The Inheritance Games (The Inheritance Games, #1)

by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

“So he’s not moving back in?” “It’s going to be different this time,” Libby promised.

teddymarie core!!

by a guy not much older than me. What is going on here? He was wearing a suit. He looked like the kind of person who should have had an entourage.

oh WHO R UUU

“My name is Grayson Hawthorne.

THIS IS NOT A DRILL ITS GRAYSON

you have been named in his will.”

WHAT.

“Don’t worry,” I told her, as annoyed with her assumption as I was with the fact that she’d been able to see any trace of my thoughts on my face. “I keep mine under lock and key.”

dont be too sure

Tobias Hawthorne had left me an explanation, but in the hours since the will was read, I hadn’t been able to bring myself to open the envelope.

READ THE GODDAMN THING

Dearest Avery, I’m sorry. —T. T. H.

WHAT. boy reincarnate and explain urself.

“The leak didn’t come from us.” Her eyes darted toward Libby. “It came from your boyfriend.” Libby’s answer was barely more than a whisper. “My ex.”

dick

Hey, Mystery Girl. You’re officially famous.

hey jameson

Some part of me wanted to deserve it.

I LOVE HER

“I can see that,” Nash replied softly. “But if you decide you’d like to give me a name? I’d take it.”

chat is this rizz

“I want you here,” I promised. “No matter what.”

NO LIZZIEHUGHIE??

“He left you the fortune, Avery, and all he left us is you.”

damn

Jameson, Better the devil you know than the one you don’t—or is it? Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. All that glitters is not gold. Nothing is certain but death and taxes. There but for the grace of God go I. Don’t judge. —Tobias Tattersall Hawthorne

js smile and nod guys

The last girl who spent hour after hour in that house? She died.”

we gonna elaborate or...

“My grandfather was born Tobias Hawthorne,” Xander told me. “No middle name.”

GUYS HE SIGNED W A MIDDLE NAME HUHH

Does “Don’t judge a book by its cover” mean anything to you? I asked Jameson.

ohh

WELCOME TO HAWTHORNE HOUSE, AVERY KYLIE GRAMBS!

IM SCARED

“What are we doing today?” Grayson asked his brother. “We?” Jameson shot back.

BYEE

Grayson frowned. “I don’t talk like that.”

awh is someone offended

“Frankly, now that the issue of relatedness has been settled in the negative, I’d be game if she did.”

JAMESON BEHAVE URSELF

“Thick. Not quite wavy, not quite straight.

I FEEL SEEN??

“You might think you’re playing the game, darlin’, but that’s not how Jamie sees it.” Nash’s voice was gentle enough, but for the words. “We aren’t normal. This place isn’t normal, and you’re not a player, kid. You’re the glass ballerina—or the knife.”

can someone please for the love of tobias hawthorne talk normally in this book

My ears roared, and I knew, then, exactly who I was looking at. I felt, on some level, like I’d known it from the moment I’d seen her. “Emily?”

no filter but i’m here for it

“I won’t apologize for being protective. This family has suffered enough, Ms. Grambs. If I were choosing between you and any one of them, I would choose them, always and every time. However…” His eyes made their way back to mine. “I may have misjudged you.”

OH MY GOD GRAYSON APOLOGIZED WHICH MEANS EVERYTHING IN THE WORLD IS FINE IM SO HAPPY

The morality of an action depends, ultimately and only, on its outcomes.”

Everyone had things they found inexplicably attractive. Apparently, for me it was suit-wearing, silver-eyed guys using the word empirically and taking for granted that I knew what it meant.

YES I AGREE THIS IS FINE.

“I know why Tobias Hawthorne changed his will,” I said loudly. The response to that announcement was electric. There was a reason this was the story of the decade, one thing that everyone wanted to know. “I know why he chose me.” I made them look at me and only me. “I’m the only one who does. I know the truth.” I sold that lie for all I was worth. “And if you run a word about that pathetic excuse for a human being behind me—any of you—I will make it my mission in life to ensure that you never, ever find out.”

CLOCK. IT.

“Welcome to… my lair!” Xander sounded overjoyed to be saying those words.

I LOVE XANDER BAHAHAH

My lips closed over his. He kissed me back,

WAIT OKAY THIS IS HAPPENING

“Word of Hawthorne hookups travels fast.”

this is lwk so embarassing

“Will you show me where you were hurt?” Grayson asked, his voice not quite strained—but something.

OH MY GOSH IM TOTALLY NOT FREAKING OUT

How clearly could I still feel Grayson checking my wound?

i can still feel it

Someone is trying to run us off the road.

can we catch a break.

“I’m grateful to be alive,” I said. “And I’m grateful to be here tonight.”

shes standing on business

Then he dropped the glass in his hand.

OML?? BRO IS FLABBERGASTED.

His eyes were closed, every muscle in his body taut. “Did Jameson tell you that I killed her?”

why r we nonchalantly admitting to murder.

“Because…” Xander waggled his lone eyebrow. “They just opened up the dance floor. You want to give the press something to talk about, don’t you?”

HELL YES ILL DANCE W U XANDER

“Thea and Rebecca?” I said.

im sorry WHAT.

“You coming?” I asked Xander. The invitation seemed to surprise him. “I can’t.” He paused. “I solved the Black Wood.” That got my full attention. “I could win this.” Xander looked down at his fancy shoes. “But Jameson and Grayson need it more. Head back to Hawthorne House. There’ll be a helicopter waiting for you when you get there. Have the pilot fly you over the Black Wood.” A helicopter? “Where you go,” Xander told me, “they’ll follow.” They, as in his brothers. “I thought you wanted to win,” I said to Xander. He swallowed. Hard. “I do.”

i love xander sm

“Ten-eighteen—October eighteenth.” I sucked in a breath. Every nerve in my body felt like it was alive. “That’s my birthday.”

gang bsfr

The press certainly thought Tobias Hawthorne had died. His family seemed to believe it. But had they actually seen his body?

guys if hes alive ill be so happy

“No,” Rebecca said quietly. “Their mother.”

we all expected this

Grayson was quiet for a few seconds, then spoke. “I trust you.”

ILY GRAYSON

“You knew?” I said. “All this time, you knew where the clues led?”

okay xander i see u

“Not just the four of us,” Grayson told Nash. He looked back toward me. “Clearly, this was a game for five.”

yes grayson THANK U

A very risky gamble.

WHAT THE HELL

There was no paper inside my envelope, no letter. The only thing it contained was a single packet of sugar.

SHE USED TO STACK SUGAR. REMEMBER THOSE TOWERS??

Find Tobias Hawthorne II.

bro