Gracie had always wanted to go abroad. This wasn’t how she imagined her first trip outside her home country, though. Traffic was bad, rain fell down in huge drops, and she was running late for a legal meeting. This sudden trip had something to do with her former boss’s last will and testament.
She leaned forward from the backseat of the taxi and lightly tapped the driver on the shoulder. “Excuse me. Are we far from Hawthorne & Hawthorne?” As if on cue, her cell phone buzzed and there was a new message from her contact. “Meeting has started. What time do you think you will be arriving?”
“The building isn’t that far,” the driver told her. “But with this rain and traffic, we’ll be there in probably thirty minutes.”
Holy flying great balls of fire. That didn’t sound good. Gracie let out a deep breath, trying to calm herself. “What if I walk from here? How long would that take?”
The driver looked up at the sky and then glanced at her, looking uncertain. “You going out to walk in this weather?”
She nodded. “I really need to be somewhere right now. These are legal people. I can’t afford to be late.” Never mind that she didn’t know why she was even being included in this reading.
The taxi driver nodded. “Okay, then. It’s about ten minutes if you walk.” He started giving her directions, ending with, “You can’t miss it. Gray stone office, all windows, and granites. Has a fancy sign announcing who they are.”
“Great! Thank you. You’re awesome!” Gracie said, handing him the payment and scrambling out of the cab, clutching her maroon duffle bag.
Theo hardly noticed the girl who had just entered the room. His eyes landed on her briefly before shifting his attention back to his late grandfather’s lawyer, Andrew. His thoughts were on what the will might contain. He had a sinking feeling it was anything but good news, at least for him. Teeth on his thumb, he wondered what sort of act of vengeance his grandfather would unleash at this very important family event. Since Theo’s father had died several years ago, his grandfather had refused to appoint Theo as the next heir. Would he be disinherited? No, that would be too drastic, even for his grandfather. They may have not gotten along most of the time, but the old man would never go that far. If there was anything Theo excelled in, it was managing their family business. His late grandfather knew that. He just didn’t want Theo to take his place.
Andrew cleared his throat loudly and clapped his hands twice to catch the Crosses’ attention. “Good morning, everyone.” He gave each of the family members a nod and a brief smile. “Today is the reading of the last will and testament of Charles Theodore Cross. Rest assured, these documents are valid and authentic. He wrote this with a sound mind.” He picked up the loose leaf of papers on the desk in front of him and thumbed through them. “In fact, he was in such a sound mind that he made a video version of his will.”
“Charles was always so thorough,” Chris said in a joking tone as if he found this funny. He was Charles’ half-brother. Theo knew he was as nervous as he was. Next to him, Chris was the worst at getting along with Charles.
Theo had to let out a laugh under his breath. His grandfather was already buried in his grave and yet he still held power over all three of them: Him, Chris, and Chris’s wife, Amelia.
Andrew cleared his throat again. “Right. He wanted to make sure everything was clear and in order.” He looked at all seven people in the room, including two other lawyers and that girl. “Would you rather watch the video or I read the will first?”
“Read it,” Theo said, his tone flat and hard.