The Brothers Hawthorne (The Inheritance Games Book 4)
The Brothers Hawthorne: Chapter 49

They went back to the bank. Grayson half-expected Acacia to make all three of them wait in the parking lot, but she didn’t. And when she presented her identification and the key that Savannah gave her—the decoy that Grayson had swapped in—the same bank employee who had sent Savannah away called for his manager.

That manager walked them back to the vault. Inside, there were walls of safe-deposit boxes. The manager inserted the bank’s key into one of the slots and waited for Acacia to insert hers. She did, but when she went to twist it, nothing happened.

She tried again.

I planned this. Grayson ignored the stab of guilt. This is what was supposed to happen.

“If you don’t have the key, ma’am, and you’re not the primary account holder, then I’m afraid you’re going to have to—”

The bank manager didn’t get the chance to finish that sentence. Savannah reached beneath the high-necked shirt she was wearing and pulled out a chain, identical to Gigi’s.

On the end of the chain, there was another key. “Try mine,” Savannah said.

Grayson stared at her.

“Since when do you have a key?” Gigi asked.

“I found it,” Savannah said quietly, “with the ID.”

Grayson Hawthorne was not often taken by surprise. This is what happens when you fail to look ten steps ahead. Tobias Hawthorne’s voice was as clear in his head as if the old man were right there. When you let your emotions get in the way. When you allow yourself to become distracted.

Savannah slid the key off her chain and handed it to her mother. Acacia placed it in the lock. And this time, when she turned it, the lock clicked.

The bank manager carefully removed the box from the wall and set it down on a tall glass table in the middle of the room. “I’ll give you a moment,” he said.

Acacia looked at her daughters in turn, then Grayson. Slowly, she opened the lid to the box.

The first thing Grayson saw was a photo of himself.