The Second Will Chapter 10
My oldest brother stood up.
He walked up to me.
“Julian.”
His voice was hoarse.
“Um… can we… talk this over?”
I looked at him.
“Talk what over?”
“The mortgage on the house… 2.8 million… I can’t come up with that all at once…”
He rubbed his hands together.
“Those two commercial properties of yours… could you spare one for me? Consider it… consider it me buying it from you…”
My sister-in-law nodded vigorously behind him.
“Yes, yes, we’re family, we can work this out – “
“Family?”
I repeated the word.
My sister-in-law shut her mouth.
“Robert.”
I looked at him.
“You said I took care of Dad because ‘my salary wasn’t high anyway’.”
“Your wife said I took care of Dad because ‘I wasn’t married and had nothing better to do’.”
“Today, when you got the house and the savings, you told me to move out within three days.”
“Your wife said, ‘It was his duty to take care of Dad’.”
I smiled.
“Now you find out the house has a 2.8 million mortgage.”
“And you come to talk it over with me.”
“Family can work it out.”
I stood up.
“You can talk it over with anyone else.”
“Just not me.”
“It’s too late.”
My oldest brother’s face flushed red.
“Julian! You – “
“Me what?”
I looked at him.
“I took care of Dad for 1,095 days. You visited four times.”
“I quit my job. You bought a 480,000-dollar car.”
“I changed his bed pads over a thousand times. You didn’t change a single one.”
“You transferred 470,000 from Dad’s account. I didn’t take a single extra cent.”
“And now you’re telling me ‘we’re family, we can talk it out’?”
I enunciated every single word.
“Robert, how do you even have the nerve to say that to me?”
Robert stood there.
His face turned red, then pale.
He opened his mouth a few times.
No sound came out.
My sister-in-law rushed over.
“Don’t push it just because you’re in the right! Robert is still your older brother – “
“Still my older brother.”
I turned to her.
“Still my older brother, yet Dad was paralyzed for three years and he visited four times.”
“Still my older brother, yet he stole 470,000 of Dad’s pension money.”
“Still my older brother – “
I looked at her.
“Do you think those few words are enough to pay back the 2.8 million he owes?”
My sister-in-law froze.
She opened her mouth.
But couldn’t say a single word.
The living room fell silent.
Out of the dozen people there, no one spoke.
Even their breathing grew quiet.
Eleanor stood up and walked toward me.
“Julian…”
Her voice was weak.
“Those two commercial properties of yours… could you maybe… give one…”
“Eleanor.”
I cut her off.
“You gave me two thousand.”
She stopped.
“Two thousand,” I said. “I lost out on 300,000 in earnings over three years. And you gave me two thousand.”
“Now you want me to spare a property for you?”
“Worth 2.6 million.”
“Do you think I owe you?”
Eleanor’s face went pale.
She took a step back.
And said nothing.
I stood in the middle of the living room.
Looking around.
Robert slumped on the sofa.
His wife sat next to him, her face ashen.
Eleanor shrank into a corner, her head bowed.
The relatives kept their heads down, sipping tea, not daring to look at me.
Ten minutes ago, they were laughing at me.
“Julian – nothing.”
“Makes sense…”
“Stop messing around.”
Now, no one was laughing.
I looked at the lawyer.
“Mr. Sterling, is there anything else?”
“The reading of the will is complete.”
The lawyer closed his folder. “The signatures have already taken effect.”
“Good.”
I turned around.
And walked to the door.
This time, no one asked me to stay.
I pulled the door open.
From behind came my sister-in-law’s voice, already choked with sobs.
“2.8 million… 2.8 million… Robert, how could you sign without looking carefully…”
Robert said nothing.
I closed the door.
