Chereads / The Hidden World Beneath the Crust / Chapter 3 - The Lawyer

Chapter 3 - The Lawyer

"Don't tell me to calm down Mikey, Don't you dare" said Tera "i'd like to see you tell the council of elders that were enjoying some nice mimosas on our back deck at the time of your stunt, to calm down" 

Mike turned to Tim "run up stairs and get cleaned up while i go and get yelled at by the old people"

"Yes daddy" said Tim as he did as he was told

"what are you going to do when all these lies unravel and Dean sees us for what we truly are. when he finds out the person he considers his best friend is a complete lie" asked Tera 

"ask him to forgive me" said Mike "I should probably go see the council"

Mike walked outside and was met with the icy glares of all six elders. The elders consisted of the oldest members of each of the main tribes. their are the dragons, the saters, the fairies, the centaurs, the tree ents, and the beast kin and right now they all looked pretty angry. "Good evening exalted members of the council. To what do I owe the pleasure of your company?"

"we originally came here to get an update on the potential ageling but we got our answer a little bit ago" said Fey the dragon matriarch "what do you have to say for yourself. Your meddling got six children the youngest being only nine, multiple woodland animals and one hundred and fifty thousand dryads killed" 

"I may have jumped the gun a bit" said Mike 

"a bit would be an understatement" said the Patriarch for the Fairies "Turns out this ageling is more powerful than we thought. I just got word from our base in the caribbean that there was an atmospheric ripple directly above our current location. It also registered as a two point five on the richter scale. Which means his energy pulse not only went out but up and down as well." 

"how long do we have before the Kabal arrive." asked Fey 

"depends on how long their agents take to get here and how long it takes them to complete their analisis" said the Matriarch of the beast kin.

"we have to move the boy as soon as possible" said the Patriarch of the saters.

"we might not have to move him" said Tera as she came back out to the porch "If my sources are correct then an attorney will be at the Evans residence as we speak" 

"What does an attorney have to do with our current problem Tera" asked Fey 

"as it turns out the late Mr. and Mrs. Evans left everything to Dean. Which mean not only is he loaded but he also owns multiple homes so he can jump from home to home if need be" said Tera 

"you don't think Virgel and Tammy will contest the will." asked Mike 

"They can try but I looked over that will and testament myself and its ironclad. They can even use the fact that Dean wasn't actually greg's kid but it wont work." she responded 

"we need a backup plan in case he chooses to stay" 

"he won't" said Mike "If i know Dean he'll jump ship the first moment he has. It's catching up to him once he does" 

"how can he....jump ship....as you say? He may be a sixteen year old entity with immense power but humans won't see that, they will see him as a small boy without his mommy and daddy. He'll be picked up by the police in know time. With no Identification or documentation proving his age, he won't even be able to book an Uber to go to one of his properties here in The USA let alone international travel" said the tree ent "He was never supposed to grown up in the human world so he doesn't legally exist. This also poses another problem. How can he receive an inheritance when he has no birth certificate or social security number."

"he has to have a birth certificate otherwise how was he able to attend school" asked Mike 

"I have a theory" said Tera "the family attorney had to have forged all the documentation necessary for him to live here. If you do a search through government databases you will him" 

"couldn't have been just the family attorney then" said Mike "Dean's Grandparents were very famous and known for doing shady under the table deals. So knowing the right people they probably forged birth records" 

"which allowed them to receive a birth certificate and social security number" concluded Fey "so he does exist legally" 

"can I raise a bit of a concern" asked Tim who had been sitting at the bar on the opposite end of the deck.

 "How long have you been sitting their dropping eaves" asked Mike 

"ummm.....long enough to know that once the Kabal find out who caused the incident today, Dean wont even be able to use his new wealth or even fly at all without the government knowing exactly where he his. Once they flag his accounts every time he uses his debit card to buy a soda or to get a burger it will leave a type of cyber footprint for government agents to follow. Same with flying it'd be like putting a big neon sign in the sky saying here I am. The FBI has offices in every major city in the country. They can have local police on scene within minutes of him using his bank accounts." he explained

 "that's worst case scenario son" said Mike "there were no witnesses, how can he be a suspect.

"i'm pretty sure nobody saw us walk out of the woods. But the school has cameras all over the outside pointing in every direction possible. so they would have us on camera going into the woods before the six humans and Dean going in after them" Said Tim

"nope" said Mike "I made sure the security cameras weren't recording at that time" 

"well, regardless on what happens he needs to vacate the city as soon as possible. Do the fairies have a spell strong enough to hide all of the boys movements even his cyber footprint" asked Fey

"we can make it to where his magical footprint is erased as soon as he uses magic but as far as his cyber footprint it's a hard no can do" said the fairy.

"I may have a solution to that" said Mike "earlier today Dean and I were talking about his current situation and i said off the cuff that i would adopt him if I could. Why don't I just do that. They never adopted him so he's still in the system" 

"but he's not up for adoption Mike" said Tera "They have the local Child Protective Services office eating out of the palm of their hands. Im sure their lining their pockets." 

"we could use that to our advantage" said Tim "we could blackmail them" 

"that'll never work" said Fey "the moment we start poking around they will tell his aunt and uncle and once they find out that he has all the money and assets they will adopt him in a heartbeat and he will become their new favorite person until they can figure out how to completely wipe him out"

"all we can do is hope that Dean makes good choices and doesn't give in to their pleads or blackmail" said the tree ent 

***************

Dean walked into the house through the servants entrance. He wasn't allowed to enter through the main door because he was considered a servant. He greeted Nanna Rose and headed down the servants steps to the basement. He walked to the very back room and flipped on the light. In the corner was a small bed that he used for sleeping. His clothes were piled on the shelves in neat little stacks. He changed out of his school clothes and into the uniform that the Evans family wants its male servant to be in. Once he was changed he headed back up stairs to the kitchen to see to his grand list of chores that typically consisted of kitchen related duties. 

"you can start by peeling those potatoes laddybuck" said Mr. McCrady He was a big irish fellow with biceps the size of deans body width and a big barrel chest. He was Nanna Roses son and her right hand in the kitchen. The man felt sorry for the boy so tried his hardest to not give him any heard tasks like his Uncle had wanted. Dean had actually taken to cooking very well and so Nanna herself had started teaching the boy how to cook.

"yes sir" said Dean as he went to the sink and washed his hands. He grabbed an apron a towle and a hat. These three items were required for the Evans kitchen staff. he grabbed a sharp peeler and headed to the prep room to start his first task. Mr. McCrady informed him that he will be peeling enough potatoes for the next two days. Apparently they were preparing for a luncheon that his uncle was having the following day. His uncle would have these luncheons often to basically pay off someone to do something for him under the radar and most likely illegal. He wondered what it was this time as he began his task that would most likely take him well into the night.

**************

Up in his office Virgle was having a meeting with his personal attorney and it wasn't going at all well. His sources had informed him that his father's personal attorney was in town and was going to be stopping by to read the last will and testament of his parents. They also informed him that his parents had left everything to Dean, all the assets, the company, the money, everything leaving him and and everyone else in the family with a dollar each. "what do you mean we cant contest the will" he yelled!

"just that sir, since your father left you with a dollar each its considered an inheritance and you cannot contest the will as a result" 

"I will not allow that low life, coat tail riding, bastard child to make me and my family peasants. There's got to be something we can do. Maybe we could sue the boy Douser"

"unfortunately we have no grounds to sue" he asked "the will is iron clad. If we meddle we could go to prison" 

"what about that Private investigator I hired after dad passed. Was he able to find anything?" said Virgle 

"nothing of use in our current situation" said Douser "the only thing he thought was curious was a check for one million dollars to a Dr. Hanna Stephenson an OBGYN here at our local hospital." 

"what's so weird about that" said Virgle "my idiot father was always giving his money away."

"well sir, that was the doctor that supposedly birthed Dean" he responded "and last I checked it doesn't cost that much to have a baby." 

"quit beating around the bush Douser and spit it out" said Virgle

"correct me if I'm wrong sir but wasn't Dean adopted in a town near the grand canyon when your brother and sister in law went their on vacation" he asked 

This made Virgle think for a minute. Why would Deans birth certificate say he was born here when his adoption took place in Arizona? "I think we may be overthinking this. Trying to find validation where none exists. He was probably born here then moved with his bio parents to arizona."

"That's impossible sir. If you look at the boys birth certificate" he said as he slid a copy in front of Virgle "Its dated five days after they returned from their trip" 

"I vividly remember Tom bringing that boy home with them" said Virgle

"I do as well but the PI said that there was no adoption paperwork at all. He checked the Arizona adoption records over the last 17 years and found no records of a child being adopted by your brother and sister in law. He even checked their personal records and found nothing on an adoption. With their names being on the birth certificate that would make them his bio parents."

"so were back to square one then" said Virgle 

"not necessarily. If we can prove that his birth certificate was forged it'll invalidate his birth date meaning they won't be able to release the assets till Dean can prove his age." 

"We aren't going to have enough time to do that Douser he's coming today to read the will" Said Virgle 

"just because he's coming to read it today doesnt mean its final today. It still needs to go through probate. Your dad had a lot of assets, so it's going to take months for this to be finalized. Even longer if we contest it. That will give us enough time to get evidence together to prove our case plus im sure your connections down at the probate court we should have no problem with them ruling in our favor" 

"that's true i could make a phone call" he said 

Just then the butler knocked on the door to say that the attorney had arrived. Virgil told him to show the man to the conference room. After gathering his wife and his children they entered the conference room. "Andrew my good man it's good to see you again" said Virgil in his most upbeat tone.

"With all due respect Mr. Hawk I'd like to keep this meeting strictly business if you don't mind" said Andrew

"Of course my apologies" said Virgil "shall we get started then"

"All parties must be present Mr. Hawk" said Andrew

"All parties are present Mr. Wayne" said Virgil "my boys and I are the last living blood of my father"

"Dean Hawk is a Legal grandson of your father and is mentioned in the will so he must be present for the reading." Virgil relented and sent the butler to get the boy.

***************

Down in the kitchen Dean was up to his elbows in spuds which didn't take much for a short guy like him. He had just finished peeling a spud when Mr. McCrady came in.

"Hey laddybuck your uncle has requested your presence in the conference room. Said it's important."

"What's it about" he asked

"I haven't the foggiest lad. Now don't keep him waiting to long. Wash your hands and get a move on you know how your uncle gets when you doddle"

"Yes sir" said Dean as he removed his hat apron and towel. He washed his hands and headed up to the conference room. When he arrived he entered through the servents entrance. "You called for me sir" asked

"Have seat boy" said Virgil with a sharp tone "this man is going to read my fathers will and since you are my brothers kid by law, you must be present"

"It's good to finally meet you Dean. I'm Andrew Wayne I was your grandfather's attorney. Are you ready" he asked the boy. The others felt that this was odd.

"Ummmm….are you asking me sir" he asked in shock

"Well of course. You are the one I'm truly here to see after all" said Andrew

"Uhhh…ok sure I guess, let's do it"

"Good, now I'm going to bypass all the legal mumbo jumbo and get to the juicy part. To my grandson Alexander Hawk I leave an inheritance in the amount of $1,000. To my grandson Elias Hawk I leave an inheritance of $1,000. He says here that you two are already spoiled enough and don't need any more money or things." Read Andrew

"Please tell me this is a joke" said Deans older cousin Alexander. Who was seething with rage.

"You think this is bad. Just wait it gets worse" said Virgil

"To my only living son Virgil Hawk and his wife I leave a grand total of $2 use it wisely. To my grandson Dean Hawk I leave all my physical assets. A list of these assets will be provided once this will is read in its entirety. I also leave Dean my company Hawk Enterprises Inc. worth an estimated 37.5 billion dollars. I also leave Dean a monetary inheritance of 75.3 billion dollars. It is also my wish that a new chief executive officer be appointed. But of course, I'll leave that to Dean to decide. That about wraps it up for the will. I do have some more good News dean as of today, you are officially emancipated. You are no longer a foster child and can legally do things on your own. The will and testament is hereby finalized."

"Wait say that again Mr. Wayne, I don't think I heard you correctly" said Douser

"The will has been finalized meaning, probate has already approved everything" he chuckled at the faces of everyone in the room.

" How is that possible? The man just died two weeks ago. He has a crap ton of assets so it should've taken months. Not days." Said Douser "also my client has reason to believe that Deans birth certificate was forged and that his brother and sister-in-law kidnapped the boy from Arizona. An investigation is being launched as we speak."

"your father knew you'd try something like this. So he started the process a year ago. There's nothing you can do now to change the will. It does not matter what crimes your family committed it will not change anything"

"We'll see about that" said Douser "we will be filing a lawsuit against the estate and you personally"

"On what grounds Douser" said Andrew

" it is illegal to start this process prior to the death of the person the will is for. And you did it to cover up the crimes that Tom and his wife and Mr. and Mrs. Hawk committed."

" and what crime is it you think they committed" asked Andrew

" they kidnapped a newborn baby from Arizona brought it back here then had Mr. and Mrs. Hawk pay off a doctor at the local hospital to create false birth records making Tom and his wife Dean's biological parents. They then used these documents To create an identity for him as a United States citizen. Heck for all we know Dean may actually be any illegal."

" I can neither confirm nor deny these allegations. However, I will say this if you proceeded with this lawsuit, I will open every single closet and let out all of your skeletons Virgil and trust me you have a lot of them. I have enough evidence against you to have you thrown in prison for the rest of your life. Then your family will be left on the streets with absolutely nothing."

"That's blackmail" said Virgil

"That's business" said Andrew with a smirk

"Mimicry is the best form of flattery Mr. Wayne. Never thought I'd be on the receiving end of my own words. Fine, we will comply. I have enough money we can live comfortably for the rest of our lives." Said Virgil

" fantastic, go ahead and sign this no retaliation agreement" said Andrew as he slid the paper over to Virgil who signed it and slid it back. "now if you four will excuse me, I need to have a word with my client... alone"

Dean watched as his aunt and uncle and his cousins stormed out of the room in a huff.