"Asaro, Catherine - Echea" - читать интересную книгу автора (Asaro Catherine)

I shook my head. The real answer was
harsh, harsher than I wanted to state, but
I could not leave it at this. She would
not believe me. She would think I was
trying to ease her mind. I was, but not
through polite lies.

"No," I said. "The agreement we signed is
legally binding. If we treat you as
anything less than a member of our family,
we not only lose you, we lose our other
daughters as well."

I was particularly proud of adding the
word "other." I suspected that, if my
husband had been having this conversation
with her, that he would have forgotten to
add it.

"You would?" she asked.

"Yes," I said.

"This is true?" she asked.

"True," I said. "I can download the
agreement and its ramifications for you in
the morning. House can read you the
standard agreementЦthe one everyone must
signЦtonight if you like."

She shook her head, and pushed her hands
harder into mine. "Could youЦcould you
answer me one thing?" she asked.

"Anything," I said.

"I donТt have to leave?"

"Not ever," I said.

She frowned. "Even if you die?"

"Even if we die," I said. "YouТll inherit,
just like the other girls."

My stomach knotted as I spoke. I had never
mentioned the money to our own children. I
figured they knew. And now I was telling