The Cursed Inheritance — Lizabeth Loghry

They day Sara's grandfather died, malicious relatives made themselves at home in her mansion, defying the eighteen-year-old beauty to evict them. Then handsome stranger Dominic Martino appeared, ruthlessly claiming that her grandfather had willed that Sara be his bride -- or forfeit her inheritance.

With her own fate suddenly beyond her control, Sara thought she surely would go mad. But when first a boulder crashed down in her path with deadly accuracy, and then when she was nearly hurled from a balcony, Sara knew she wasn't going insane. Someone in the menacing house wanted her inheritance -- even if it meant killing Sara to get it…

A GRAVE JOKE

As our family lawyer, Mr. Hawthorne, cleared his throat to read Grandfather's will, I felt a deep bone-chilling sensation of foreboding that permeated me to the marrow. With it came a feeling of apprehension so strong that I found myself scarcely breathing as Mr. Hawthorne spoke.

"To my beloved granddaughter, Saravia Antonette D'Angelo, and Dominic Salvatore Martino, I leave my entire estate to be divided equally between them. This consists of the residence known as D'Angelo Vintage House, one hundred acres of vineyards, and the sum of one hundred thousand dollars.

"However, if my granddaughter does not marry Dominic Martino within three months of my death, the aforementioned estate shall go to him."

My grandfather had engaged me to a complete stranger! And if I did not marry a man I did not know, I would be condemned to an indigent life for my disobedience!