Read Online A Fortune to Die For (White Oak - Mafia Series Book 1) by Liza O'Connor - Free Book Online Page B

inside. I’ll climb up the side and see to my son.”
    Once Tess and Meg were inside, the young woman chewed her bottom lip. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to go up and referee those two.”
    “Go on. I’ve got stuff to do. I gather you have internet here?”
    Tess grinned. “Grams bought satellite internet when I came to live here so I could be homeschooled. It’s not secured, so you can tap right in.” She then went outside and followed the same steep path Tess took around the house.
    Meg went to her room and booted up her computer. After making a few calls to firm up numbers, she made several changes to the proposal she planned to present to Helen.
    She’d just finished reading the revised document when someone knocked softly on the door. Upon opening the door, a diminished version of the older woman she’d hiked with looked up at her with tired eyes. “Mind if I come in?”
    Meg stepped back so Helen could enter.
    The old woman bee-lined to the rocking chair and sat down. “Money can ruin people beyond recognition. When Jeffrey was a little boy…a sweeter more generous fellow you’d never meet. And he remained so until Sara got her claws in him. Now all he thinks about is money…specifically, how to get more of it.”
    Meg suspected this was nothing new, but something was. Helen appeared devastated. “Has something happened?”
    “Evidently, his wife has run them deep into debt, which he covered by selling to a land developer his rights to my land when I die.”
    “Oh…”
    “Don’t worry. It won’t hold up in court. He sold the fellow nothing. He has no rights to my land and, had the developer bothered to ask me, I would have told him so. I got my lawyer on the phone, and he laid it out to Jeffrey in black and white. Unfortunately, by claiming he had rights, Jeffrey has committed fraud and could go to jail when this all comes to light.”
    “I understand. He’s your son, and you love him. Well, at least, I’ve had a great day and great company hiking your forest while—” Meg caught herself and stopped talking.
    Helen finished her sentence. “While my beautiful woods still exist, you mean.”
    Meg went to her and knelt before her, gripping her hand. “This has to be breaking your heart.”
    “It is. I talk a tough story, but sometimes it’s hard to practice what I preach.”
    Meg nodded in agreement, remembering the guilt she suffered when she refused to cover her relatives’ new million dollar mortgages they had foolishly signed.
    “What can I do to help?”
    The old woman stared at her a long moment. “You could buy these woods. Although I will need to charge a bit more than previously thought to cover Jeffrey’s foolishness.”
    “How much?”
    “A hundred and thirty million for all the land but not this house. Tess gets the house. With the extra money, I can clean up Jeffrey’s sixty million dollar mess and still have enough to give everyone else the amount I had planned to.”
    “And what about you?”
    Helen gripped her hand. “This is just between you and me…”
    Meg nodded.
    “I have cancer. As soon as I settle matters fairly and secure the future of my woods, I plan to return to the burial mounds I showed you today, put a gun to my head, and go to heaven.”
    Helen’s response, spoken with such quiet determination and certainty, sent a shiver down Meg’s spine.
    “Tess…” Meg couldn’t imagine how the young girl would survive it.
    “She is the only one in my family who loves me more than my money. I’ve discussed this matter with her before. So she might be hurt I didn’t say goodbye, but she won’t be surprised by my exit. She even knows what I want done with my ashes.”
    Helen gripped Meg’s arm. “So it comes down to you. Are you willing to buy my land and keep it safe, and then find someone to do the same when you die?”
    “I will, if you want, but I think I’ve got a better idea.”
    Helen’s brow furrowed. “I’m listening.”
    Over the next