Phoebe breathed out slowly.
Then she said something I will remember until the day I die.
“Your grandfather would be very proud of you.”
Two weeks later, Flynn and Cordelia threw a party.
I knew because they posted photographs everywhere.
Champagne.
String lights.
Caterers.
Luxury cars lining Grandfather’s gravel drive.
Cordelia wore my grandmother’s emerald pendant.
That hurt more than I expected.
But pain can be useful when you give it somewhere to go.
Phoebe sat across from me in her office while I scrolled through the pictures.
“They moved quickly,” I said.
“Greedy people usually do.”
One photograph showed an excavator near the rose garden.
Another showed fluorescent construction markings across the northern lawn.
My stomach tightened.
“They’re actually starting demolition?”
“Apparently Flynn signed preliminary development contracts yesterday.”
“For what?”
Phoebe handed me a brochure.
VALE CARDINAL RESORT & SPA.
I stared at the rendering.
My grandfather’s house had been transformed into a hotel.
