Page 86 of Home Again

“Then honey, you’re doing the right thing. Giving them this property is what they’ll want. Now it will be their decision what they do with it. They can sell it, they can give it to their grandkids, they can build a strip mall on it. But after everything they’ve done, this is theirs.”

Sebastian brushed back the curls from Gianna’s face. “Okay, you’ve convinced me. So let’s talk about more important things. How are you doing with untangling yourself with Tina’s Treasures?”

Gianna’s face fell and Sebastian did his best not to react. “What’s going on?”

“It’s not the shop. I wanted to wait to discuss this with you when we were together. Granny took a fall last week. She’s up now, but having to use a walker. We’re having to get her into physical therapy three times a week.”

“We?” Sebastian asked.

“Okay, me.”

Sebastian’s fingers clenched into her soft flesh. “Is there anything I can do to help?” he asked.

Gianna gave him a wavering smile and bit her lip. “Be patient with me? You know I want to move to Virginia, but I can’t leave my grandparents right now. Not when Granny needs me.”

Sebastian nodded. “I get it.”

She leaned down and kissed him. “I love you, honey.”

“I love you too, cher.”

Six Months Later

Gianna looked around the dining room of Neil and Ophelia’s house. It looked so much different than when it was the Durand house. It was actually welcoming. Well, it would have been, except for the tired faces of the people surrounding the table.

Gianna held out her hand, palm up and Sebastian grabbed it. He twined their fingers together.

“I’m sorry you had to testify, cher,” Sebastian said for the hundredth time.

“Honey, I wanted to testify,” Gianna said for the hundred-and-first time.

“One trial down, one more to go,” Jada grinned. Sebastian’s hand tensed in hers.

“Shut up, Jada.”

“Hey, it could have been worse. Bradley could’ve lived and he could have gone on trial too,” Jada said. “Instead, it’s just your uncle and granddad. And only if your granddad makes it out of the hospital since his health took a turn for the worse, so there really might only be one.”

“Jesus, Jada, shut the fuck up!” Gianna shouted at her friend.

All eyes turned to her.

“Are you okay honey?” Ophelia asked tentatively.

Gianna hit her head against the dining room table. “I guess it kind of shows that I’m out of sorts if I swear, huh?”

“Actually, it does,” Gideon said with a smile in his voice.

“I hate Armand Durand. I hate him. I hate him. I hate him.” Gianna wrenched her hand from Sebastian’s and shot up out of her chair. She backed up against the dining room wall and stared at everyone. “How could someone be so evil and greedy? How?”

All those months ago it had taken a little unraveling, but Gideon had found a bank account under Pamela Durand’s name that had been opened as soon as she had divorced Sebastian the Third. Her ex-husband had put a lump sum of a million dollars into the account upon their divorce, and then twenty-five thousand a month. By the time of her death, over three million dollars would have been deposited into the account. None of it had ever been accessed by Pamela Durand, yet the account was empty.

Sebastian got up from the table and pulled Gianna into his arms. “Cher, please, this isn’t good for the little one, huh?” He touched the small swell of her belly.

“But he had your mom and dad killed for money.” Gianna gripped the front of Sebastian’s shirt and smashed her face against it, hating that she was crying yet again. That’s all she ever did these days.

“But he’s going to be brought to justice,” Sebastian said as he stroked her hair.

She turned her head so she could look at Jada and Gideon. They were the ones who had helped figure everything out. The first Sebastian Durand had given both of his grandsons millions and millions of dollars in trust funds. Armand had gambled all of his away by the time his brother was getting a divorce, so he offered his brother help to set up an account for his ex-wife. Then when Armand spent all of that money, he needed more. He needed his brother’s money, so he figured he’d work a deal with the family lawyer and make sure the little orphan’s money came Armand’s way.