Page 4 of My Orc Contract Husband (Eastshore Isle #9)

“You don’t have that kind of money either. You know I’m proud of how well your business is going, but Eastshore isn’t the city. Real estate does well here, but not diamond purses and bodyguards well.”

“My father?—”

“Will never know about this,” Aunt Sharon snapped.

Then her shoulders slumped, and she sighed.

“I mean it, Sami. You cut ties with that man for a reason. Any man who would force his only child into a marriage just because it would benefit his company…” She shook her head.

“He doesn’t know you’re here on Eastshore with me, and all of us want to keep it that way.

And it doesn’t ma tter if you did have that much money—Riven won’t take it.

So it’s definitely not worth getting involved in your father’s world again. ”

She was right.

My father’s world…it was scary. My earliest memories of him, from when I was very young and he still smiled occasionally, were of a driven man.

Once he partnered with Pierce T. Montgomery III, he became not just successful, but heartless.

In his drive to own more property, to gain more money, he didn’t care what humanity he left behind.

It had taken me four years after my mother’s death to gain the courage to leave that world, and I would never forget the fury on his face and the coldness in his eyes when we would fight about that horrible marriage contract.

You’ll never amount to anything without me! If you walk out that door, you’ll starve to death, and I won’t care!

But I hadn’t. I’d hidden my tracks, planted false leads, and taken care to stay offline. I hadn’t changed my name—that would be a legal trail—but the name on my realtor business wasn’t really mine.

I was determined that my father would not drag me back to his world.

Although, in the five-plus years I’d been here on Eastshore, I hadn’t heard from him once. Maybe he didn’t care about me once I was gone; once I couldn’t benefit him any longer. For all I knew, maybe he’d talked Pierce into marrying some other poor girl.

I shivered, staring down into my wine .

“Sami…”

When I glanced up, my aunt was watching me sympathetically. “You okay?”

I don’t know what compelled me to mention it. Maybe it was that I was thinking about my father and his world. But I blurted, “I got an unpleasant reminder today.”

At Aunt Sharon’s urging, I told her about the scene in front of the house I’d been showing Tarkhan. Maybe I lingered on him a little too long because she reached across the counter to take my hand. At that, I hurried through relaying the rest of the events.

“I’m not sure,” I said with an attempt at a dismissive shrug.

“I’m sure it’s just a legal matter, but the courier…

” I frowned at the memory, and how Tarkhan had tried to protect me.

Maybe he’d sensed something dangerous as well.

“The whole situation just reminded me of my father’s world.

Fancy suits, fancy cars, hand-delivered threats. ”

“Threats?” Sharon repeated sharply. “Is that what it was?”

Again, I shrugged. “The folio is in my office. I thought I’d look it over tomorrow.”

She was peering at me intently and now squeezed my hand. “Is that what you want? You’re not worried about it?”

I was. Was I that obvious?

“It’s probably just something for work,” I whispered.

But when I met her eyes, I could tell my aunt wasn’t convinced any more than I was. Was her heart pounding as hard as mine was right now? Her gut an anxious ball of churning?

“Go get it,” Aunt Sharon murmured. “I’ll help you read it.”

Swallowing, I dropped her hand and hurried to scoop the folio from my desk in the second bedroom, then plopped down beside my aunt once more.

We both stared at it; black leather embossed with a “M” in the center.

Aunt Sharon’s hand was shaking when she reached out to trace that letter. “Your father’s partner…”

I swallowed. “Pierce Montgomery. The Third.”

She was the one to flip open the folio and draw out the packet of papers.

“Oh no,” she breathed.

It was the fear in her eyes that caused my heart to stutter, caused me to snatch the packet from her hands.

But once I held it, I could only stare in disbelief.

There was no letter, no note of explanation.

Just a death certificate.

“He’s dead,” I whispered. My father had died in April. He’d been dead for months, and I hadn’t known. Hadn’t felt anything.

I didn’t feel anything now except…emptiness. Confusion. Bewildered, I looked up at Aunt Sharon, and saw my shock reflected in her expression .

“He’s dead,” I repeated, my fingers tightening around the packet of paper. “I didn’t know…”

“What else is there?” Her voice was a bare croak, as if she couldn’t find the words either.

My own mouth was dry with fear when I began to shuffle through the papers. “His will. Information about his holdings. These are instructions on how to access the penthouse. This…” I skimmed. “Is a breakdown of his holdings.”

When I read, Aunt Sharon took some of the papers from my hand. It wasn’t until she sucked in a breath that I looked up. There was fear in her eyes when they met mine.

“The will, Sami…” She swallowed, her hands shaking. “You’re his heir. He left everything to you.”

Me?

Why not his partner?

Wasn’t Pierce the one to send this to me? Why had he wanted me to have it?

I shook my head. “That doesn’t make any sense. I cut ties with him, I embarrassed him. Why would he leave me anything ? Why not leave it to his partner?”

What I remembered of Pierce T. Montgomery III was enough. The man was older than Dad, but he had a vicious streak that had made him a real estate magnate, and my father had been his perfect match. The two of them had owned half the city.

But …

I glanced down at the property breakdown in my hand.

Pierce owned half of the company’s holdings. And now I, as my father’s heir, owned the other half.

Oh no .

“I don’t want this,” I whispered, the words blurring in front of my eyes. “I don’t want to go back. I don’t want to be involved.”

My aunt drew a shaky breath. “The money…”

“I don’t want the money!” I whirled on her, panicky tears already forming in my eyes. “I don’t . Riven won’t take it, I don’t need it. I’m happy here, Aunt Sharon.”

“Oh, dear, I know you are.” Her face crumpled as her tears began, she reached for me, pulling me into a hug. “I know. You don’t have to go back, not if you don’t want to.”

Gratefully, I sank into her embrace, allowing my own tears to flow. Part of me wondered if someone who had been watching would think I was crying for my father, for the man I’d already lost and mourned once. Why wasn’t I crying for him?

Because these tears were built on fear.

“Don’t worry, Sami,” my aunt crooned, rocking me. “You’re safe here with me. You don’t have to go back.”

But as the will fluttered to the floor and those words stared accusingly up at me, I couldn’t believe her. Pierce had found me, hadn’t he? That meant he knew where I was. And now I was his business partner, whether I liked it or not.

I squeezed my eyes shut again, the tears falling on the paper.

Crap .