The Inheritance Games By Jennifer Lynn Barnes Novels & Stories

I begin but he silences me with a look. Axel produces a syringe from his bag and draws a thumbs worth of Ryker’s blood. I stare at it. It looks exactly like mine, there’s no discernible difference, and yet I know it contains Lycan genes, while mine contains nothing but duff ones. Ones so shameful even my own father hid me away. I shut my eyes and a flash of it, of all the blood splattered on the ground, splattered from my mother’s throat, appears as if I’m right back there and I jerk, just as the needle goes in.

Her fingers trembled as she lifted it. A slim flash drive. An old one. Military-grade encryption stamped into the metal. And a folded piece of paper, yellowed with age. Handwriting she recognized instantly. Her mother’s. Elara— If you’re reading this, I failed to keep you out of it. I’m sorry. The vault isn’t money. It’s leverage. Names tied to deaths. Wars funded for profit. Men who don’t exist but decide who lives quietly. Locke was never in control. He was a mouthpiece who learned to bite.

The kitchen was completely still. "Howard," she said. "Yes." "What is it called?" A pause. "Victoria named it," he said. "Before she died. She gave me the title along with the instruction to write it." He paused. "She named it in 2008 when she told me about the consortium clause and what she had done to protect you from it." He paused. "She said: call it The Ashford Inheritance. She said: because the inheritance is not the money and it is not the empire and it is not even the building. The inheritance is the story. The full story. Written so it can be read. Written so my granddaughter understands what she comes from and what she survived and what she built." He paused. "She said, that is the

“Then Marcus gets a Pyrrhic victory. He might get the inheritance, but he’ll lose the company. The board won’t follow him after this, they've seen who he really is.” After she hung up, Selene looked at Avalon. “Would it be okay If we lost the inheritance?” “Truthfully, I don’t know. That’s Pierce Holdings, everything Nene built and all I’ve protected for ten years.” “But would we be okay?” Avalon thought about that. “Yeah. We’d be okay. I have Nexus and I have enough money. We will survive.” “More than survive?” “Yeah. More than that.” Selene felt something release in her chest. She confirmed the inheritance mattered, but it wasn’t everything they were.

They couldn’t linger here too long, as others might beat them to it. Wars were raging in many places, forcing the younger generation to fight for their lives. If they succeeded, they could claim the inheritance in their respective areas; if they failed, they would walk away empty-handed. Although the final battle on the battlefield hadn’t yet taken place, everyone was doing their best to strengthen themselves so they could survive on the battlefield until the very end. That’s why this game—which shouldn’t have been so easy—now had to start all over again. “They’re really so passionate, hahahahaha! Such good young people, good… good… I hope you satisfy me more than anything else!” said the fi

They were all sitting in the living room, looking like they owned the place. “I want all of my mother's properties,” I demanded, trying to sound confident. My father sneered at me. “You have no right to request anything,” she spat. “You are just a disgraced daughter who's been in prison for three years. You are not even worthy of being called a member of this family.” I felt a surge of anger, but I tried to keep my cool. “I'm my mother's daughter,” I said, my voice firm. “And I deserve to inherit her properties. Including this house,”

I was thinking about leaving all the work to the heir as he seems so focused on the task, but that look convinces anyone to work. Silently I continue to knead. I take a small piece, make a ball, knead the ball, put a carrot and a tmate in the middle and close the dough. I put the already made frasan aside and start over and over again. Wait, how long has it been? My mass pile has already diminished and the heir pile is almost gone. My arms are hurting from crushing, when does it end? As soon as the heir finishes his last cake he inherits the arms in a silent victory, seconds later a new loaf of dough and more chopped vegetables are thrown in front of him by the impetuous baker.

Sealed tight. I open it, my stomach twisting. The words hit harder than any fist. Per court order, Alina Rivers has been awarded full inheritance. Trust transferred. Finalized by Margot Dewitt. I reread it. Again. Again. It doesn’t change. The money. The trust. The thing I clawed for, married for, killed for—it’s hers. Always hers. And now, officially, legally, permanently… never mine. I crumple the paper in my fists and press it to my forehead, rocking like some broken lunatic. All that power, all that wealth, it was supposed to be mine. Mine. And she stole it from beyond the grave.

On one wall, Victor Drayke’s image flickered alive in holographic correspondence. “Your progress?” he asked. “Almost complete,” Charlotte replied. “Soon the inheritance clause runs itself, no courtroom required. When it activates, ownership transfers invisibly.” Drayke’s tone carried both pride and venom. “You’re sure Evelyn Hartman’s signature won’t collapse the set?” “I built it from her genome hash,” she said evenly. “I didn’t steal her name…I mathematically proved it.” “Brilliant,” he whispered. “And once the network believes she agreed to it…”