Where there is a will...

Four Years later

Curtis Arciero

“The golden prince finally decided to grace us with his benevolent presence.” Miles snickered as soon as I got to the living area. 

I was no fucking prince. He knew that better than anyone—because his arrival had swept the red carpet right from under my feet. I wanted to knock his teeth out of his mouth more than ever but I had no time to waste. I had a business to run that did not include coming back here. I had no desire to be near the family I despised. 

The last thing I wanted was to be in some hate-filled family gathering, the vultures brought together by the carcasses of grandfather’s estate. Everyone wanted a piece of it. I didn’t. But that didn’t mean I was happy that he wanted these greedy fucks to have any of it. Besides, he had specifically required all his grandchildren to be present for his will to be read. 

Which meant I had to sit in this stifling room with my father’s and uncles’ illegitimate children, including the ones I didn’t know existed before today. The men in my family took a surprising amount of pride in sowing wild oats. 

I caught sight of a blonde on my father’s arm and wanted to throw her out of the room. 

“What the fuck are you doing here?” I growled in her direction. 

“Curtis!” My father roared, shielding her as if I would cause her harm if he didn’t. He had no shame, bringing his mistress to grandfather’s will reading. She was not even any of his illegitimate children's mother. I was pretty certain she was younger than me—younger than Miles, if her taste in clothing and accessories was any indication. Her waist-length hair must have cost her a dime more than the auburn wig she was wearing a week ago. 

I scoffed at her lovestruck expression. Wait until he drained the last of his savings buying her those expensive earrings. She would run faster than a wild rabbit, sell every valuable gem he bought her, and . move on to the next brainless billionaire. Or who knows, maybe she already had one she was seeing. 

“Let’s all settle down, shall we?” Grandfather’s lawyer cleared his throat. He was done with my family’s incessant bickering, the poor man had extra creases on his forehead. 

I took my seat at the only available spot, which happened to be next to Miles. 

“What the fuck is she doing here?” He grumbled. I knew he was referring to my father’s mistress. While I felt the same way about her, I would never forget what his existence and his mother’s presence had done to mine. 

So I grunted listlessly and ignored him. 

“This is the final will of the deceased, Hugo Arciero, written on the 3rd of August, 2020. My trusted attorney, Maverick, is a witness that while I write this will, my state of mind is stable and I am under no influence from any third party. I appoint him as Personal Representative of my last will and statement.” Maverick read out, making the whispers die down in the living area. 

He fired off the list of children and grandchildren as written by grandfather. The old man had three sons, one daughter, and impressively, twenty grandchildren. Twenty-one, now that my deadbeat eldest uncle had brought a ten-year-old son no one knew about. Miles found it funny to make a joke about the young boy not being the recepient of a single cent. 

I was too focused on Maverick’s expression to find humor in anything right now. He was uncomfortable. He was usually clear-headed, barely rattled by anything, so the fact that his hands were trembling lightly was an ominous premonition. 

Which is why when he read out the next part, it took a moment for me to process his words. 

“I bequeath all of my estates, of whatever kind and location, to my grandson Curtis Arciero, provided that he is married within one year from this day.” 

“That has to be fake!” Father was the first to erupt. 

“Why the hell would pops leave everything to his long-lost grandson? You were barely there for him when he needed you!” Miles glared at me, as if I had written the damn will. Everyone agreed, but they didn’t know a damn thing. I knew the kind of game my grandfather was playing, and I knew he must be smiling in his grave as he waited for the other shoe to drop. 

Sure enough, there was another part. 

“If the above-mentioned requirement is not met, or if it is proved, with irrefutable evidence, that the marriage is null or unlawful, then Curtis shall only be the benefactor of 10% of my shares in Arciero Industries. The rest of my estates shall be distributed as follows:..” 

It didn’t matter. No one was listening. I was being stared at like I was the mortal enemy in the room. As though I had put a gun on grandfather’s temple and made him write the will. Father was looking at me like I had the power to invalidate the entire will and my eldest uncle was seconds away from pulling the trigger on me just to make sure I didn’t meet the requirements and everyone else got a piece of the pie. 

A few minutes ago, I was planning to let Maverick decide what to do with my share of the estate. But now, I knew why grandfather was doing this. Apart from forcing me into ‘giving someone a chance’, he wanted me to protect everything he had worked so hard to build. I would do that. If not for him, to wipe the smirk off their faces. 

I stood up and marched right to my father and his mistress. “Give me that.” 

She looked up at me, confused. 

“The ring.” I pointed down at her finger. 

Her face flushed and she whipped her head at my father helplessly. He narrowed his eyes at me. 

“You heard what grandfather wanted, didn’t you? I own everything he had, and that includes grandmother’s engagement ring.” 

I would have let it go but I had overheard her once, whining to father about how tiny the ruby was, and the fact that it was not a diamond. She had no idea how much the ring meant to my grandparents. Well, she would have the chance to get a diamond now. 

She looked displeased as she slid the ring off her finger and placed it in my palm, instantly pouting to her fiancé about it. I didn’t give him time to coax her. 

I turned around and swept my gaze around the room, at my family. “I'm giving you all a week to vacate my house.”