Inheritance Novels Novels & Stories

My father looks up at me, curiosity flickering across his face. "It's about the family inheritance. As most of us already know, our grandfather, Bartholomew Cross, founded the Cross Enterprise, and in his will, he wrote out some shares that would be inherited by his first great-grandson, which is Ezra. We—" "Adrian, we've talked about this before, and I told you that an illegitimate child cannot inherit my father's shares." My father stands to his feet, his voice echoing through the living room like thunder. "But it is written in the will," I say.

It was hers. The first file loaded. Documents. Rows of numbers, names, accounts she didn’t recognize. Banks, corporations, charitable foundations—transactions layered in shadow, evidence of influence beyond anything she’d imagined. “My mother kept records,” she whispered, more to herself than anyone else. “Not just of money. Of favors. Of disappearances.” Cassian’s presence behind her was silent but steady. Hands resting lightly on the small of her back, just enough to remind her she wasn’t alone. She was an archivist of sins, he murmured.

"Look at me Adeline. Do I look like I have any worthy collateral for the multi-millions we need" I had bought him new shirts. But Conrad still wore the ones with holes in them. "What if I take out a loan? I have properties of my—" Wait. I did not have properties of my own anymore. I had sold them out. "Maybe I could pawn some of my jewelry." "You have already pawned enough. The ones left are your family heirlooms and the ones your father specifically gifts you" "Maybe I could pawn those ones off?" “If your father finds out you are going to be disinherited"