Chapter 4 - The Game of Wills
The probate court of Crestview County was a building of imposing stone and dark wood, built in a time when wealth was meant to intimidate.
Two weeks had passed since the funeral. Two weeks of sleepless nights, of studying Thomas’s ledger, and of learning the staggering, terrifying scope of the empire I now controlled. I had officially resigned from my nursing job at the hospital, not because I wanted to, but because the media circus surrounding my marriage had made it impossible to work.
Just as Julian Junior had threatened, the local tabloids had run scathing headlines: The Nurse Who Prescribed Herself a Fortune. The Deathbed Dynasty.
I had kept my head down, refusing to speak to the reporters camped outside my small house. But today, the silence ended. Today was the official reading of the will.
I sat at the long mahogany table on the left side of the courtroom, Edward Vance sitting beside me with a mountain of legal briefs. On the right side sat the Rossi family, flanked by a team of expensive, slick-talking attorneys from the city. Victoria Rossi wore black lace and a massive pair of dark sunglasses, playing the part of the grieving, wronged relative for the local news cameras permitted in the gallery.
Judge William Sterling, a stern man with silver hair who had known Thomas for forty years, took his seat at the bench. He looked down at the assembled parties, his expression unreadable.
"We are here today to resolve the estate of the late Thomas Rossi," Judge Sterling began, his voice echoing in the high-ceilinged room. "I have before me a petition from Julian Rossi Senior to void the marriage of Thomas Rossi and Nancy Vance on the grounds of undue influence, as well as a petition to contest the validity of the last will and testament dated September 14th."
The lead attorney for the Rossis, a sharp-faced man named Carter, stood up. "Your Honor, our position is clear. Nancy Vance was a medical professional entrusted with the care of a terminal patient. She used her position of trust to isolate Mr. Rossi from his loving family, manipulating his weakened mental state to secure a marriage certificate and a rewrite of his will just weeks before his passing. This is a classic case of predatory elder abuse."
"A loving family?" Edward Vance stood up, his voice calm, carrying the effortless weight of a seasoned litigator. "Your Honor, I have here the hospital visitor logs for the three months Thomas Rossi spent in the oncology ward. During those ninety days, Nancy Vance worked seventy-two shifts, spending over eight hundred hours providing direct, hands-on care. During those same ninety days, Julian Rossi visited exactly twice—both times to ask for an extension on a five-hundred-thousand-dollar business loan. Victoria Rossi visited once, to complain about the estate's landscaping."
A low murmur broke out in the gallery. Victoria glared at Edward from behind her sunglasses.
"Furthermore," Edward continued, "we have the financial records of Rossi Development. For the past five years, Julian Rossi has systematically embezzled funds from the corporate accounts to fund his personal gambling debts. Thomas Rossi was fully aware of this. He did not write his family out of the will because he was manipulated; he wrote them out because they are criminals."
Edward projected a series of bank statements onto the screen at the front of the courtroom. The evidence was damning. Julian Senior put his head in his hands, his shoulders shaking as his own lawyer turned to look at him in surprise.
"This is a fabrication!" Victoria screamed, standing up and slamming her purse onto the table. "My husband would never—"
"Order!" Judge Sterling banged his gavel, his voice booming. "Mrs. Rossi, sit down or I will have you removed for contempt."
Victoria slowly sank back into her seat, her face purple with rage.
Judge Sterling adjusted his glasses and looked down at the will in front of him. "Having reviewed the medical depositions, the financial audits, and the marriage certificate, I find no evidence of mental incompetence or undue influence. The marriage is legally binding. The will is valid."
A gasp went through the right side of the table.
"However," Judge Sterling continued, his eyes shifting to me, "there is a highly unusual clause in this will. Thomas Rossi has left his entire eighty-four-million-dollar estate to his wife, Nancy. But the release of the funds is subject to a specific condition."
My heart stopped. I looked at Edward, but the lawyer simply nodded, as if he had expected this.
"According to Section 4, Clause B," the Judge read, "Nancy Rossi must personally oversee the liquidation and restructuring of Rossi Development. She is required to visit the five primary development sites in the state and make a final determination on their future. Until she completes this task and signs the restructuring papers, the estate's liquid assets will remain frozen in probate, with only a small monthly stipend released to her."
Judge Sterling looked at me, his gaze softening slightly. "Nancy, you have sixty days to complete this tour and make your decision. If you fail to do so, or if you refuse, the entire estate will be dissolved and donated to the state's public park fund."
I sat in silence as the judge banged his gavel to adjourn the court.
Thomas had done it again. Even from beyond the grave, he was pulling the strings. He didn't just want to give me his money; he wanted to force me to step into his world. He wanted me to see what he had built, to understand the legacy I had walked away from fifty-six years ago.
As I stood up to leave, Julian Junior intercepted me in the aisle. His eyes were red, his voice a low, venomous hiss.
"You think you won, old woman?" he whispered. "You have to go to those development sites. You have to step out of this courtroom. And let me tell you... some of those sites are in very dangerous places. Accidents happen. Especially to seventy-three-year-old widows who don't know when to stay home."
May you like
Edward stepped between us, but Julian Junior just smiled, turned on his heel, and walked away.
The game was no longer just about money or old love. It had become a matter of survival.
