Page 11 of Mourner for Hire

SEVEN

DOMINIC

I had a feeling she was fucking crazy.

The way she’s talking to herself in the middle of a cemetery, slicing her hands through the air, and arguing with a tree confirms just that.

I dodged a bullet when she started crying and yapping about her dead mom at my bar instead of easing out of her clothes into my bed.

It would have been a sloppy one-night stand, but considering I don’t do those, I wouldn’t have beaten myself up over it. But knowing she met my mother, swindled her out of fifty grand, and showed up at the funeral makes me fume with anger.

I didn’t want to believe it when the will was read. Her lawyer, Sully, just kept saying to trust Mom. She has a plan. But I only saw red, refusing to believe someone as smart as my own mother could be so easily conned.

Then I remember how easy it was for Vada to con me. She waltzed into my bar with a shy smile and vulnerability that screamed safe space. By the end of the night, she had me nearly wrapped around her witchy finger.

I can’t believe I was stupid enough to fall for her act.

Not anymore. Now that she’s in town, acting all doe-eyed and innocent, I plan to make her feel as unwelcome as possible. She’ll be pulling out of town and forfeiting the inheritance before she can even tear out the old carpet in the cottage.