Adeline Smith, a 24-year-old blonde-haired young lady with pretty blue eyes sat quietly in the living room of her late grandmother's mansion. She was surrounded by her three uncles—Richard, Evans, and Alfonso—and her three cousins, all girls, and Alfonso's wife, Svetlana.
They all stared at her with barely disguised resentment, but Adeline had learned to ignore them over the years. The only person in this family who'd ever truly cared for her had been her grandmother, Beverly Smith. Since the tragic loss of her parents in a car accident when she was just a teenager, her grandmother had been the one person who made her feel loved. But Beverly had passed away the previous month due to an illness.
Now, they were all here, waiting to hear her grandmother's will. In front of them sat her grandmother's lawyer, a short, balding man with round glasses perched on the end of his nose. He adjusted his position, cleared his throat, and looked around the room. "We're gathered here today to go over the will of Mrs. Beverly Smith. What I'm about to read is final and legally binding. Its contents are final and cannot be altered. Is that understood?"
Everyone, including Adeline, gave a small nod of understanding. The lawyer took a deep breath, opened the document, and his eyes widened. He blinked, adjusting his glasses, as if he needed to double-check that he was seeing the contents correctly. "Well, this is… surprising," he muttered to himself.
Uncle Richard, who was sitting directly across from the lawyer, narrowed his eyes and leaned forward. "Is everything alright, Mr. Field? You look like you've seen a ghost," he said, his voice skeptical and slightly annoyed.
The lawyer cleared his throat again, hesitating for just a moment before replying, "Yes, yes, of course, I, uh… I'll proceed to read the contents." He glanced back down at the document, then looked up at Adeline with an unreadable expression.
"Mrs. Beverly Smith, in her last will, names Adeline Smith, her fourth grandchild and the daughter of Vicenzo and Sarah Smith, as the sole heir to all of her properties, businesses, assets, and wealth—every last penny."
The room went utterly silent, as if the air itself had been sucked out. Adeline's uncles and their wives sat frozen for a moment, their faces quickly shifting from shock to outrage.
Uncle Evan, the eldest of the three, suddenly stood up, his face red with anger. "What sort of nonsense are you talking about?" he demanded, his fists clenched tightly. "This can't be real! Are you playing some kind of sick joke on us? Do you honestly expect us to believe this garbage?"
The lawyer raised his hands slightly, trying to calm him down. "Mr. Evan, I assure you—"
But before he could finish, Alfonso, the youngest uncle, shot up from his chair. "There's no way this is real," he yelled, shaking his head. "This is absolutely no place for jokes, Mr Fields. Read the real will. Enough of this nonsense!"
"There's no way our mother would leave everything to her! This—this girl who's barely been part of the family? She doesn't belong here!" he said, gesturing at Adeline.
Adeline, who still sat in silence, could feel all their eyes on her, filled with hatred and disbelief. She sank a little deeper into her chair, suddenly wishing the ground would open up and swallow her. Her mind was reeling as she tried to process the lawyer's words. All of it? Her grandmother had left everything to her?
Alfonso shook his head in disgust and muttered to his wife, "This has to be a mistake. Mother must've been out of her mind. This girl? Really?" His wife nodded, shooting a look toward Adeline.
Richard on the hand, said nothing. He only scowled, watching them yell.
The lawyer didn't really give a damn about their outburst. His only job was to read out the Will. "There's no mistake," he said, raising his voice slightly, hoping to be heard over the murmuring and anger. "This document was prepared months before Beverly passed, and I personally confirmed her wishes at the time. Adeline Smith is, without question, is the sole heir to everything she had."
Evan threw his hands up in frustration. "This is absurd! Why would she leave everything to… to her?" He pointed at Adeline. "This little brat! What is she even supposed to do with all of it? She's just 24!"
The lawyer looked around the room before shaking his head. "I understand this may come as a shock to all of you, but Mrs. Smith's will is clear. Beverly chose Adeline herself, and her decision was final."
Evans let out a mocking laugh, irritation flickering across his face. "So, we're supposed to just sit here and accept that everything—all of our mother's wealth, all her legacy—goes to Adeline? What has she ever done to deserve it?"
Alfonso nodded in agreement with his brother and huffed. "You don't just make someone like Adeline the heir to an empire. This family built it! She barely even—"
Before Alfonso could finish his rant, Adeline, who'd had enough of the insults, stood up abruptly from her chair, her face wrinkled into a frown. She looked her uncle squarely in the eyes, and her voice, though calm, was filled with pent-up frustration. "Maybe Grandma left everything to me because she knew I loved her, not because of her wealth, but for who she was. Not once in my life have I thought about her money or what I could get from her. I loved her for being the one person who saw me and cared for me after my parents died."
Her gaze shifted around the room, moving from one relative to the next, each pair of eyes glaring back at her. She pointed at them. "Look at yourselves. You're all so desperate to get your hands on her money that you're practically celebrating her death. You can't even sit through the will reading without showing your true colors. How many of you have been waiting for this day? How many of you were practically praying for her to die just so you could get your hands on what she built?"
Silence fell over the room as her words sunk in, and for a moment, no one moved. Then Svetlana, Uncle Alfonso's wife, shot up from her seat with a furious expression. She stormed toward Adeline with her hand raised, aiming to slap her across the face. But before she could make contact, Adeline caught her wrist in midair, holding it in a firm grip.