My grandson, ALISTAIR CHENG: 10 percent
SIGNED by SHANG SU YI
—
Freddie put the document down and looked up at everyone. Felicity, Victoria, and Alix were still trying to digest the surprising news that their mother had owned a secret estate in Thailand.
“Go on!” Eddie said impatiently.
“I’m finished,” Freddie answered.
“What do you mean you’re finished? What about Tyersall Park?”
“I just read you that clause.”
“What do you mean? You didn’t mention Tyersall Park at all!” Eddie insisted.
Freddie sighed and began to recite the final clause again. When he was finally done, the room was completely silent for a moment, and then things erupted as everyone started talking at once.
“We all have a share in Tyersall Park?” Felicity asked, utterly confused.
“Yes, you specifically have a 12.5 percent share in the property,” Freddie explained.
“Twelve point five percent…what does this even mean?” Victoria grumbled.
Eleanor smiled triumphantly at Nick, and then she whispered in Philip’s ear, “Your mother can insult me all she wants, but at the end of the day you and Nicky got the majority share and that’s what counts!”
Nick glanced across the table at his cousin Alistair, who shook his head in disbelief. “I can’t believe Ah Ma actually left me something in her will.”
“More than a little something,” Nick said with a grin.
Witnessing Nick’s exchange with his brother, Eddie grew more livid by the moment. Suddenly he jumped out of his chair, shouting, “THIS IS TOTAL BULLSHIT! Where’s my share in Tyersall Park? Let me see that will! Are you sure this is even the latest version?”
Freddie looked at him calmly. “I can assure you this is your grandmother’s Last Will and Testament. I was present when she signed it.”
Eddie snatched the document from his hands and flipped through to the last page. There, on the bottom of the page, was the notarized seal, accompanied by the following words:
Signed in the presence of FIONA TUNG CHENG and ALFRED SHANG
on this the Ninth day of June 2009
Eddie’s eyes almost bulged out of his head. “Fucky fuck, my wife was a witness?”
“Indeed she was,” Freddie replied.
“That bitch never told me! And the will was signed in 2009? How is this possible?” Eddie said, almost shrieking.
“Stop asking stupid questions, you goblok!*4 She took a pen and signed it!” Alfred scolded him, getting fed up.
Eddie ignored his great-uncle. “But this means she never changed her will? Not even when Nicky married Rachel?”
Nick realized his cousin was right. After all the endless speculation about being disinherited, it turned out his grandmother never once waivered from her original plan. She left a majority stake of Tyersall Park to his father, knowing one day it would be passed down to him. Suddenly he felt an enormous wave of guilt wash over him. Why did he waste so many years being mad at Ah Ma?
But Eddie wasn’t done with his tirade. He stormed over to Freddie Tan’s chair and looked him in the eye accusingly. “The other day when you came to see my grandma, you told me I was going to be the main beneficiary!”
Freddie looked startled. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. I said no such thing.”
“You told me I was the ‘man of the hour’!”