The Inheritance: A feisty, giggle-inducing romance

by Coleman, Angie

  Jamie walks round the table and kneels down at my feet, then he takes my hands in his hands and he flips the box open with his finger – it opens on my palm to reveal a ring. It’s spiral shaped and it’s made of yellow and white gold with a diamond set at the top. It’s so bright that it almost glitters.

  “Do you want to marry me, Ash?” Jamie whispers, holding my hands in his. They betray his impatience, despite him sounding calm and confident.

  I can only think about some of the things that I heard his mother say: “You know how I managed to win over my husband’s heart? With a spaghetti dish!”

  “Yes,” I say, then the happiness and the emotion overwhelm me. “Yes, I do.” I love this man. He smiles at me, he puts the ring on my finger and then he stands up. He takes my hand and wraps me in one of his warm, protective hugs. I’ve never seen him this happy!

  I won’t be able to stay at home all day today, if I want to find some kind of emotional balance again. I have to go out – I want to take some flowers to my father. He deserves them.

  We hope you enjoyed this book!

  More addictive fiction from Aria:

  Find out more

  Find out more

  Find out more

  For more information, click the following links

  Acknowledgements

  Translator’s Acknowledgements

  About Angie Coleman

  Become an Aria Addict

  Acknowledgments

  Like most writers, I would like to thank a few people who had an influence in shaping this book.

  First and foremost, thanks to my little sister for sharing this experience with me – I owe most of the work to you.

  Thanks to Bia, my little star, who encouraged me to believe in this book. I’ve never been a sociable person but she has constantly pushed me to make links with people, which has been extremely helpful in getting my name out there. Thanks for believing in me, Bia, and also thanks to your sisters Fabrizia, Emanuela, Giorgia, Alessia, Pia and Marianna. They are my first fans. I love you, girls.

  Thanks to Debby, my lifetime friend – you have given me confidence and with your help I never gave up. Thanks for everything, but most of all, thanks for always being there for me.

  Thanks Daddy and Maman for supporting me with a passion and for the helpful comments that have helped me to make this a better story.

  Thanks to the staff from ilmiolibro.it and to Giulia Migneco, for having chosen my book. You all contributed to making my dream come true and I can’t thank you enough for that.

  Thanks to Linda Fantoni and Eleonora Mandese. You have been close to me over the last few months and have fallen in love with Jamie and Ashley. You have given me the most beautiful news and I owe you the most intense emotions that I experienced with this book project.

  Thanks to all those who have read and commented on my book over the last few months. When this adventure began, I promised that I would acknowledge everyone, so here we go: thanks to Yuuen, Bianca Bruno, AndCad, Alessandro Furgiuele, Marilena Boccola, Debby, Linda Fantoni, Angelo Pulpito, Fiorella, Piera, Francesco Gioia, Antonella Maggio, Alessandra Flores d’Arcais, Sabrina Carli, Vittoria Lambrosini, Francesco Montebello, Flavia, Miriana Fantini, Valerio, Veronica, Alessandra Cigalino, Giorgia Bruno, Rosaria Palumbo, Sara Seti, Marina Litrico, Paola Marconi, vitt 04, Eleonora Mandese, Angelo Rodà, Maria Di Campli San Vito.

  Thanks to all the bloggers, Facebook pages and the book lovers who reviewed and commented on this book.

  Thanks to the Newton Compton team, and especially Alessandra Penna, who has always believed in and supported this book. You have all helped me to shape this book and you have given it the beautiful dress that it wears now.

  Last but not least, I want to thank my two little sweethearts. Alice and Marco, you can’t read this book yet, it’s too soon for you two. You’ll have to learn how to read single letters first, then how to pronounce the letters all together to form words and after that, you’ll have to learn to read whole sentences. But see, your Auntie thinks about you already. I hope that you’ll enjoy all the little surprises in life, and this might be one of them.

  To all those who have read this book from cover to cover, I can’t thank you enough for having invested your time in it. I hope that this book has given you a reason to smile even more.

  *

  P.S. The Epilogue contains an expression that probably needs explaining further, the ‘sunk cost heuristic’. Heuristics are simple and efficient rules that our brain uses as a way to simplify problems, make opinions and take decisions, whenever we don’t have a lot of information at our disposal. Our cognitive system has limited resources and, for this reason, it uses heuristics as a means to simplify decisions and to solve problems. More specifically, in the book, I make reference to an economic understanding of the heuristic, the sunk cost heuristic. In short, we often think that if we have invested a lot of resources in a business, it’s fairer to persevere in order to get better results rather than change the object of our investments. Commonly, those who find themselves in this situation are led to think that, if they chose to invest in something else, they would waste the time and money invested in their previous business project. Because of this fallacy, we often keep investing in something hopelessly unhelpful for us and we keep wasting our resources with barely any results. In the book, Ashley has found herself in a similar situation – she has persevered in hating her father and Jamie for years, even when she could have given in to the fact that she was wrong, after all. Eventually, our protagonist understood that she had been wasting her time and that she didn’t want to waste any more on a hopeless cause.

  Translator’s Acknowledgements

  The completion of this translation would have not been possible without the invaluable help of Irene Flack (Starfish English Services), who has patiently edited the documents and has provided constructive suggestions throughout the process.

  About Angie Coleman

  ANGIE COLEMAN was born in 1987 in Lanciano, Italy. She graduated from Organization and Social Relations at the University of Chieti. Winner of the 2016 Ilmioesordio prize.

  Become an Aria Addict

  Aria is the new digital-first fiction imprint from Head of Zeus.

  It’s Aria’s ambition to discover and publish tomorrow’s superstars, targeting fiction addicts and readers keen to discover new and exciting authors.

  Aria will publish a variety of genres under the commercial fiction umbrella such as women’s fiction, crime, thrillers, historical fiction, saga and erotica.

  So, whether you’re a budding writer looking for a publisher or an avid reader looking for something to escape with – Aria will have something for you.

  Get in touch: aria@headofzeus.com

  Become an Aria Addict

  Find us on Twitter

  Find us on Facebook

  Find us on BookGrail

  Addictive Fiction

  First published in Italy in 2017 by Newton Compton

  First published in the UK in 2017 by Aria, an imprint of Head of Zeus Ltd

  Copyright © Angie Coleman, 2017

  Copyright © Marco Condorelli, 2017

  The moral right of Angie Coleman to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act of 1988.

  The moral right of Marco Condorelli, to be identified as the translator of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act of 1988.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

  This is a work of fiction. All characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

  9 7 5 3 1 2 4 6 8

  A CIP catalo
gue record for this book is available from the British Library.

  ISBN (E) 9781786694294

  Aria

  c/o Head of Zeus

  First Floor East

  5–8 Hardwick Street

  London EC1R 4RG

  www.ariafiction.com