Freddie almost began to laugh, but seeing the look on Eddie’s face, he tried to soften the blow. “Eddie, I was making a pun about the Patek Philippe you were wearing. You had on the 150th-anniversary Jump Hour Reference 3969 watch. One of my favorite models.”
Eddie glared at him incredulously before crumbling into his chair in embarrassment. Alix gave her son a pitiful look, and then turned to the lawyer. “Freddie, I’m not clear about how my mother’s financial holdings are going to be divvied up. What about her other stocks and her share of Shang Enterprises?”
Freddie looked very uncomfortable and swiveled his chair in Alfred’s direction.
“Your mother had no other stocks, aside from Ling Holdings,” Alfred said.
“But Mummy had a huge stock portfolio—she told me she had every blue-chip counter! Wasn’t she the biggest private shareholder in Keppel Land, Robinson’s, Singapore Press Holdings?” Felicity argued.
Alfred shook his head. “No, I am.”
“But doesn’t she share all that with you? As co-owner of Shang Enterprises?”
Al
fred leaned back in his chair and looked at Felicity. “You need to understand something…Shang Enterprises—the shipping company, the trading firm, all our various business interests around the world—are controlled by the Shang Loong Ma Trust. Your mother was a beneficiary of the Trust, but never a co-owner.”
“So who owns Shang Enterprises?” Alix asked.
“Once again, the Trust owns Shang Enterprises, and I am the chief custodian of the Trust. Your grandfather’s will stipulated that the Trust would be passed down through the male line. Only the Shang men could inherit. He was extremely old-fashioned, as you know.”
“So how did my mummy get all her income?” Alix asked.
“She had no income, but the Trust paid for all her expenses. My father’s wording in his will was very specific. He stipulated that ‘Su Yi’s every need, desire, and whim is to be taken care of in her lifetime by the Trust.’ So we did.”
“The Trust paid for everything?” Felicity was incredulous.
Alfred sighed. “Everything. As you well know, your mother did not have any concept of money. She was born to live like a princess, and she continued to live this way for nine decades. Supporting all of you, maintaining her lifestyle at Tyersall Park, in Cameron Highlands, everywhere she traveled. How much do you think it costs to keep a staff of seventy for so many years? To throw grand parties every Friday night? Believe me, your mother blew through a vast amount.”
“What will the Trust pay for now?” Victoria asked.
Alfred leaned back in his chair. “Well…nothing. The Trust has met all its fiduciary duties to your mother.”
Victoria looked at her uncle, almost afraid to ask the next question. “So are you telling us that we are inheriting nothing from the Shang Trust?”
Alfred shook his head solemnly. The room went silent for a moment as everyone soaked in this bombshell.
Felicity was silent, the enormity of her uncle’s words slowly sinking in. All this time she thought her mother the great heiress had been co-owner of an empire worth hundreds of billions, and now it turns out she had never even been part of the equation. This meant in turn that she would inherit nothing from Shang Enterprises. She was not a great heiress to anything. She had only been left 12.5 percent of the house, just like the rest of her sisters. But this wasn’t right. She was the eldest child. How could Mummy do this to her? Collecting herself, Felicity steeled herself and looked Alfred in the eye with a question. “How much does Mummy have in her bank accounts?”
“Not much, really. Some of her accounts are absolutely ancient. Hoare’s only has about three million pounds—she inherited that account from my mother, and that was Mum’s shopping account when she ordered things from Harrods. Landolt & Cie in Switzerland holds her gold bullion, and that was really just in case the world went to absolute hell. I’d say she has about forty-five, fifty million total.”
Freddie chimed in, “But that money will automatically go toward paying for all the legacies she left—to Ah Ching, Ah Ling, and so forth.”
Victoria frowned at Freddie accusingly. “I don’t believe this! I don’t believe that all this time Mummy had so little money!”
Freddie sighed. “Well, she did have one major income-producing asset, and that was her Ling Holdings Preference Shares. She had one million shares that paid a considerable dividend, but she reinvested it all in buying more shares. Her shares are valued at about half a billion dollars today, but as you all know, that’s spoken for now.”
The sisters stared at Jacqueline in absolute horror. Su Yi’s beautiful goddaughter had automatically inherited more money from their mother’s estate than they did.
“So you’re telling me the only thing of any income-generating value we’re inheriting from our mother is Tyersall Park?” Felicity said slowly, as if not quite believing her own words.
“Well, that isn’t exactly chopped liver. Tyersall Park is worth about a billion dollars today if you sold it,” Freddie remarked.
“Two billion,” Alfred piped up.
Victoria shook her head vehemently. “But we could never sell Tyersall Park! It has to stay in the family. Where does that leave us? We get nothing! Am I supposed to live off the proceeds of one miserable Vuillard?”
Felicity looked at her husband with tears in her eyes and said in a quivering voice, “If we are forced to sell Tyersall Park I only get a few hundred million. I’m going to be a nobody now!”