Chapter 3 The Reading of the Will
The conference room on the forty-first floor had been designed, Alex suspected, to make ordinary people feel small.
Floor-to-ceiling windows stretched across one wall, giving a perfect view of the city below. A table long enough to seat twenty people dominated the room. Everything looked expensive, polished, and carefully chosen.
At the far end, four people turned toward him the moment he walked in.
They wore four very different expressions.
“So this is him.”
The woman closest to the head of the table looked to be in her late fifties. Sharp-featured and dressed in something that probably cost more than Alex’s yearly rent, she had the kind of expression that told him she had already decided what she thought of him.
“The warehouse worker.”
“Margaret.”
Reyes’s voice was calm, but there was a warning underneath it.
He gestured toward Alex.
“This is Alex Tailor. Alex, Margaret Voss, Julian’s eldest daughter.”
Margaret gave him a brief look.
It wasn’t welcoming.
Alex nodded politely.
“Ms. Voss.”
She said nothing.
Reyes continued.
“Richard Voss, her nephew. Head of legal and risk for Voss Global.”
The lean man in his forties nodded.
It wasn’t exactly a greeting.
It felt more like an appraisal.
Richard’s eyes moved over Alex from head to toe before returning to his face.
“Mr. Tailor.”
“Mr. Voss.”
Neither man smiled.
Reyes turned to the younger man beside Margaret.
“Desmond Voss, Margaret’s son.”
Desmond looked to be around thirty. He leaned back in his chair with an expression that suggested he found the whole situation more amusing than threatening.
He gave Alex a small smirk.
“Interesting morning.”
Alex wasn’t sure what that meant.
“And Katherine Voss. Kate. Julian’s younger daughter.”
Kate was the only one who stood.
She walked around the table and offered her hand.
“Welcome.”
Alex shook it.
There was something in her voice.
Not warmth exactly.
More like she was paying attention.
Alex didn’t know why, but he remembered that.
Once everyone had settled, Margaret folded her hands on the table.
“Let’s not pretend this is a social visit.”
No one disagreed.
“Simon,” she said, “read the relevant clause. Let’s see exactly how my father decided to humiliate this family from beyond the grave.”
Reyes opened a leather folder.
The room became quiet.
He removed several pages and adjusted his glasses before beginning.
“I, Julian Alistair Voss, being of sound mind, do hereby name Alex Tailor as sole primary heir to the entirety of my personal estate, including but not limited to controlling interest in Voss Global Holdings, subject to the conditions outlined in Schedule C of this document.”
He stopped.
Nobody spoke.
Alex felt his hands tighten against his knees.
Hearing the words aloud made everything feel even less real.
He had spent most of his life worrying about rent, bills, and whether his next paycheck would cover everything he needed.
Now someone was telling him he had inherited a fortune.
Richard broke the silence.
“A trillion dollars.”
His eyes stayed on Alex.
“To a man who, as of yesterday, had six hundred dollars in his checking account.”
Alex’s stomach tightened.
Margaret leaned back.
“Forgive us if we’re curious what exactly you did to earn that kind of attention, Mr. Tailor.”
“I didn’t do anything.”
Alex looked around the table.
“I told Mr. Reyes yesterday. I’ve never heard of your father in my life.”
“How convenient,” Margaret said.
“Mother.”
Desmond sounded bored.
“He’s telling the truth. Look at him. He’s terrified.”
“I am.”
The admission came out before Alex could stop it.
“I don’t understand any of this.”
Desmond’s smirk faded slightly.
Reyes closed one section of the folder.
“Then let’s help you understand.”
He turned another page.
“Schedule C outlines the conditions of the bequest. Full and unconditional inheritance is subject to a twelve-month provisional period.”
Alex listened carefully.
“During that period, Mr. Tailor must reside at the Voss family estate, assume an active operational role within Voss Global under board supervision, and comply with all requirements listed in the schedule.”
Alex frowned.
“All requirements?”
Reyes nodded.
“Yes.”
“What happens if I refuse?”
Richard answered before Reyes could.
“Then you lose the inheritance.”
Alex looked at him.
“All of it?”
“The conditions are very clear.”
Margaret added, “My father was not known for making casual decisions.”
Alex glanced at the document.
“So I have to move into your family home, work for your company, and follow a list of rules written by a man I never met.”
“That is the arrangement,” Reyes said.
Alex shook his head.
“This is insane.”
“Perhaps,” Margaret said. “But it is legally binding.”
Alex looked at Reyes.
“Why me?”
The question had been sitting in his mind since yesterday.
Reyes held his gaze.
“Your name was specifically written into the document.”
“That doesn’t answer my question.”
“No,” Reyes admitted. “It does not.”
Richard leaned forward.
“That is something we intend to discover.”
Alex felt uneasy.
There was something about the way Richard said it.
Not curiosity.
Suspicion.
Reyes turned another page.
“And there is one additional condition.”
He stopped.
It was the first hesitation Alex had seen from him.
Alex waited.
“And?”
Reyes looked down at the document.
“During the twelve-month period, Mr. Tailor must enter into a formal, public engagement to be married to a person specifically designated within this document.”
The room went silent.
Completely silent.
Alex stared at Reyes.
“I’m sorry?”
Margaret closed her eyes briefly.
Desmond actually laughed.
Richard looked annoyed.
Kate remained completely still.
Alex looked from one face to another.
“Designated to whom?”
He already had a bad feeling about the answer.
Reyes opened his mouth.
Before he could respond, the conference room door opened.
A young woman walked in.
Dark-haired. Composed. Everything about her looked deliberate, from the way she dressed to the way she carried herself.
She looked like someone who had walked into worse rooms than this one and come out fine.
Her eyes moved across the room.
She barely reacted to the people sitting around the table.
Then she looked at Alex.
And stopped.
For one brief second, neither of them spoke.
“Elena,” Reyes said, “thank you for joining us.”
She walked farther into the room.
Reyes turned toward Alex.
“Alex, this is Elena Marchetti. Julian’s chosen designee.”
Alex stared at her.
Elena didn’t smile.
She looked directly at him.
“I take it,” she said calmly, “that no one has told you yet that you’re supposed to marry me.”
Alex forgot how to breathe.
Nobody spoke.
Then Desmond laughed again.
Margaret shot him a warning look.
Elena remained composed.
Alex looked at Reyes.
Then at Elena.
Then back at the document.
The life he had known yesterday suddenly felt very far away.
He had come to this building expecting answers about a strange inheritance.
Instead, he had been handed a fortune, a company, a twelve-month deadline, and a stranger he was apparently expected to marry.
And judging by the silence around the table, this was only the beginning.
