"This is the last will Mr. Carmichael made before his passing. He called me a few weeks leading to his demise to make changes to his will and I assure you that this is exactly what he intended and no foul play has been made," he said in all seriousness, making sure he sent his point across to everybody in the room and it sunk in as he expected it to. Noticing that nobody had any intentions of asking any questions he proceeded.
''The properties of Mr. Carmichael are as follows so that everyone knows his entire assets, even the ones he didn't tell his family about. "This house. The Carmichael mansion. Carmichael group of industries. His law firm. The Island in Maplewood. The houses scattered across the countries. There's a house at the outskirts of town with a greenhouse. His cars. The jet. There's also a private business he set up. He didn't register it in his name so I will mention the name it was registered in for everyone to hear." He finished naming his assets and now it was time to know who exactly those he mentioned belonged to.
"I, Reginald Carmichael, being of sound mind and disposing memory declare this to be my last will and testament. If you're reading this it means I am already dead. I would like for my children to not fight no matter the outcome of this will. It is in goodwill I have shared my property as according. I hope you all live in harmony and learn to tolerate and love yourselves. I know I wasn't the best father to you all but just know that I did love you. In my own way but I did and I hope you don't resent me for all the bad decisions I made."
The man spoke about loving themselves like they could forget about everything and hug one another. So far none of the siblings had spoken and it had Alanna on edge. It sounded a lot to her like whatever was written in there wasn't going to be good but maybe it was just her. She hoped so.
"Your father wants you to have the pink Lamborghini, Miss Carmichael. She squealed at this and her siblings just looked at her. He also leaves you with the house under his aunt's name."
"Mr. Carmichael and Mr. Carmichael," he addressed both Ares and Orion and they both sat up, their ears perking. They were siblings but she knew they also wanted to know whom their father loved enough to leave behind his legacy to. ''Ares, the private business he registered was in your name, so it automatically belongs to you. You get one of the houses. He said to choose any car of your choice from his collection." Ares had the face that said, 'that's it?' but he tried to remain calm. He clenched his jaw and looked at his brother.
"Orion, your father leaves you with the law firm, any one of the houses and a car of your choosing and the small arcade business he built, I forgot to mention that."
Something wasn't adding up because by far he hadn't mentioned the bigger assets and who they would go to. Tensions had started to rise but nobody wanted to start the quarrel just yet. Everybody's attention was now on Soren, because he could be the only one in there to inherit the bigger parts. The brothers were practically drilling a hole in him but he didn't look like he could be bothered about it whatsoever.
"Mr. Carmichael bequeaths this mansion, the Carmichael group of industries, the island, the jet, any car of choosing and the house outskirts of town to...
He paused.
The moment of truth was here.
He looked up at everyone in the room and they all stared at him. Soren, however didn't look like he cared because he didn't seem to be listening even. Whatever the outcome he was still Soren Elijah Orwell. Nothing could change that fact.
"His wife. Miss Alanna Ingram."
The silence that followed right after was deafening and Alanna could swear, she had disassociated in that moment, sitting as still as possible as she tried to process the man's words as slowly as she could. It was about to be hell on earth and she tried not to look at any of the siblings in the eye.
What?" Astrid screamed.
"You're joking, right?'' Orion said in disbelief.
"Now that's just some dumb shit," Ares barked.
Soren just looked up for the first time and went back to what he was doing on his phone.
Alanna was horrified. How did it get to this? She had just come because she thought the man had something in his will, a message, he needed to convey and not for him to literally hand her his entire legacy.
"You can't be serious right now James. Did you rig the will, because I know damn well that's not my father's fucking wish." Ares was madder than the rest of them. Maybe because he was the oldest and was sure their father was going to leave him with everything.
"They didn't even get married. Why is she addressed as his wife in the will?" Astrid demanded an answer from a confused James who only looked like he was just doing his job by conveying the man's last wishes.
"I know this isn't exactly the outcome all of you were expecting but if you would just calm down, there's more I have to add," he said, gesturing with his hand for everyone to settle down. Their attention turned to Alanna, and she stiffened under their gazes. The brothers had never looked at her for more than a minute before and right now it felt like she had been placed naked under a microscope and was being dissected into a million pieces.
"Mr. Carmichael knew this wouldn't exactly be accepted by some of you. If any of you have an objection to miss Ingram's inheritance, he says to take back the ones he gave you and to give them to miss Ingram."
"What?"
This time it wasn't from any of the siblings but Alanna herself. What was this man thinking putting her in such a spot. He had three children. THREE! Yet he still had to somehow involve her in his mess of a life. "Okay fine, since it's now in my name, I can choose to give it to someone else right?" She asked, hope shinning in her eyes at the new prospect she had found into getting herself out of the situation.
James' reaction was so slow; it was as if wanting her to fully grasp the gravity of the situation and let it sink in. He shook his head a few times and it was enough to tell her that she was fucked. "Mr. Carmichael said that should you choose to give up the assets that they be donated to charity."
"No!"
Orion objected staring at Alanna with all the hatred in the world if that was even possible. It was like he had made sure that whatever the case the property stayed exactly in her hands and nowhere else.
"He said he knew why he did it like this and that he knew very well that his children wouldn't be satisfied but in the long run you would come to understand that his decision wasn't an easy one to make but it was one that had to be taken."
"Bullshit." Ares said under his breath. He was seething and it was taking everything in him to still sit and listen to his father's foolishness. Handing over his legacy to a literal stranger and overlooking his own children. He could have even given them to his hardheaded sister and he would have found nothing wrong with it. Hell he could have even handed everything to Soren.
His eyes went to the girl whose whole existence embodied innocence. He had always known that girl was trouble, but the old man was too caught up in young debauchery to notice the bigger picture. He wondered what charm she had put on his father to make him so stupid in love to give her everything.
"Soren?" The solicitor addressed for the first time and everyone's attention turned to him. He hadn't said anything on the will. If he cared, he didn't show it either but judging by the bored expression on his face it wasn't hard to tell he didn't give a fuck.
"Mr. Carmichael wants you to take care of miss Ingram." Alanna's eyes widened and she looked at Soren who was already staring at her. What did taking care of her even mean. "Miss Ingram isn't well versed in business. He wants you to guide her and show her the ropes till she can stand on her own and manage the businesses herself. In other words, he wants you to be co-owner until she's able to do handle things."
"Was father really in his right mind when he wrote this will." Astrid asked the very obvious question that had been on everybody's mind because ain't no way this man was sane when he wrote all that had been said in his will. Was he threatened?
His sister's question had Ares wondering because there definitely had been some dirty play and he wasn't exactly sure who was playing these jokes on them. The girl couldn't have done it. She wasn't smart enough for that anyways. He needed to investigate it at the earliest because if word got out they'd be the laughingstock of the masses.
''I refuse.''