~~~
Brenna had been told her parents were wealthy. Until her recuperation from the injuries suffered when she was captured by the succubi hunters, she hadn’t found time to get together with her Aunt Callie to get the details.
O’Donnell Group was a multinational forty billion dollar corporation owned by the Clan. It only employed telepaths. The official corporate headquarters was in Washington, DC, but the actual center of operations was located in a hidden valley in West Virginia. The sprawling manor house was connected to a modern three-story office building where over a thousand people worked.
“You said to come see you and we’d take care of the financial garbage. Well, I’m bored, so I guess even finances will be an improvement,” Brenna said from the door of her Aunt Callie’s office in West Virginia.
Callie laughed. “You caught me at a good time. I have everything finished, and your name change from Morgan back to O’Donnell will be finalized in a week or two. Let’s take this to my parlor, order some tea and biscuits, and go through it.”
Callista O’Donnell Wilkins was the President of O’Donnell Group, the Clan’s business interests. She had been Brenna’s mother’s best friend and now served as surrogate mother, mentor, and friend to her niece.
Callie sat several fat files down on the end of the table, and opened one as a woman from the kitchen came in and set a tray with a pot of tea and a plate of cookies on the other end. Callie thanked her and Brenna poured tea for both of them.
“Okay, let’s start with an overview.” Callie pointed to a sheet of paper. “I would call this a balance sheet, but since you don’t have any debts, there’s nothing to balance.
“Your major assets are O’Donnell Group stock, O’Donnell Development stock, a hoard of gold your father bought in the seventies, your mother’s estate in Ireland, your father’s estate in Ireland, investments and other holdings, which include stocks, bonds, real estate such as the Baltimore house, and cash.
“The Clan and O’Donnell Group used a number of land parcels your father owned through O’Donnell Development to build some office buildings and shopping centers, and we owe you rent for that land. We had to recover the profit from O’Donnell Development and your dividend payments from O’Donnell Group for the past fifteen years. Your other grandfather was able to tally up the profits from your mother’s horse stables, and those went into the mix.”
The list had Brenna’s head spinning.
Callie continued. “Basically, your father held five thousand shares of O’Donnell Group as his birth gift. You also have two hundred shares as your own birth gift, giving you five thousand two hundred shares total. The stock isn’t publicly traded, and Seamus owns seventy-five percent, so this is really only money on paper, understand?”
Brenna nodded, already a bit lost.
“The Group’s assets are currently valued at about forty billion dollars, so your share is worth about two hundred million. The annual dividend has been running a thousand dollars a year, so the dividend you’ll receive in January will be around five million.”
Brenna sat straighter, looking at the paper. “Five million dollars?”
“That’s before tax, of course. Now, you own all the stock in O’Donnell Development, and we’ve determined its value is about two hundred eighty million. Your income figured on twenty-five percent of the profits will come to about seven million this year.”
“Seven million dollars?”
“Yes, that’s right. Before taxes of course.”
“Of course.”
Callie, lost in her explanation, didn’t notice Brenna was now paying very close attention, her eyes big as saucers.
“The gold your father bought back in 1975 has appreciated substantially, but provides no income. It’s readily disposable however. The market value is currently about one hundred twenty million.
“Your mother had the house in Ireland and substantial investments of her own when she married your father. Likewise, your father’s personal investments and the castle and estate in Ireland are valued at forty million. Then there were their joint assets after they married.”
“Castle?”
“Yes, when Seamus made his first life change, he left the family estate to your father. That includes two thousand acres and the castle that was the traditional O’Donnell Clan seat.
Callie tapped the paper with her pencil. “All told, the assets total eight hundred thirty-eight million dollars and your income this year will be almost twenty-one million. I figure after taxes you’ll net around thirteen to fifteen million. Seventy-five million of your assets are in cash and short-term notes.”
She turned to look at Brenna, and realized she should have taken things a little slower. The young woman was staring at her, eyes wide, face pale, clenching the arms of her chair as if the building was being shaken by an earthquake.
Speaking slowly, Brenna asked, “I have seventy-five million dollars in cash?” Callie nodded. “My income this year will be thirteen million dollars?” Again Callie nodded. “My net worth is twice that of the Queen of England?”
“Well, yes, approximately.”
“Holy shit.”
“I told you it was real wealth. That’s why it’s taken so long to put it all together. It’s complicated.”
“Callie, why did you order tea instead of whiskey?”
Callie laughed. “Should I ask for a bottle to be sent in?”
“No, don’t bother.” A bottle of Midleton’s appeared on the table with a shot glass, teleported from Brenna’s room upstairs. She leaned forward and poured the glass full, tossed it down, and sat back in her chair.
“I think this news is as disturbing as being told I’m a succubus.”
Taking a deep breath, she poured whiskey in the glass again and downed it, then looked at Callie, “Oh, I’m sorry, how rude. Would you like some?”
It started with a soft chuckle and built to a whole-hearted belly laugh. “I wish you could see your face,” Callie sputtered, “it’s priceless.”
Brenna stared at her then looked around the room. The West Virginia manor house was almost twice as large as the White House, nestled in a private twelve thousand acre valley. “How much is Seamus worth?” she barely whispered the question.
Seamus O’Donnell, Brenna’s grandfather, had come to the United States in 1890 with about a third of the three thousand members of the O’Donnell Clan. The Clan now had over forty thousand members, more than half in the U.S., and was the strongest telepathic Clan in the world.
“Let’s put it this way, if the financial magazines knew he existed, they wouldn’t be calling that software guy the richest man in the world. Although, to be fair, Seamus had a century’s head start on him.”
“And all of that will go to you as the heir when he dies?”
Callie sobered, “Yes, unless the Clan decides someone else is better qualified. The challenge is to maintain his legacy and take us into the next century. So far, no one has impressed us that much. Your father was far more qualified than I am. I ended up designated by default when he died and I really don’t want it.”
She studied Brenna. “Seamus probably will continue to run things for the next thirty or forty years, though he may decide to step down while he still has his health. I think this thing with Cindy has shaken him. She might actually be able to talk him into the children she wants, and spending more time with her.”
Callie chuckled, “Now that you know you’re a multi-millionaire, what’s the first thing you’re going to do?”
Brenna thought about it, then brightened. “Go shopping, with you and Rebecca and Irina.” Excitement crept into her voice. “Let’s go to New York and buy clothes and have a week on the town. How does that sound? Siobhan, too. And we’ll get a list and her sizes and get some stuff for Cindy, so she’ll have some new clothes when she gets better. I mean, aren’t we going into the winter social season? That’s what someone told me. Aren’t there going to be balls and parties and Thanksgiving and
Christmas and New Year and all that?”
“Is that all you want to do,” Callie laughed, “buy new clothes?”
Brenna blushed. “You know what I wear. Nothing fits.”
Callie had to admit that was true. Nothing off the rack would fit a body with Brenna’s outrageous curves. The girl had spent her life wearing whatever she could find, clothing that sometimes came close to fitting.
Smiling softly, Callie nodded. “Anything else?”
“I own a company with architects and building engineers?”
“Yes, one of the best.”
“Who do I contact there to get something built?”
“Jack Calhoun is the president. What do you want to build?” Callie asked cautiously.
“An indoor swimming pool, or at least enclose the pool you have so we can use it during the winter.”
Relieved, Callie smiled, “Yes, contact Jack. I’ll get you his phone number and email address. You might also consider making an appointment with him to introduce yourself as his new boss. Seamus is resigning as chairman of that company, so you’ll be assuming the position.”
“I will?” Confusion reasserted itself. “Is that how it’s done? Callie, I haven’t had a single business class. I’m a scientist. I don’t know squat about running a business, or investing or stocks or anything.” She sat back in her chair, and Callie could see her considering the implications of her newfound wealth.
“Callie, you and Seamus will help me, won’t you? You won’t abandon me?”
Callie’s eyes got a little blurry, “No, Brenna, we won’t abandon you. Any help or advice you need, we’ll be here for you.”
“Good, thank you. Oh, and you’ll figure out what I owe you for rent and stuff?”
“Huh?”
“I’ve been living here and in Baltimore rent free, eating your food, getting free security services, transportation, all that stuff. If I have my own money, then I should be paying my fair share, not leeching off everyone else. This little jaunt I’m proposing to New York will require a fairly large security force, won’t it? It’s my personal travel, not business. So figure out if you want to bill me on a pay as you go basis, or a flat monthly fee. Set up a special account you can draw on.”
“Brenna, members of the O’Donnell family don’t pay for their living expenses, Seamus does. And security isn’t something you pay for either. All of our family and the top executives are assigned a security force.”
“And you pay me rent for the Baltimore house, rent for the land you developed, and all kinds of other stuff? Fair is fair, Callie. I don’t expect people to support me in this extravagant lifestyle for free, especially when I’m not contributing and have money. I’ve been supporting myself since I was sixteen years old, and I’m not going to start taking charity now that I’m rich. That doesn’t make any sense.”
~~~
Collin Doyle was the Clan’s Director of Security. In his mid-thirties, he was young for such an important position. Tall, devastatingly handsome with a reputation as a ladies’ man, he and Brenna had been drawn to each other from the first moment they met.
Their relationship had been strained since the time of Cindy’s kidnapping, when an ill-conceived jest had angered Brenna. They hadn’t slept together since, although she had gone to see him as Samantha, the persona she assumed under a mental construct in an effort to trap the succubus hunters. She’d made love to him in a fierce, predatory way that she’d never done before, riding him to exhaustion and draining him.
After she escaped from her captors, he’d been loving and tender, cradling her like a child and making her feel safe. Until he held her that day, she hadn’t truly felt safe since her parents’ deaths.
Collin was lying in bed reading when there was a knock on the door. “Come in,” he called.
The door opened and Brenna walked in, crawled up on the bed and sat facing him cross-legged. “Can we talk?”
“Sure, we haven’t done much of that lately.”
“Collin, can you please try not to say things that piss me off? Especially in public?”
“Brenna, I meant that as a joke.”
“Yeah, I figured that out. It wasn’t very funny, though. Yes, I’m young, but to say that I’m barely out of diapers in front of a bunch of people … it was demeaning. I know when I came here people thought it was funny that someone with the O’Neill super shielding Gift didn’t even know something as simple as filtering, but honey, you need a filter between your brain and your mouth.”
He chuckled softly, “Kallen said almost exactly the same thing that day. I apologize.”
“Accepted, although I’ve already forgiven you. You know, sometimes I want to kill you, and other times … that day at the gas station, you didn’t fuss, or bitch at me, you gave me exactly what I needed. You were strong and caring and everything that I love about you. Do you know why Samantha came to see you that day before she went to New York?”
“I have to admit, that’s puzzled me.”
“Rebecca warned me that if I assumed that role, had a construct implanted in my mind that turned me into a fully-functioning succubus, it would change me. She told me I would either become a succubus or be sick to my stomach afterward at what I’d done as Samantha. Well, as soon as they triggered the construct, I knew which one it would be. Even though I was someone else, I’ve never felt as comfortable with myself as I did at that moment. I knew the first man I was with would get the ride of his life, the best that I had ever given anyone. At that moment, you were the only one I wanted.”
Brenna shook her head. “You know I wasn’t sure if I could handle being a succubus. But when I played one as bait, I felt as though all the pieces had finally fallen into place.”
A soft smile touched her lips. “Sometimes I want to kill you, and other times, I hope you’ll be with me until I die. When I escaped those monsters, you gave me exactly what I needed. You didn’t nag or be weird.”
She leaned toward him, capturing him with her eyes. “I know I need one man in my life, a special man, one who will love me no matter what. I’ll give that man all of me and make him glad I did. I hope it will be you.”
Reaching out, she touched his cheek and drew her hand down his bare chest. “Cindy and Siobhan have told me how lonely they are. I’ve been lonely all my life, and I don’t want to be lonely for the rest of it. My mother found a secret, a way to keep the man she loved, a way to defeat the loneliness, and I think the way she did it was to always give the man she loved her best.”
Collin captured her hand, holding it over his heart. His eyes misted, the look on his face one of tenderness and yearning.
Taking a deep breath, she said, “I want you to move in with me. I can’t change what I am. I can’t promise you sexual fidelity, but I can promise I’ll always give you me at my best, in bed or out.”
He raised an eyebrow, “The best of your anger, too?”
She chuckled, “I’m good at a lot of things, and I do have a temper. I’m good at being exasperated at you, too. At least you can’t complain you didn’t know what you were getting into.”
“I’ve never been good at relationships, it always falls apart.”
“Because you can’t keep it in your pants?” He nodded. “I’m not asking you to be a saint while I sleep around, Collin. I just want to be your first choice. If we’re in the same town, I want you in my bed, if we’re not, then as long as you’re honest with me, and with your other women, I’m okay. I don’t want my showing up on your doorstep to be a surprise to anyone.”
“When do you need an answer?”
“If you’re not in my bed tonight, I’ll have my answer.” She leaned forward and kissed him deeply and passionately, then stood and walked to the door.
~~~
Chapter 2-2
Whoever said money can't buy happiness simply didn't know where to go shopping. - Bo Derek
Rebecca Healy was a wilder, someone who had grown up outside a Clan, not knowing why she could read minds o
r knowing there were others like her. With fifteen Gifts, she had the potential to be one of the strongest telepaths in the world.
Rebecca opened the door, strode into Brenna’s room, and sat with a bounce on the bed. “Hey, sleepyhead, wake up. You’re going to be late for breakfast.”
Collin raised his head from beneath the covers. “Damn, Healy, don’t you know how to knock?” A giggle filtered up from somewhere around his chest.
“Oops. Sorry.” She jumped up and headed for the door.
“Collin’s moving in,” she heard Brenna say as she shut the door behind her. She stepped back into the room.
“Are you both completely clueless?” Rebecca asked with a grin.
“I guess so,” Collin said with a smile.
“Well, I guess that’s a good foundation for a relationship. When you finish, perhaps you can let me in on the little road trip Callie mentioned this morning.”
“Oh.” Brenna emerged from the covers, “Yeah, I want to go shopping in New York. Want to come along?”
Rebecca always marveled at how good Brenna looked first thing in the morning.
“Right, as if I have a choice, seeing as I’m assigned to your security detail.”
“Well, Miss Pissy, we can fix that. Collin, fire her.”
Wide-eyed, Collin’s head swung back and forth between them. “Huh?”
“Fire her, then I can hire her, and I won’t have to listen to all this garbage because I’ll be the one signing her paycheck,” Brenna said brightly. “As if she ever turned down an opportunity to go shopping in her life. Rebecca, guess what? I’m rich.”
Rebecca regarded her with a sorrowful expression then turned to Collin, “This is news? Is she really that oblivious?” She looked back at Brenna, “If you didn’t know that before now, you’re the only one. Shit. I thought you were the smart one.”
~~~
In her mind, Brenna envisioned an orgy of shopping and partying in New York, the sort of thing she’d never done before. The first obstacle to her fantasy occurred when she sat down with Callie, Irina and Rebecca to plan out their trip.
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