In the elevator, alone except for my reflection in the polished steel doors, I finally opened the envelope.
Inside was a first-class plane ticket to Monaco, dated for next week, and a single sentence written in Grandpa’s distinctive, shaky handwriting:
Trust activated on your 26th birthday, sweetheart. Time to claim what’s always been yours.
But that wasn’t what made my breath catch. It was what else was in the envelope.
The second item was a business card and a bank statement. The card read: Prince Alexander de Monaco, Private Secretary, with elegant gold lettering. On the back, in Grandpa’s handwriting: He’s managing your trust.
The bank statement was from Credit Suisse, addressed to April R. Thompson Trust.
The balance made me dizzy.
$347,000,000.
Three hundred and forty-seven million dollars.
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