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“You’re right.”
Colette sat on the edge of the couch, calves pressed together and angled to the side like a royal. If she hadn’t seen Colette vomit before, she might suspect her sister wasn’t human. She never showed weakness, but at the moment, something was different about her.
“I wasn’t expecting you to be the executor or sole heir,” Colette said, voice halting uncertainly as she searched for words. “I reacted horribly.” Colette inclined her head. “I’m very sorry, Minnie.”
“I didn’t handle it any better,” Ariana added. “I apologize.”
Jasmine didn’t react. She wasn’t sure what was more shocking. Seeing Roth or receiving an apology from her sisters.
No one had been more astounded by her father’s will than her. Before she could come to terms with the fact that her father’s fate rested in her hands, the attorney announced that she had inherited his remaining assets, valued at over three hundred million dollars. While she was trying to comprehend all of this, Colette and Ariana had walked out of the room and left her to deal with the decision to take her father off life support and make the funeral arrangements alone. Standing beside her father’s casket, she had never felt more alone. Her father’s peers had made it clear that she didn’t measure up to her sisters. No amount of time would bury the scandal she caused, and it resurfaced every time she did. Despite her reconciliation with Maximus, she didn’t expect anything. Maximus was a hard man who never went back on his decrees. Her sisters kept Hennessy & Co going after he got sick, and they worked their butts off while she walked her own path. She didn’t think she deserved anything, but at some point, Maximus had a change of heart and hadn’t told any of them about it.
“We received letters,” Colette said.
“Letters from who?” Jasmine asked as she brushed a hand over her eye.
“Dad,” Ariana said. “We both got one. Written six months ago, they were delivered a couple of days ago. He explained his reasons for making you his sole heir.”
Jasmine leaned forward. “What did he say?”
“I’m sure you have a letter waiting for you at his estate that explains that,” Colette said and rubbed her temples.
It was clear the pregnancy affected her. Normally stoic, decisive, and straightforward, Colette looked uncharacteristically weary.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
“The doctor said she’s supposed to be on bedrest,” Ariana explained as she rubbed Colette’s lower back. “You need to lie down.”
“I will in a little while.” Colette tried to maintain her erect posture. “We left you with a heavy burden you didn’t ask for, and I’m sorry. I don’t know how we can make it up to you. I wasn’t thinking clearly.”
Jasmine looked down at her hands as her emotions stirred.
“You forgave him after he disowned you and were there for him when he really needed you,” Colette said as she rubbed her tummy. “You gave him the best years of his life.”
Jasmine’s mouth trembled as grief rose again, so strong that she couldn’t take a full breath.
“You did the right thing, Minnie,” Ariana said. “You didn’t let him suffer. You let him go.”
She buried her face in her hands as the tears came. Soft, feminine voices murmured comfortingly as her sisters settled on either side of her. Colette tipped her sideways, onto her lap, which only made her cry harder. Hands moved through her hair as the tears she thought she got rid of in Colorado made another appearance. Grief made even the most hardened people offer her comfort. First Roth and now Colette. What was the world coming to?
“We got our inheritance years ago when he divided his remaining shares of Hennessy & Co between Colette and me. You never said a thing,” Ariana said.
“Why would I?” Jasmine asked hoarsely.
“You’re a Hennessy.”
She never felt like a real Hennessy. She didn’t embody the traits that made their family so respected and revered in society. The only thing she had done was cause problems with her father’s partners and taint their family name with scandal. And for what? A man who hadn’t even loved her. She didn’t deserve anything her father or sisters had worked so hard for.
“Ariana and I received lots of boons from Dad. You received the least. Leaving you his estates was his way of honoring you,” Colette said quietly.
“I have money,” she whispered.
“He told us that as well,” Ariana said.
The tears stopped coursing down her cheeks. “What?”
“I don’t know why you kept it a secret. You let us think you had no job. Where did the name Thalia Crane come from anyway?” Colette asked.
She leaped to her feet and faced her sisters with her hands on her hips. “That wasn’t his to tell!”
