The Inheritance Scandal

Chapter 3

After meeting up with her mom and siblings, she excused herself and proceeded to say hello to any other relative worthy of note; all of this was done just in time before the funeral service would start. She went back to her mother's room to help her prepare. Her brothers had left earlier to go prepare as well. Her mom was in a very fragile state; it wasn’t just Jonathan’s death, the weight of all the losses so far was finally telling on her. A person could only be strong for so long. Olivia was surprised at how she was even handling the situation. When Rosalia died, she was distraught. At that time, she was still recovering from her father's death, which had happened about a year before her sister had died. She cried for both her sister and father. Maybe all that loss had steeled her nerves and heart. Eventually, she would need to take over the Hamilton empire. She needed to be strong for everyone who was currently looking up to her right now, even for her mother. Olivia styled her mum's blonde hair into a high bun, zipped up her dress and gave her another hug. “Let’s go, Mom”, she said, and took her mom's hand.

The mansion was bustling with life. Jonathan was well known, so she wasn’t surprised at the number of people present. Thankfully, it was strictly by invitation, so the worry of having too many people than the house could carry was non-existent. The service was being held at the central clearing, so they headed there. They bumped into her brothers on the way; they all had similar features. Julian and Christian had blonde hair like mom, Thomas had black hair like dad, and three of them were tall and shaped like Roman gods, with chiselled jawlines and blue eyes adorning their faces. “Ollie, how’s mum?” Thomas whispered. She gave him a weak smile, saying nothing. They made their entrance into the clearing, and immediately, heads turned in their direction. The service was about to start, so they just went straight to where they would be sitting, no socialising for now. After she was seated, she sighed. She had scanned all the faces on entry, and one very notable face stood out to her: Jaxon was here. It was going to be a long day.

Jaxon Thorne

He couldn’t stop thinking about her. He was currently having a conversation with one of the board members about Jonathan’s exemplary work. He wished he didn’t have to be here, not because he didn’t want to come and pay his respects, but because he didn’t do too well with crowds, but he was Jonathan’s private lawyer, so he had to be there, though it was a job he didn’t need given his background; the Hamiltons and the Thornes were age long rivals with both families butting heads in every business they could both lay their hands on, his father made sure he understood the rivalry growing up, he was the first son and would take over one day, so he needed to understand the rivalry properly or so his father thought. Now, imagine his father's disgust and anger when he finished law school and decided he wanted to be Jonathan’s lawyer. His father had nearly disowned him, but he was on a mission to end the rivalry. He didn’t want to bring children into this sick feud, and he had a plan. His plan started when he had convinced Jonathan to employ him as his lawyer, which was no easy feat, by the way, given the bad blood between both families. Jonathan put him through a hellish test, but he passed, and the rest is history. It was sad to hear about his passing; he was a very inspiring figure among the elites and had grown to be his mentor over the years. Jaxon had zoned out from the conversation he was in, he couldn’t wait for the service to be over. Despite the incessant chatter, deep down, a part of him was excited to be here just because he would get to see her. It had been 10 years. He was 37 and still unmarried, not because his family hadn’t tried, but because he was waiting out for this very moment, and he would only have given up if she had married someone else. The crowd suddenly hushed their voices, and there was a little bit of quiet briefly. He wondered why. Everyone was looking towards the entrance, and he followed the line of direction their heads were turned to. His breath caught in his throat, and his heart began to pound hard. Her red hair had grown longer and framed her well-rounded figure beautifully. As she walked onward, her piercing green eyes scanned the room, and their eyes met, however briefly, but it was enough for him to confirm how he felt about her. He sighed. It was going to be a long day.

Olivia Hamilton

The main events of the day were over, her grandfather had been laid to rest and covered by earth. Now, all that was left was socialising until guests began to leave one by one. She was informed by Julian that Jonathan’s will would be read the following day. She wished they could delay that for a few days at least, but her mom wanted it over and done with. She was currently standing in a corner with a wine glass in one hand and giving off a ‘stay away from me’ aura. Some people were still daring enough to try to hold a conversation. She would be polite, then cut it off before it went on too long. Thankfully, people were taking the hint and steering clear. She was doing this especially to keep him from venturing towards her, and she had refrained from scanning the gathering as she did earlier, in case their eyes met again. She didn’t even want to look at him, just pretend he is not here, she repeated to herself. Olivia and Jaxon had a tumultuous history, both being the firstborn from rival families, they had competed all their lives, their families had often pitted them against each other; who would be the first to get a contract, who would set up a branch in a profit forecasted city first, who would get rights to buy a land in a profitable spot, many times she had used trickery and manipulation just to get certain things done, all to satisfy the family rivalry and prove we were better, it was a power tussle that she unfortunately was born into, but doing all of that honed her business skills and knowledge, which was invaluable to her today as she ran her own company. Olivia wasn’t the only one who employed trickery though; in fact, Jaxon was a master at it and for every contract or sale or deal she couldn’t close, he was behind it all. She hated facing her grandfather whenever she lost because, in those moments, Jonathan would make her feel unworthy of the Hamilton name, and she hated Jaxon for that. The moment that sealed her hatred for Jaxon was etched in her memory. He could have saved Rosalia's life, but he chose to look the other way, and for that, she would never forgive him.