King of Sloth (Kings of Sin #4) by Ana Huang

No matter which road you take, I’m proud of you. I hope you are too.

Be proud of the person you’ve become and the person you’ll grow into. Even though you’ve just arrived in the world, I know you’ll make it a better place.

You’re my greatest joy, and you always will be.



Love always,

Mom





P.S. I left you a special gift. The pocket watch has been handed down through generations in my family, and it’s time I passed it on to you. I hope you cherish it as much as I did.



Something dripped onto the paper, smudging the words. Tears. The first I’d shed since I arrived.

I retrieved the pocket watch from the drawer with a trembling hand and opened it. It was so old the numbers had faded, but the message engraved inside remained legible.



The greatest gift we have is time. Use it wisely.

“Xavier? Xavier!”

The present rushed back in a tidal wave of noise.

I blinked away the memories fogging my brain as Tía Lupe’s face came into focus. Not the first person I wanted to see under any circumstance.

“Well?” she demanded. “What do you have to say about this will? It’s utterly—”

“Tía? Shut the hell up.”

I thought I saw Sloane smirk out of the corner of my eye as Tía Lupe gasped. Eduardo made a strange noise that fell somewhere between a laugh and a cough.

I tuned out my aunt’s splutters and focused on Santos.

The echoes of my mother’s letter lived in my heart like a blade lodged between my ribs, but I couldn’t afford to dwell on the past right now.

The greatest gift we have is time. Use it wisely.

“Can you repeat the condition of the will in plain terms?” I asked calmly. I understood what it meant, but I wanted to be sure.

The room quieted as everyone waited for Santos’s response.

He met my gaze with an unflinching one of his own. “It means if you don’t assume the CEO position by your next birthday, you will lose every cent of your inheritance.”

A collective shudder swept through the library.

My family didn’t want me inheriting the billions because I didn’t “deserve it” (fair enough, though that was like the pot calling the kettle black), but they would rather die than see all that money flow outside the family.

“That’s what I thought.” My hand curled around the arm of my chair. “Who are the preselected committee members my father mentioned?”

“Ah, yes.” Santos adjusted his glasses and read from the will again. “The committee will consist of the following five members: Eduardo Aguilar…” Expected. “Martin Herrera…” Tía Lupe’s husband. Less expected, but he was the fairest and most levelheaded person in my family. “Mariana Acevedo…” Chairwoman of the Castillo Group’s board. “Dante Russo…” Wait. What the fuck? “And Sloane Kensington.”

Pin-drop silence followed his proclamation.

Then, as one, every head in the room swiveled toward Sloane. She sat ramrod straight, her face pale. For the first time since I’d met her, she resembled a deer caught in headlights.

Five people were in charge of my family fortune’s fate, and my publicist was one of them.

Once again: What the fuck?





CHAPTER 16





Sloane





Certain things in life made sense. For example, the concept of cause and effect, the heat of the sun, and female praying mantises killing their partners after sex. No muss, no fuss—they got their pleasure, and they were done.

Some things made less sense, like the encroachment of Christmas songs in October and my being the judge of whether Xavier should continue receiving his annual allowance prior to his father’s death. It wasn’t ideal, but since the terms of his allowance revolved around media exposure, I understood it.

Then there were things that made no sense at all, such as being placed on a committee that would determine the fate of seven point nine billion dollars.

I wasn’t family, I wasn’t a corporate executive, and I wasn’t sure what the hell I was doing on that list.

“I didn’t know,” I said. “Your father never mentioned it to me.”

It was the day after the reading of the will, and Xavier and I sat by the pool while two of his preteen cousins argued over the latest New York Times crossword a few chairs down.

I woke up early that morning for yoga and found him here on my way back from the mansion’s attached gym. I needed a break from the constant glares and whispers, and I wasn’t entirely confident Lupe wouldn’t try to stab me in my sleep.

The Castillos were not happy about my involvement in their family’s financial affairs, to put it mildly.

“I believe you.” Xavier scrubbed a hand over his face and shook his head. He was unusually subdued for someone who’d just found out his entire inheritance hinged on one job and the judgment of one committee. “This whole thing is classic Alberto Castillo.”

I sensed there was more to his words than he let on, but it wasn’t the time to pry.

Other than the occasional consulting call and press release, my dealings with his father had been limited. Alberto hired me to handle PR for his family three years ago, right before Xavier moved to New York. Since his direct family consisted of two people, and Alberto rarely used my services for himself, that meant I was basically Xavier’s personal publicist.