Frank gathered the stack of papers and sat down again. When he spoke again, he sounded worried, “Ben…” I raised an eyebrow at the tone shift. “I know your big concern is how to stop this divorce, but I need you to understand that my biggestconcern right now is how to keep you out of jail.” My other eyebrow shot up to join the first.
“What are you talking about?”
“A lot of the money moving you’ve done can be considered fraudulent activity. Meaning illegal." I scowled at his condescending tone but kept my mouth shut. "Hiding wealth from your wife, a wife you wouldn't allow to build a real career or obtain an education, is not legal, shifting it to offshore accounts to evade taxes is not legal… if her team digs deep enough, not only will she get everything she wants in the divorce, but you’ll end up in jail.” He scratched the back of his neck, “and I really don’t want to join you there, so I need you to be smarter.”
I nodded and looked around the room that I had built my kingdom from and felt a prickle of unease run down my spine. I had felt untouchable when I was scheming and outsmarting them all, but now, for the first time, I was feeling out of control and vulnerable.
“So what do I do? Should I just give her the divorce?” I faltered. I couldn't imagine my world without Mel in it.
Frank observed me silently for a moment, as if he was analyzing a pros and cons list. When he finally replied, it was the opposite of what I'd hoped to hear.
“I would. I’d sign whatever she wanted and pray that she wanted her peace more than she wanted scorched earth…”
24-Melanie
I wasn’t surprised that Gram had chosen the only female attorney in Lincoln; I was surprised to discover that the office aesthetic was still from the era where law firms were ‘boys clubs’, complete with dark wood furniture, cigars, and whiskey. Nancy James-Ryker was a short, bulldog-looking woman in her fifties who had the most terrifying smile I’d ever seen.
“Now that everyone is here, I can read Barbara’s last will.” She folded her hands on top of a file and looked at each of us slowly, “as you know, I’ve been Barbara’s lawyer for over thirty years. When we met, I was married to the late Mr. Ryker, and he was friends with Mr. Olsen, Barbara’s soon-to-be ex-husband… She was my first client.” Nancy's eyes warmed slightly, “I’ve made a great number of changes to her will over the years, and the most recent update was done only a month before she passed. Every time she made an update, she included a letter for each of you, and I’ve held on to all of the letters.”
I felt my eyes well up with tears and held back a sob. It was just like Gram to have MORE to say every time she wanted to make a change.
“The letters are for later in private, but I will pass them out now, Felicity, Leonard, Kyle, Melanie, Benjamin, and Griffin.” She looked up again, and a little frown line appeared between her eyebrows. “Where is Benjamin?”
“We are getting a divorce.” I winced at the venom in my voice, “Sorry…” I mumbled. “Uhm, we are getting a divorce… Is his presence necessary?”
“He doesn’t need to be here physically, but we do need to call him.” Nancy said with an apology in her eyes.
With a defeated sigh, I gave her his phone number and waited while she called him on speaker. Unsurprisingly, he did not answer the call.
“As long as I watch you type in the number, and it matches the one you provided you can call him from your phone.” She finally lamented after the third try.
“I don’t want him to have my new number…” I looked around at Griffin.
“He might answer if the number belongs to me… He knows I was with Melanie, but he shouldn’t be afraid to answer like he would be if it was Kyle.” Griffin shrugged.
Griffin stepped forward until he could show Nancy the number he was typing and then set the phone down on the desk on speaker. Ben answered on the second ring.
“Hello?” he sounded angry.
“Benjamin, this is Griffin.”
“Is Melanie alright?”
“Yes, I’m actually calling because the attorney in charge of Barbs estate said that you need to be on the phone for the reading.” There was a long pause before Ben spoke.
“You are at the reading with the rest of the family?” Nancy motioned to Griffin to remain silent.
“Mr. Landon, this is Nancy James-Ryker. If you have a moment now, I’d like to read Barbara’s last will and testament with you on speaker. There is also a letter attached but I can have that couriered to you.” She spoke with an authoritative, no-nonsense tone that had probably irritated Benjamin to no end.
“Fine.” He gritted out through clenched teeth.
“Perfect, please state your full name, birthdate, address, and relationship to Mrs. Olsen.”
“Benjamin Parker Landon, February 19th, and I live 22 Oak Drive in Los Angelos. Barbara was my wife’s grandmother and was like a grandmother to me.” His voice had lost its irritated edge, and he sounded almost sad.
“Excellent. Since everyone is able to hear this at the same time I will commence.”
“Wait! Melanie, can you hear me?” Benjamin said frantically.
