time here, preferring to be on the floor, eyes on the action taking place in her hotel.
It’s what she’d learned from shadowing Tiberius around the Lucky Heart. Her throat closed as she stared down the Las Vegas strip to where the small hotel and casino sat. Built in the sixties, it lacked the amenities of the modern hotels and casinos: five-star restaurants, extravagant décor and luxury suites. The ceilings were low. The carpet needed replacing. And the clientele came in for the cheap bar drinks and stayed for the loose slots. But for Violet it would always be home.
Which is why she’d been surprised how Tiberius had reacted when Henry Fontaine approached her about coming to work for him. She’d expected Tiberius to discourage her from joining the family business. Quite the opposite. Tiberius knew how hard it had been for her to be Ross Fontaine’s bastard daughter. Unlike Scarlett, Ross’s other illegitimate daughter, Violet had grown up in Las Vegas within the long shadow of the gorgeous hotels and casinos that were owned by the Fontaine dynasty.
The older she got, the more being an outsider frustrated her. Without Tiberius as her champion, constantly making as if she was the smartest, most capable person he’d ever known, she might never have accepted that she didn’t need approval from the Fontaines to make her happy.
Maybe that’s why she sympathized with JT. If his grandfather hadn’t died when JT was ten, Preston would never have taken over Stone Properties and ousted his brother-in-law. The company would have stayed in Stone hands. First Tiberius’s, then JT’s.
Attending his uncle’s memorial service today must have really upset him. She had no other explanation for why he’d shared with her his concerns regarding Stone Properties. They’d known each other for six years and as much as he made her pulse dance, he’d always just treated her like a business acquaintance. Was it any wonder his behavior tonight had thrown her off balance? Did he regret telling her about his worries for his family’s company? It just wasn’t like him to be so...forthcoming.
She smirked as she imagined him kicking himself the entire way back to Titanium.
It was a spectacular property. He’d spent his first two years in Vegas rebuilding the hotel and casino. It was larger than both Fontaine Chic and Richesse combined, with a huge convention facility and an eighteen-hole golf course in the back. Admiring the hotel’s style, she’d used the same design company to bring to life her vision for Fontaine Chic.
What would happen to Stone Properties if JT left? As hurt as Tiberius had been that his father believed Preston’s lies and disinherited him, Tiberius’s biggest concern had always been for the company beneath Preston’s stewardship. He would be worried that JT was quitting.
“Not my problem,” she muttered, but already the wheels were turning in her mind.
Tiberius would have wanted her to help JT. Despite all the years they’d been estranged, right before his death, Tiberius had started reaching out to his nephew.
And Violet was confident she could keep her head screwed on straight and her hormones in check long enough to figure out a way to help JT save Stone Properties. With the decision made, Violet headed to her suite for a hot shower and a good night’s sleep.
Two
Violet stared at the shelves of law books that covered the walls of the lawyer’s office, her eyes gritty and dry. In contrast, her mother sat beside her, weeping softly. In the weeks since Tiberius’s death, Lucille had gone through a dozen boxes of tissues.
A part of Violet was ashamed that she’d moved swiftly through the five stages of grief while her mother had gone straight to stage four—depression—and stayed there.
“That takes us to the Lucky Heart,” John Malcolm, Tiberius’s lawyer continued. “As you probably know, the casino is deep in debt.”
Violet nodded, absently squeezing her mother’s hand in comfort, relieved that Tiberius had invested his personal fortune wisely and set aside enough for Lucille to never have to worry about money. “I don’t understand why. The entire time I worked there, it always operated in the black. Nor has business fallen off in the last five years. Tiberius was too savvy to let that happen. So where did the debt come from?”
“He was mortgaging the Lucky Heart in order to buy stock.”
“Stock?” That didn’t sound like Tiberius at all. “Why would he do that? He didn’t trust Wall Street. Said it was a sucker’s bet.”
“He was buying private stock.”
Even more curious. A rhythmic ache had manifested in Violet’s temples. She rubbed to ease the pain. “So can we sell the stock and get the Lucky Heart out of debt?”
“Unfortunately, you’re not going to be able to do that.”
“Why not?” Making bad business decisions was something Tiberius had never done. “What sort of stock was he buying?”
“Stone Properties stock.”
Violet leaned forward. Had she heard the gray-haired lawyer correctly? “Why would he do that?”
John’s solemn blue eyes were the gatekeepers of a thousand clients’ secrets. “He had his reasons.”
Her thoughts rushed through a dozen scenarios as to why Tiberius had kept something this huge from her. Then she contemplated her conversation with JT a few days earlier. “How much stock did he have?”
“In the three months before his death he’d managed to get eighteen percent.”
Violet’s curiosity spiked. Did his purchase of Stone Properties stock have anything to do with why he’d been reestablishing his relationship with JT? Together they would’ve controlled forty-eight percent of Stone Properties, not enough to take over and force Preston out, but if they could secure another three percent...
Is that what Tiberius had been up to?
“Did he leave the stock to JT?”
John Malcolm looked surprised. “No. He left it to you.”
Any normal person who’d just inherited eighteen percent of a multi-billion dollar company might be dancing around the lawyer’s office or at the very least grinning. Violet had no desire to celebrate. The price tag for her windfall was too high. She’d lost the man who’d been her father in heart and soul if not by blood or marriage.
“Why me and not my mom?”
“Because he trusted you’d know what to do with it.”
“First Scarlett inherits a warehouse full of secret files and now this,” she muttered, thinking about all the private information Tiberius had gathered over the years on acquaintances and family. “What other surprises does Tiberius plan to unleash on the Fontaine sisters?”
“Now, as to the conditions of the inheritance.”
“And there it is,” Violet grumbled. She loved Tiberius, but he was a cagey bastard.
John Malcolm ignored her outburst. “You can’t sell the stock, donate it or give it away.” The lawyer smiled ironically as he said this last bit, if he couldn’t understand why anyone could part with that much money and expect nothing in return.
