Change of Heart (Project Lyonheart #4)

Chapter One

Chase Warwick pulled his BMW into the parking lot of the nondescript office building in Torrance and cut the engine, wondering what he was about to walk into.

He normally had no reason to be this far south of Los Angeles, but this wasn't a normal day.

A month ago, his publicist got a call from a lawyer informing them that Dorothy Colton, known affectionately as Nana, had passed away.

Nana was one of those big-name fans in the Project Lyonheart community, and everyone loved her from the actors to other fans.

She had become a friend to Chase over the past few years and he would always set aside the Friday night of a convention just for her.

They would meet in the hotel lobby at eight o'clock with her in a vintage purple sweatshirt with graphics from the eighties and him in a button-down shirt, skinny tie, and a fresh pair of Ray Bans.

They would specifically ask the concierge to recommend a quiet local place.

Chase and Nana would sit at a corner table and order drinks and maybe mozzarella sticks if they were on the menu.

It was one of Chase's favorite cheats from his strict diet and training for the movie series.

He would get a gin and tonic, she would get a dirty martini with three olives.

They would catch up with each other and talk about life.

She would tell him about the students she used to teach or her granddaughter the librarian.

He would tell her about the latest movies he saw.

She always loved getting the scoop on the new things that were coming out.

At the end of the night, they would walk back to the hotel together, and he would make sure she got to her hotel room OK.

She would give him two dozen chocolate chip cookies with a secret ingredient that she would never confirm, but he was pretty sure it was cinnamon.

He would give her a spoiler from an upcoming Project Lyonheart movie that was only for her.

He felt a little bad that he couldn't share with her the biggest spoiler about his character Smith's real name. She would've loved that one!

In between conventions, she would send emails to his assistant to pass along to him and he always made sure Marcus would send her a gift on her birthday. Marcus was a bit smitten with Dorothy too.

At a convention two months ago, he sent her a text to make sure she would be waiting for him the lobby, but she couldn't make it because she had a cold. He asked if she would be at the next one in a few months.

Not sure yet, her text read in reply. But if you could, remember our challenge.

He promised he would. But he also was pretty sure that meant something bad was going to happen. He turned out to be right. Her attorney told his agent that Nana's cold ended up being the flu and there were complications.

He thought back to that bar in San Diego a year ago when she told him she was updating her will and said she would leave a little challenge for him in there.

"You don't have to do that for me," he had told her. "And it's not like you're going to die anytime soon."

"I'm not a spring chicken," she replied. "And the challenge isn't really about you anyway."

He both wondered what she meant by that and hoped it would be a long time before he found out. Unfortunately, he was going to find out today. It felt way too soon.

Chase walked into the building and found the office for the George Gordon Law Firm, which was just as nondescript as the building.

"Hey, how are ya?" Chase said as he flashed his superstar smile at the receptionist behind the beige counter.

She looked up with a fake smile on her face that changed as soon as she saw who was standing there. Sometimes, he liked getting women all flustered just with his presence and he was going to enjoy this experience as well.

"Oh, Mr. Warwick," she stammered as she nervously got to her feet. "Thank you so much for coming. It's really a pleasure to have you here."

He flashed a bigger Hollywood smile at her and leaned over on her counter. "It's great to be here."

She smiled again and fluttered her eyelashes a bit even though he was sure she didn't realize that she was doing it. "George Gordon, Esquire, will be with you shortly. You can have a seat until he's ready for you."

"Thank you. And what did you say your name was?"

"Becca. Well, Rebecca," she said in that flustered tone of hers.

"Rebecca, I appreciate it."

She nodded and gave him a flirtatious smile before she ducked into a hallway that Chase assumed led to offices.

He turned to find an empty seat in the beige waiting room — and well, they were almost all empty — and noticed there was at least one woman there who didn't seem impressed with him.

She just scowled and turned away, looking down at her feet.

She looked familiar to him for a moment, but the only woman he knew who lived in Torrance was Nana, so this was definitely not someone he had crossed paths with.

Chase pulled out his phone and scrolled through nothing important, trying to distract himself from the horrible instrumental version of "Pour Some Sugar on Me" floating out of a speaker near the receptionist's desk.

He loved eighties music, and he loved acting in a movie franchise that was set in the eighties because it exposed him to even more good music from that era.

But this rendition of Def Leppard was awful.

"Mr. Warwick, Mr. Gordon is ready for you."

He looked up to see the receptionist standing in the doorway giving him a huge smile. "Thank you, Rebecca."

She beamed back at him. He would forget her name as soon as he left this place, but for now, he would flash as much charm as he could at Rebecca. It's what a good actor would do.

"And Ms. Colton, he's ready for you too."

Chase's head snapped around to see the woman he had been sitting close to get up and quietly walk past him without even acknowledging his existence. He couldn't blame her. He knew why he recognized her now.

Her name was Emma Colton, and she lived with her grandmother, Nana, in a house they shared in Torrance.

Nana loved bragging about Emma. She was a librarian in Redondo Beach and was the one all the little kids asked for to read a book at story time on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

She was the only person who knew the secret ingredient that made Nana's chocolate chip cookies so good.

Emma was also the only family that Nana was close to, or at least the only one Nana really talked about. Chase remembered her mentioning a son and ex-husband in passing once. But she always talked about Emma.

And now Emma was alone.

She also wasn't falling for Chase's charming self.

But unlike Reba? Rhonda? Rebecca! Unlike her, Chase wasn't going to try and lay on the charm offensive anymore.

She had probably been going through a lot, so it was best for him to just sit back.

Maybe he could even help her out depending on what was in her grandmother's will.

Perhaps he could line up a lawyer or an estate planner to look through things.

He would have to mention that later though.

Right now, they just needed to listen to this will, and he could figure out the next steps from there.

As he followed Emma into a conference room, a man with glasses and a bad toupee stood up to greet her. "Emma, I was so sorry to hear about Dorothy, but I promise we're here to help. Please have a seat here and we'll get started."

Emma nodded and sat down in a boring chair in the boring conference room without a word.

"Chase!" the man bellowed. "George Gordon. So glad you could make it."

"Yeah, of course," he replied as he shook George's hand. "I'm sorry it's under these circumstances."

"Me too. But I know how much Dorothy liked you, and she would've been so happy to know you made it here for her."

"Yeah, Nana was pretty amazing."

Emma stared up at Chase with angry eyes. Huh. Did she not know that everyone in the Project Lyonheart fandom called her "Nana"? Was it just weird for her to hear someone else call her grandmother by her affectionate nickname? He made a note to himself to try not do that again in front of her.

He sat down and extended his hand towards her. "I'm Chase."

"Emma."

She gave him a curt look but shook his hand anyway.

"I thought I recognized you earlier. Your grandmother always loved bragging about you to everyone." That got a small smile out of her that Chase chalked up as a little victory. "I was sorry to hear about her passing. She was a really special woman."

"Thank you," Emma said quietly.

She turned away from him and tried to wipe away a tear without him seeing, but he saw it.

He was an actor after all. He had learned all the different types of crying in a class back in college.

But there was something about her doing it right in front of him and knowing that it wasn't an act that made him wish he could reach out and wipe it away for her.

And yet, Chase kept his hands to himself. Nana often referred to her granddaughter as a "spitfire" who was more than capable of handling herself. But he did wonder if anyone was taking care of her now.

Another man walked into the room and shook the lawyer's hand. "Sorry, I'm late. Traffic was brutal."

"That's Los Angeles for you," George said before turning to Emma. "Ms. Colton, this is Charles Dickson. He's your grandmother's financial planner."

Emma gave him a perplexed look. "You were her financial planner?"

"For the last few years. She actually started with my dad back in the eighties after her divorce, and I took over her portfolio when he retired."

Emma kept staring at him. "No, I mean, I didn't know my grandmother had a financial planner."

"She wasn't a very active client," he explained. "I would see here every few years just to make sure her lawyer had our contact information if she ever..."

His voice trailed off and he diverted his eyes away from Emma.

"Yes, well." George cleared his throat and started fumbling around with some papers. "Let me get one more person here."

He started dialing a number on one of those conference call phones in the center of the table, and the sound of a phone ringing echoed off the walls of the somber room before a man's voice came through the speaker.

"Hello?"

Chase could hear Emma's harsh intake of breath, and he wondered who this person was on the other end of the line that elicited such a visceral reaction.

"Mr. Colton, this is George Gordon. Are you ready for the reading of Dorothy's will?"

"Sure."

Mr. Colton sounded gruff and annoying.

"So I'm here with a few other people. First is Dorothy's financial planner, Charles Dickson. And you know Emma Colton."

"Hello, Emma," he said roughly.

"Hi, Dad."

That was her dad? And he couldn't even be bothered to be here with his daughter for this? Chase wasn't impressed.

"And we also have Chase Warwick here," the lawyer said.

"Who the hell is Chase Warwick?"

Chase Warwick was a mega movie star! Everyone knew who Chase was except for this jackass apparently. Yeah, not impressed at all.

"Uh, hello, sir. This is Chase. I was a friend of Dorothy's."

There was a gruff scoff from the other end of the phone line followed by, "Whatever. Let's just get this over with."

Chase watched as George opened a manila envelope and pulled out some legal-looking document that he laid down in front of him.

"Is everyone ready?" he asked.

Charles agreed, the dumb guy on the phone gave a gross "Yeah," and Chase nodded his head. He turned to see Emma staring down at her hands, her fingers strained with tension. He couldn't help but reach out and put his palm over them.

"You ready?" he asked her quietly.

She looked up and gave him a weak smile. "Yeah."

He nodded encouragingly at her and quickly pulled his hand away. This seemed like it was tough for her, but he doubted she wanted to have some stranger holding her hand right at this moment.

They all turned to George, who took a sip of water from a glass on the table and began.

"I, Dorothy Colton, of Torrance, California, do hereby declare this to be my last will and testament.

" He started going through some legal crap, blah blah blah, before he got to the first name on the list of items in Nana's will.

"To Don Colton, I leave my residence in Torrance, California.

This includes the house and land. Both were transferred to my possession in 1988 with the understanding that Don would gain possession of them upon my death.

This is all I am leaving in my will for him. "

"That's it?" yelled the angry voice on the phone.

Emma's hands came up to hide her face, and Chase was honestly worried about her mental state. It turned out her father was a definite jackass, and Chase didn't like the way it was affecting Emma.

He leaned over and put his hand on her back to comfort her. "Do you need a minute?"

She took a deep breath and looked up at him with a plastered-on smile. "No. I'm good. Thank you."

She was definitely not alright, but it seemed like she didn't want Chase to press the issue, so he pulled his hand away and leaned back in his chair again. He came into this wondering what exactly Nana had in store for him, but now he was wondering how all of this was affecting her granddaughter.

"If I could continue." George cleared his throat to get everyone's attention back on the will. "The will states that this concludes Don's participation in the reading and he may leave now."

"Sure," Don muttered. "Emma, I'll be in touch later. I would like to get the house on the market by next week."

"Of course."

"It was nice to hear your voice."

Emma just stared at the gray phone sitting in the middle of the conference table. She wasn't going to respond to this man, and Chase didn't blame her. He would've done the same thing if his dad treated him like that.

There was some rustling on the other end of the phone, and he heard Don's muffled voice yell, "That bitch only left us the house," before the line went dead.

Chase couldn't help himself. He had to say something before they moved on. "Well, that guy officially sucks."

He heard a small laugh escape Emma's lips, which made him feel a little bit better. At least she still had some humor left in her after this.

"OK, now that that's all settled." George gave them a small smile from the other side of the table. "Shall we continue with the rest of the reading?"

"I'm ready when you are," Chase said with a huge smile. "You good to go, Emma?"

She smiled and nodded her head. "Yeah, let's continue."

He leaned back in his chair, content in the fact that he and Emma were on the same side. They were sort of friends in this now, right?

But that wasn't going to last for long.