“There will be one day. He won’t live forever, even with all his money. We’re not about to wait until he’s six feet under to start contesting the will. We intend to make sure we get what’s coming to us, fair and square.”
Carson sat uncomfortably as his brothers and sisters argued back and forth.
“And how do you propose this miracle will happen?” Eve asked. “It doesn’t matter if you’re biologically Winchesters or not. Our father doesn’t have to include anyone in his will he doesn’t want to.”
“That’s true,” Graham said. “He can leave us out. But if he does, I can guarantee that you and your sisters will never see a penny of your inheritances. We will sue and tie the estate up in court for years
. You won’t get a thing until it’s settled by the judge, and by then, half of it might have been drained away in legal fees.”
Grace swallowed hard. “And what is our alternative?”
“It’s fairly simple,” Brooks said. “If your father voluntarily updates his will now, we’ll have no problem. We’ve already gone our entire lives being ignored. Our mother raised us alone without receiving a dime in child support from our father. I don’t think it’s too much to ask that we get our share once he’s gone. We think you ladies can help make that happen.”
“Us?” Eve asked.
“You’re daddy’s little girls, right? Encourage your father to update the will to include us with even distribution among all the biological children. Tell him that you don’t want to fight family in court over the estate. Certainly he’ll listen to you.”
“Have you met our father?” Eve asked.
At that, Carson had to chuckle. All four of his siblings looked over at him with venom in their expressions. Now was not the time to find amusement in the situation. He opted to try diffusing the tension instead.
“Eve, Grace,” he said, “try to see this from our point of view. You had your father in your life. You had everything you’ve ever wanted. We were equally deserving, but we were shut out. We had to fight for everything we have, and we’re not going to stop now. Our father owes us this, for our mother’s sake and for the sake of the children he abandoned.”
“I am very sorry for the way you all grew up. I’m sorry that you felt unloved and had a difficult life. But you do understand that this has nothing to do with us girls? Have you given any consideration to how we feel about all of this?” Eve looked at Carson as she said the words, making him feel like the bully in the situation. “We suddenly have brothers? Or, at least, one for certain. We are faced with the knowledge that our father not only cheated on our mother but also did it in such a reckless way. You’re not punishing Sutton with this proposal of yours. You’re punishing us.”
“I hate that’s the way it has to be,” Graham said, with a touch of sadness in his voice that Carson didn’t expect. He was used to Graham being a shark in this kind of negotiation. Perhaps he wasn’t as enthusiastic about using his sharp teeth on his own sister.
“But you and I both know that there’s only one way to get to Sutton Winchester,” Graham continued, “and that’s through his wallet. We’re not going to get a tearful reunion out of him. Hell, we’ll be lucky to get him to acknowledge us privately, much less publicly. I’m sorry that we have to rob your trust funds to make it happen, but money is all we’re going to get out of our father, so you’d better be damn sure that we’re going to get it.”
The room was awkwardly silent for a moment as all the potential siblings sized one another up. “Very well,” Eve said at last. “I’ll have a discussion with Father about the will. When the new DNA test results are ready, perhaps he will be willing to move forward with updates. But not until then.”
“Fair enough,” Graham answered.
“Well, then, if there’s nothing else, I’m sure we all have businesses to run.” Eve pushed up from her chair, and everyone else followed suit.
“We’ll see ourselves out,” Carson said as they spilled out into the hallway. He was certain the sisters had plenty of talking to do among themselves. As did the brothers.
They moved silently through the offices until they climbed into Brooks’s car and slammed the doors shut.
“Now what?” Carson asked.
“I think that went well,” Graham said. “I think we wait on the results and see what they do next.”
“You were too soft on them,” Brooks complained to Graham. “That Eve woman is just your type. She had you eating from her hand.”
“That Eve woman might be our sister, man. That’s gross.”
“Well, either way, she’s your type and you didn’t go in for the kill.”
“There wasn’t need to. We got our point across. Like she said, they’re being punished for their father’s actions. I’m not going to push harder until we have to.”
Carson listened to the twins argue. He wasn’t sure how he felt about their plans to get revenge against Sutton. “I don’t know about all this,” he said.
Both brothers turned toward the backseat to look at him. “What do you mean?” Brooks asked.
“I mean…what’s the point? We don’t need the money. We’re not going to get a dad out of this. We’re just going to make our sisters hate us, and when Sutton is gone, they might be all we have left.”
“He dumped our mother, Carson. He left her pregnant with infant twins to care for. He needs to be punished. Tell me another way to do it and I’ll do it,” Graham offered.