“I don’t think he will. It’s mutually beneficial. I’m sure grandfather has dirt on Millard, and someone like that will jump at the chance to get rid of his biggest threat. We’re promising him a coin, he can use it to become the next governor.”
They were all power-hungry.
Greedy.
“The other three…I think those were always meant for you, anyway.”
Their brows furrowed, and Jo shifted on her feet.
Charles rubbed his neck. “How will we know you’ve done it—”
“I’m not doing it.” I looked at them, my siblings. “You are. You’re the ones who have been playing the long game. If he’s like me, he’s keeping them in his pocket. I don’t know if we can plan it, we just need to look for an opening during the Swan Swell. A moment when he isn’t guarded.”
They all shared a look.
“I’ll handle the DA, you handle the coins.” I exhaled. “If everything goes according to plan, his seat will be empty.”
Someone would have to stay to take it, to watch over my sister, my mother—everyone.
I’ll come back. I’ll always come back.
Story’s raspy voice drifted like the salt breeze. I put my head in my hands. Her voice taunted me, I couldn’t differentiate between now and then.
Liar.
She was a fucking liar.
“Grayson?”
I lifted my head, finding Jo and the other two staring at me.
I cleared my throat. “I’ll take my grandfather’s place, but I’ll need people on the board. Trusted individuals.” I eyed them.
They scoffed. “Us?” Giving shares to a bastard had never been done, not by my father, certainly not by my grandfather.
It was essentially recognizing them as a Crowne.
Wouldn’t that be poetic?
“You,” I said.
They shifted on their feet, brows creasing with vulnerability.
But it was gone in a second.
“Well.” Jo straightened her shoulders. “There’s a lot of what-ifs riding on this master plan. If this fails—”
“If this fails then none of the other unknowns matter, because if this fails, he thinks we’re owed a dynasty, and he’s determined to get one. Even if it means destroying the family he’s so determined to write in stone. But we have what they don’t see coming…”
We have something they don’t have. Something they don’t see coming. Something they can’t steal.
I sat back, Story’s ghost taking shape in the room again. Her determination the night she’d told me she was going to stay with West. Her stony resolve, like her stony eyes.
“What?”
I looked back at my siblings. “Trust.”
Sixty-Eight