3. The Testament

The garden behind Adalfo Garcia’s luxurious house stretched wide, almost as a size of a football field. During his lifetime, Adalfo was very fond of gardening.

There were different kind of trees and colorful flowers scattered symmetrically all across the garden. Adalfo hired a skilled gardener to take a special care of his garden. A greenhouse was built in the east side of the garden for plants needing specific care, especially Adalfo’s favorite flowers.

Siena was watering the various plants in the greenhouse, when she came to realize that Damien Lambert had been suddenly standing behind her. When she turned around, the twenty nine year old lawyer was smiling at her.

“It seems to me that you’ve made yourself at home, Siena…,” Damien greeted.

Siena turned her gaze to the charming French descent man. His pleasant smile and his warm chocolate brown eyes assured her that the man would never have any difficulty to attract women’s attention.

Damien dressed up in a casual look today, gray collared shirt and dark blue jeans, showing off his athletic figure.

“Hi, Damien…. I’ve no idea that you’re coming today,” Siena replied in a cheerful tone.

“I’m used to come without earlier notice. Mister Adalfo asked me to consider this house as my own house. I hope you don’t mind either.”

“Ah, of course not…. Nothing will ever change in this house. You can come whenever you like,” Siena responded, while removing her gardening gloves from her hands.

They both strode out of the greenhouse, aiming towards the gazebo located precisely in the back of the greenhouse. A set of cozy mint-colored sofa awaited them. Siena and Damien sat opposite each other.

“How are you doing, Siena? I notice that you’ve been busy with the journalists lately. But I have to admit, you’re really good at avoiding them,” said Damien, with a hint of a smile on his charming face.

Siena exhaled sharply, showing a wry smile on her face. “Like or dislike, I must learn to deal with them, just like what Grandpa did before.”

Ever since Adalfo passed away, Siena could not understand how the media miraculously found out that she had become the single heiress of Adalfo Garcia. The news was absolutely shocking.

The problem was everyone knew that Adalfo still had a grandson, Alfonso Garcia. Even though the relationship between the grandfather and the grandson was always complicated, nobody had ever expected that Adalfo would prefer to leave all his inheritances to Siena.

The media began to dig into Siena’s past brutally. Some traced her past down to her mother, Sakura Mori, who once served as Adalfo’s private nurse.

The cold-blooded journalists who were always hungry for sensational news began to make a wild prejudice. They accused Sakura and Adalfo of having an affair, neglecting the fact that Adalfo was more appropriate to be Sakura’s father!

Siena did not let the gossip bother her. She knew exactly how the media worked.

She had no intention to get into trouble with the media, and did not want to deal with them either. She chose the same way as Adalfo had always done, stayed away and remained silent.  

Damien was staring at the girl who sat in front of him. He only knew Siena for several days, but he could not understand why, this girl was making him curious.

When he wrote the testament on behalf of Adalfo, Adalfo indeed told him about Siena. But now that he had met Siena personally, he felt the urge to know more about Siena.

There was something that made Siena stood out from other women, but what was that? Was it because of her courage, her intelligence, or her innocence instead?

Oriental look was usually not his favorite type. But he had to admit to himself, it was Siena’s face instead, that lingered in his mind ever since they met each other.

Siena’s straight brown hair and petite body might be not as attractive as blonde hair and sensual figure, the typical of most of the women whom he dated. But when everything in Siena was compiled together, it created a combination that made him unable to turn his face away from her.

Damien rubbed his face with his right hand. What was wrong with him?

“Is there something you want to talk about, Damien?” Siena’s voice jarred Damien out of his thoughts.

“Oh…,” Damien cleared his throat. “Yes, actually there’s one thing. I come here as I have promised you before, at the time when I came to Mister Adalfo’s funeral.”

Damien took out a plastic folder from a messenger bag he was holding. “This is Mister Adalfo’s last will and testament. You must have been waiting for this, Siena…. With the testament in your hand, everything you possess is legal. No one, I repeat, no one can ever sue you anymore, not even Alfonso Garcia himself,” he declared firmly.

“How do you…? Do you know that Alfonso Garcia paid me a visit yesterday?” Siena was startled.

“Yes, I heard about it from Lucio. I think, as Mister Adalfo’s butler, he simply wants to protect you, Siena…. He’s worried about Alfonso trying to threaten you,” Damien explained.

Siena remembered her encounter with Alfonso that day. Something in her heart told her that Alfonso would not easily surrender to gain back his grandfather’s possessions.

“He said, he would bring this case to the court,” she informed.

Damien laughed out loud. “He won’t be able to do anything. This testament is legally valid. Mister Adalfo himself asked me to write on behalf of him and register it to the notary. Every process had even been finished before Mister Adalfo passed away. So, obviously Alfonso can’t sue you. He will be just humiliating himself if he dares to bring this case to the court,” he responded leisurely.

“I know. But I’m still not feeling at ease. I have a feeling…, Alfonso will not stop just like that. He has been living a comfortable high life. But as a matter of fact, he intentionally returned to Los Angeles just to demand for his grandfather’s inheritance. It’s impossible that he would fly all the way from New York to Los Angeles just to threaten me, and then return without any result,” Siena argued.

“Huh!” Damien grunted. “He didn’t even show his face on Mister Adalfo’s funeral day. But when it comes to inheritance, he’s showing no sign of giving up. What a despicable man!” he berated Alfonso.

“Don’t worry, Siena…. Just ignore that man. He has been ignoring his own grandfather for too long. Now, we can see by ourselves, what kind of person he is. His greed knows no bounds,” he kept on taunting Alfonso in front of Siena.

“I don’t know. I don’t think he’s the kind of man that can be easily ignored,” Siena mumbled.

“All you have to do is to focus on the testament. Now, it’s yours. I’m giving it all to you, Siena….” Damien handed the transparent plastic folder to Siena.

Hesitating for a moment, Siena eventually reached out her hands, accepting the folder from Damien. Opening the folder, she took out a bundle of document from inside.

She skipped some front pages of the document containing elaborate texts about law she did not understand. Suddenly, her eyes were fixed upon a certain part of the document.

“What does it mean? Mister Adalfo wanted me to manage his five overseas assets? But he didn’t mention what kind of assets,” Siena protested.

“There’s an attachment on the last part of the document, keep on reading.”

Siena’s brows were pulled together as soon as she reached the part Damien had mentioned earlier. Her mouth opened and closed without a voice.

“Damien…. What is this…?” Siena lifted her gaze, staring at Damien with her eyes wide opened.

Damien’s lips now curved up in a smile. “That, Siena, is your duty to solve….”

It took a while for Siena to digest Damien’s words. He was not joking with her, was he? But how could a testament contain a joke?

Siena looked back at the document in her hands, hoping that she might have misread it. She even rubbed her eyes for a while, but the texts did not change.

What kind of game was Adalfo playing with her? Oh, this couldn’t be serious! Siena knew that her adopted grandfather was very fond of reading detective and mystery novels, but this was hard to believe.

The message written on the attachment of Adalfo’s testament was:

The first overseas asset inherited to Siena Mori to be managed is:

Drumbrazil, amaryllis, dahlia, anthurium, lavender, fuschia, orchid, honeysuckle, oleander, tulip, echinacea, lily.