Shall We Begin?

Only a sleeping dragon, who had gotten tired of the things scurrying around his cave.

“You used me,” I said. It settled in my chest, cold and permanent.

“I forged you,” he corrected quietly, and leaned back. “Your parents are going to federal prison. Caleb is going to face the world without a net under him for the first time in his life, which is the only thing that has ever had a chance of saving him.

And you, Avery — you are the sole executor of the Whitaker Trust. You hold the keys to all of it.”

He raised his coffee to me in a small, solemn toast.

“Shall we begin?”