„What the hell? What do you mean, I need to be married to get the heritage?" „I mean: you have to be married to get the heritage. Your Grandmother wanted you to have a wife. She wanted you to settle down. Have a sweet little family." „Me? Didn't she know me at all?" „I think she knew you the best." Which is true I think. Anyway. Me? Married? I'm the biggest Playboy around. Don't get me wrong. I love women. I love them all. To much to just settle for one. But the heritage we speak of. It's huuuuge. Like 5 billion dollar huge. Worth it to marry. But „Who the hell am I supposed to marry?" I know enough women. But really they're just golddiggas. No one I want to be married. „Buy one." That idea doesn't even sound to bad.
Chapter 1 the heritage
Gregs POV
It's raining. How cliche. I stare out of the window of my BMW but can't seem to bring myself to get out.
„Sir?" I ignore my driver Sven and watch the people walk over the cemetery. All dressed in black dresses or black suits. Faces blank or in tears. I doubt they are real. My grandma was a bitch. Bossy, manipulative, way to direct und always right. She loved to be right so she made sure she was. At all costs. I can't say she was a nice person. But she was all the familiy I had.
She raised me, taught me right and wrong - not that I give a shit - supported me.
Sure, there are my parent. A father who I humiliate by mere existence, and my mother who is nothing more than a golddigga who thought my Dad would leave his wife, when she gets pregnant. He didn't. And she didn't want the child she was getting. She wasn't ready to raise me. My grandma was. She had the money, she had the time and she loved me from day one. Not that she said so. But I know it anyway. Mom's now married to some rich guy in texas. Didn't see her in years. Dad lives a few street from my own house. I don't see him though. We live in agreement to not connect with each other.
So, yes. My grandma was my only family. And now she lies burried in a dark grave while people lie and say what a good person she was. She wasn't. She insulted who she wanted to, she pursued her own goals at any costs. She walked over corpses if she had to. Or just wanted to.
„Sir? Shall we leave?" Sven asks. I sigh. „No" I take my umbrelle and get out of the car to say goodby to the only woman who loved me. The only person I loved.
Millies POV
„Fuck!" Fuck fuck fuck fuck!
„Whats the matter?" Nora, my flatmate, asks. She walks behind me and stares at the letter in my hands. Reads it. Realizes what it means. Reacts. „Fuck"
„What the hell am I supposed to do now? 10 days? How am I gonne find a job in 10 days when I didn't find one in the last 30 days?"
„What do you wanna do now?"
„Marry someone?" I joke. But Nora really seems to think about it.
„Gosh, Nora. I do not marry someone?"
„Why not?" she shrugs.
„Because...who should I marry? I don't have a boyfriend." Hadn't one in quite a while. But that's not the matter right now. „I have to find a job or it goes right back to Canada in ten days. Seems like I have to work as a waitress nonetheless." I throw the letter on the tiny table before me and lean back at the sofa.
„I'm sorry. And just because your boss was an ass."
„Do you think I should have just...you know." Tears fill my eyes. I really really don't want go back to Canada. There waits nothing for me. Only sorrow and grief.
„No!" Nora shouts in my ear. „Are you crazy? Of course not! This man was a big fat ass and you definitely did the right thing by quitting." She sits besides me and pulls me in a tight hug.
„It would have been only a kiss." I speak in her neck. She's right and I know it. I just don't wanna go back to Canada. But I wrote so many applications and got no answers. Seems nobody needs an accountant right now. „He would have wanted more and you know that." Nora presses me closer. „I know" I murmur. 10 days, I think. I have ten days to land a job or I can wave the USA goodbye.
Gregs POV
„What the fucking hell? Are you kidding me? She wrote what in her testament?"
„To get your heritage you have to marry and stay married for at least a year." I shout Tyler, my lawyer, an angry look.
„What?" He asks.
„I heard you the first time."
„Then why did you ask?"
I shake my head. „Is there anything I can do about this?"
„Give up the heritage?" He shrugs. But hell no! We don't talk about a few bucks here. My grandma wasn't some poor old witch. She was one of the richest woman in New York. She was a rich lady who married an even richer guy, who did build an empire! An empire I own now. The Hewitt Corporation. We own big shopping malls in 45 states in the USA beneath several other smaller companies and brands. Sure, I don't need the money. I have more than I could spend in a lifetime. But I know who gets the money if I reject it. Maybe it's petty of me but I don't begrudge him anything. My dad broke with Grandma when she said she want to raise me. So when she got too old to run the company she made me her CEO. I'm rather sure Dad hates me for this even more than he did before. But objectively I was the better choice. My father don't know how to handle money, how to lead a company. He would have brought Hewitt Corporation down in a year. Or even less. He has enough money though that he and his family can live a luxurious live. He got a little subsidiary when grandpa died. I pace in the room. „I won't give up the heritage."
„I guessed as much"
„Rather do I marry then watching my father getting her money. He didn't even show up at her funeral."
„Really? Thought I saw him" Tylor frowns.
„Well, I didn't. Neither my so called siblings." I have a big brother und a little sister. I've never meet either of them personally. Two years ago Sarah tried to reach out to me. She wrote me an email. I never bothered to reply and she never tried again. Maybe that is a dick move but I'm no one to forgive easily. They didn't care for me or grandma the years before. They don't have to care now.
„Do they even know their grandma?" Taylor asks.
„They knew her. So there's nothing I can do to get the heritage out of dads reach without marring?" i come back to the topic.
„No. It's either you or dad. You get it if you marry. He gets it if you don't. It's as easy as this."
„Son of a bitch. Who the hell am I supposed to marry? Didn't she know me at all? Me? Marring? What the fuck!"
„Cursing won't save you. And don't tell me you don't know enough women." he raises his eyebrows
„Of course I know a lot. But none I would marry. They're just random golddigging girls I date to pass the time. Women can't be trusted and I never planned to marry. They trick you into things you don't wanna do."
„Maybe you can pay someone."
„Pay for what?" I sink into the chair across from Taylors desk. His office is small but he has stile. He's our family lawyer since his dad passed away five years ago. He was young but eager to make himself a name. And he reached his goal sooner than we all thought.
„Pay for a wife." i pause. How can he say something like that as if he talks about buying milk in the store next door?
„Excuse me?"
„Pay someone to marry you. Make a contract. One year marriage in exchange for 1 Millilon Dollar. Or 2 miilion or whatever you're willing to pay. After a year you divorce her and she isn't about to talk to anybody about the fake marriage. She can't get more money from you because of the contract."
„Why do you sound like a pro?" I look at him skeptically. He shrugs. "You're not my only client with problems like that."
"Aha." I think about it for a moment. "And do you know where to find such a woman?"
"Why should I. Am I an agency? I only gave you some input. The rest is on you."