen, not about the twenty-one cents. About—what did you say? Fourteen billion and what?”

“Fourteen billion, eight hundred seventy-seven million.”

I am, yet again, having trouble breathing. “The fucking bastard left me fourteen billion dollars?”

“So it would appear, Miss de la Vega.” Bowen flips the page over, starts rattling off the procedure for accepting the money.

It’s more complicated than merely signing, apparently. I’m not listening.

I stand up, pace away from Bowen, the table, the will. Bowen keeps talking, and finally I pause, turn, hold up a hand. “Apologies, Mr. Bowen, but please... shut up for a moment.”

I find myself going upstairs, out onto the roof terrace. Breathe in, breathe out. Find a seat, stare at the sky, the pale azure dotted with shreds of clouds.

I hear You, feel You sit on the lounge chair behind me, feel Your arms go around my shoulders. You pull me backward so my back is to Your chest. “I told Bowen we’d visit him at his office, that you’d need time to process this.”

“Thank you, Logan.”

“Fourteen billion dollars, Isabel. That’s a fuckload of money. It’d make you one of the wealthiest people in the world.”

“I can’t believe he was worth fourteen billion dollars, Logan. I knew he was rich, but...thatrich? Where did he get it all? Not from escorts and bride services. Not from Madame X.”

“No, obviously not. He had fingers in everything. Real estate, stocks, technology. I think his real money came from the tech side of things, though. He owned a company that owned a patent on a medical device of some kind, something that every hospital, every doctor’s office, every military base all over the world uses. He didn’t invent it, but he bought the company that did, which was floundering in obscurity from lack of marketing and distribution resources. He recognized the value in the patent, and got it out there. Got the accounts one by one, until the owners of some truly sizable hospitals started catching on, and it took off like wildfire. This was while you were in the coma, I think. Before that it was all real estate, stocks, and a bunch of small companies all over the spectrum. After that medical device caught on, he was set.”

“But . . . fourteen billion dollars?”

“It’s a lot of money, Is.”

My heart is twisting. “Too much. And it’s...his.”

“Think about it, okay? Even coming from him, it’s fourteenbilliondollars, Isabel. You don’t just turn that kind of money down.”

“I . . . I can’t, Logan. I just can’t.”

“No one could.”

I shake my head. Stand up. Pace furiously. “No, Logan, you don’t understand. I can’t take it. Not a single dime. I can’t. Iwon’t. I can’t take anything of his. He owns enough of me as it is. Even in death, he’s trying to own me, control me. If I take that money, I’ll still belong to Caleb Indigo.”

“You’re serious.”

I turn and look at You. “Money has never really meant anything to me, Logan. Not in any real practical terms. It’s just a number, objectively speaking. A large number, but just a number. I can’t accept anything from Caleb. I can’t have anything to do with him. I have to be done.”

“I get that. I really do. But please, think about it. Just for a day or two, at least.”