Chapter 80 Now You're A Millionaire Like Me
“I swear to god.” David mutters angrily as I pull back in surprise from him, looking towards the hallway instead of focusing on him. “I’ll get them to leave.”
He marches to the door, not caring that he is only in his boxers. It is probably Marcus or Theo, coming with something unnecessary that could definitely wait a couple of hours. He rips the door open, ready to shout at–
Rhys.
“Jeez, do you always open the door like this?” He scoffs, dramatically covering his eyes with his left hand.
“What do you want? I said we’d–”
“Talk in a couple days, yeah I know. But there’s some things that need more urgent attention.” Rhys says, holding up his right hand, which is holding a number of manila folders.
David snatches them out of his hand, walking down the hallway, leaving the door open for Rhys to invite himself in. Which of course, he does.
I come out of the kitchen, cradling my mug containing the half of the coffee that didn’t spill on the floor, and smile.
“Hey, Uncle Rhys.” I say.
“Okay, I clearly interrupted something, didn’t I?” Rhys asks, looking between David and me as he follows David to the lounge, who is now rifling through the folders. “The messed-up hair, the lack of clothes, and BISCUIT!” He gasps suddenly. “Is that a hickey?!”
“I… um… no?” I stutter, clamping my hand over my neck.
But Rhys just laughs and flops onto the couch, shaking his head as I walk over to David and take one of the files out of his hand, smacking Rhys on the head with it.
“You’re incorrigible, Rhys.” I mutter, throwing the file on the coffee table and sitting down next to him. “Why are you here?”
“Lovely. She doesn’t see me properly in years, and asks why I’m here? Typical kid.” Rhys scoffs.
“I’m not a kid. I'm a fully gr–”
“Okay.” David interrupts, stopping the little dad-daughter type banter we are having. “Rhys, why are you here?” David holds the folders up. “I said we’d talk about this later in the week.”
“What is it?” I ask.
“Deeds. Titles. Rhys was going to help get it all transferred to me. It is stuff that can wait.” David replies.
“Wait, you’re going to take over Malcolm’s organisation? Since when?” I ask.
“Ooh, did he not mention that?” Rhys grimaces.
“We’ve been busy.” David growls.
“Well,” Rhys says. “Either way, that might not be as straightforward anymore. Hence why I’m here. People have already found out that Malcolm is de–” He cuts himself off, side-eyeing me. “No longer involved.”
“You can say it, Rhys. I’ve been wishing him dead for years.” I explain.
Even David gives me an odd look, but I am only being honest. The fact that my father is dead is not bothering me one bit this morning. The fact that David is standing in the middle of the room in nothing but his boxers, his hands on his hips, glaring at Rhys. The fact that I haven’t properly responded to what he just said to me in the kitchen. That is bothering me. In a very specific way.
“People know, okay?” Rhys continues. “So naturally, they’re starting to come to me asking what’s happening. Who’s taking over the deals, who’s paying who and when.”
“Fine. What do I need to sign?” David asks, opening the folder back up.
“Here’s the thing.” Rhys says as he stands, plucking the folder out of David’s hands. “I can’t sign anything over to you just yet.”
“Why not? Yesterday you said–”
“I know. But when I was getting everything together this morning, I discovered something that’s put a spanner in the works.”
David breathes in, his arms folding over his chest, waiting for the billionaire to continue.
“Malcolm appears to have made a will.” Rhys continues. “In the event of his untimely death, there’s some very strict instructions of who the business is passed to.”
“So what, you came here to tell us that you’re taking it over?” I pipe in.
“No. He’s…” Rhys breathes in. “He’s passed it all to you, Biscuit.”
The silence in the room is tense.
I almost drop my mug.
It feels like someone has just yanked my stomach out through my ass. Even David looks shocked, turning to look at me, trying to work out what I am thinking.
“Me?” I ask in a whisper, and Rhys nods sadly. “I don’t… why… he didn’t…”
“Look, I had no part in it.” Rhys says, raising his hands in surrender. “I didn’t even know it existed. But his lawyer called me, saying he had heard the news, and an hour later he was passing me the papers.”
“Wait, if it’s not left to you, why did you get the will in the first place?”
“Get this,” Rhys says, tapping his hand on David’s chest. David stares down at the hand until Rhys takes it away. “The asshole made me his executor, but didn’t trust me enough to get anything else. Didn’t even think it was worth paying me back everything I’ve covered over the years.”
“So you don’t…” I start.
“Right. I don’t get shit. All of it, every single piece, it’s gone to you, kid.” Rhys nods, looking at me.
I finally exhale and lean back on the sofa.
I can feel their eyes on me. I think about what it actually means. All of his money, his properties, his business, his deals, his alliances… I am suddenly almost as rich as David is.
I am also almost as dangerous as he is.
“I don’t want it.” I say after a few minutes. “I mean, the organisation. I don’t want it. I want it dismantled.”
Looking up at David, I see something in his expression that I can tell agrees with me. Despite the fact that taking over another organisation would provide unlimited resources, the way it had been built, the kind of people involved in the business, it all stood for the wrong reasons.
“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves here.” Rhys warns, coming back to the sofa to sit next to me again. “First we need to get it all legally transferred over to you. Then you can decide what to do with it. There’s a lot of valuable–”
“I’ve decided. I want nothing to do with it.” I stand, putting my mug on the coffee table as I walk to David. “Take whatever you want. The rest can go up in flames for all I care.”
David licks his bottom lip, considering my offer.
“What do I need to sign?” I ask, turning round to Rhys.
“I’ll set up a meeting with the lawyer and–”
“Today.” I say. Rhys eyes me. “I want this over with.”
“Okay, Biscuit, I’ll call him now.” Rhys says, somewhat dejectedly, before pulling his phone out of his pocket and dialling, leaving the room as he does so. I can tell he is upset that I haven’t appeared to think about this, but to me, the decision feels simple.
I hated Malcolm. I am glad he is gone. I don’t want a reminder of him anywhere in my life. I can’t move forward with this trailing behind me.
“Nora…” David says from behind me, his hand circling round my elbow and turning me back to face him. “This is a big decision. It’s okay to take a few days to–”
“Do you want his shit or not?” I interrupt. “He had property everywhere, hundreds of deals. All of that could be yours. You were already going to take it all apparently!”
“Hey,” he says soothingly, his hands on my arms. “I was going to get the titles from Rhys, yes. But I wasn’t sure if I was going to keep them.”
“What?”
“I’ve been thinking…” He breathes in. “Of getting out.”
“Out? Out of the mob?”
“Yeah.” He laughs. “I was going to divide everything up to people I trusted.”
“But… you ARE the mob. Why would you give all that up?”
“Have you listened to nothing I’ve said in the past 24 hours?” He asks, an eyebrow raised, his hands sliding from my arms and wrapping around my waist instead. “The only thing I want is you.”
“But–”
“But nothing. My business caused us a lot of problems, darling. I want to make sure that nothing like that ever happens again. I never want you in the middle of my messes ever again.”
“David…” I grab his neck, pulling him down for a kiss, a deep kiss, trying to pour every single inch of my emotions into it.
“Okay, this is not what I signed up for.”
I break apart to see Rhys has re-entered the room, and I blush as I turn around, David hugging me close to him from behind.
“6 o’clock work for you lovebirds?” Rhys asks, and I nod. “Good. I’ll text you the address and I’ll meet you there.”
Rhys pauses, staring between us and the floor, hesitating to leave. I know what he is waiting for.
Breaking out of David’s hold, I walk up to Rhys, and hug him. Feeling him sigh before hugging me back, I finally feel like I can completely relax. Finally feel peaceful. Like that part of my heart that broke when I regretted leaving Uncle Rhys behind can finally start to heal.
We separate, feeling a bit tearful, and I notice Rhys subtly wipe his eyes as well.
“Right, 6 o’clock. That’s 3 hours, so you know... set an alarm or something. God forbid I have to explain why you’re late.” He mumbles as he walks to the front door and leaves.
I have a smile on my lips as I turn back to David, who is also smiling at me.
“So, 3 hours.” He says.
“Yup.” I reply.
“Not long until you’re a millionaire like me.”
“Long enough to show how much I love you too, though.” I retaliate.
He grins, scooping me up in his arms, making me wrap my legs around his waist. I kiss him as he walks the two of us back to the bedroom.