Page 1 of The Renegade Billionaire

1

BRAXTON

Laughter is inappropriate.I will not laugh at the reading of this will.

If I keep saying it in my head while staring straight ahead, perhaps I’ll keep myself in check.

“That’s the biggest hourglass I’ve ever seen,” my childhood best friend, Greyson, whispers out the side of his mouth, and I quietly cough to hide my smile.

Smiling at a will reading isn’t acceptable either, especially in these circles.

“I’m certain that’s Ace’s doing.” It definitely aligns with my grandfather’s sense of humor. This was the first attorney’s office I’d ever been in, when I moved in with Ace and he brought me along to meet with his lawyer. Mr. Coop hasn’t changed a damn thing in all those years.

The hourglass stands close to six feet high and takes up a good portion of the book-lined wall—it must be four feet wide.

Greyson glances at his watch. “Think they’ll show up on time?”

“Money is involved. They’ll be here.” I lean into his space and lower my voice. “I bet when my grandfather adopted you and Sage all those years ago, you never thought you’d end upstaring at an hourglass big enough to pass for a center lineman—let alone one engraved with two men sitting cross-legged facing each other on it.”

It sends us over the edge, and laughter erupts from us both. If others find that offensive…well, truly, I really don’t give a shit, because the reality is, this is fucking ridiculous. And Ace would’ve loved it, so I have no doubt he’s the reason this particular monstrosity is sitting in here now.

“Trust me,” Grey says under his breath, “had we not moved in with you and Ace when we did, we’d be looking at something else equally disturbing, but without the stable mental health to deal with it.”

My family is messed up, but so is Grey’s. He and his nephew came to live with us after his sister, Violet, died giving birth to Sage when she was seventeen years old.

Unfortunately, Grey’s childhood has left scars that may never heal. His mother passed away when he was seven, and their entire family fell apart. My family didn’t want me but wouldn’t give up their parental rights, but Grey’s dad—well—he’s a monster of another kind.

When his dad found out about Violet’s pregnancy, he made choices that landed him in prison—we were twelve the day everything changed.

With no other living relatives, custody of Grey and Sage was awarded to Ace. And my parents had already left me on my grandfather’s doorstep years before, only checking in when it suited my mother or when my father, Alistair, wanted to throw his weight around.

I think they’d have done anything not to see me every day. It’s why we vowed to protect Sage—and we took ownership of his care the day he was born.

From the ashes, we created our own family.

A family my parents can never compare to.

Mr. Coop enters the office with his suit buttoned up as though he weren’t at our home a few hours ago, clinking glasses to honor the life of an amazing man.

“They didn’t show up for the wake. Do we really think they’ll show up here?” Grey asks bitterly. He has even more reason to hate my family than I do.

Where they had indifference for me, they flat-out loathed him because Ace treated him as his own grandson.

“I made it perfectly clear that all accounts are frozen until the stipulations of the will have been met.” Mr. Coop’s voice wobbles with age but also with sadness. He was a close friend and confidant of my grandfather for longer than I’ve been alive.

“They’ll be here,” Grey and I say in unison.

“Nothing’s more important to them than money.” The words burn the back of my throat.

“What’s with the hourglass?” Grey asks Mr. Coop while attempting to cover the twitch of his lips with the back of his hand.

“Another way to fuck with us, I’m sure.” Alistair, my sperm donor of a father, mutters as he strides into the room with false confidence that the world cowers before him.

And in some situations, people do. But I haven’t been that man in ten years.

My mother, Amara, and siblings follow him into the room and stand behind him, forming the familiar A-frame I was always excluded from.

“A still stands for asshole,” Grey whispers. Alistair, Amara, Anastasia, and Archie.