Christina’s POV
The doctor’s words hit the room like a boulder rolling down a mountain.
Several relatives blinked, trying to process what they’d just heard.
A woman at the back choked out, "That’s impossible. He was walking around just last month."
"Don’t leave us now, Edouard. The family still needs you," soone else pleaded.
A wave of sniffling broke out across the room. One by one, people started to cry, the sound spreading like it was contagious. I watched them carefully, noting how their eyes stayed dry despite their sobs.
"Vultures," Akira growled in my mind. "They can’t even fake grief properly."
The tears didn’t even last five minutes before soone leaned toward Marlowe and whispered, "We should probably discuss arrangents."
"Exactly," another voice chid in. "Did he leave a will?"
Just like that, the mood changed completely. Crying stopped. Elbows jutted out as people pushed for position. The scent of greed filled the room so strongly I could almost taste it.
Marlowe didn’t answer, but Edouard’s eyelids fluttered open. His eyes had yellowed whites with pupils shrunk to tiny dots. His gaze drifted across the room, cloudy and unfocused, settling briefly on each face. His hand shook as he raised it, pointing at Hudson.
Pure hatred burned in that look. Complete resentnt.
His lips moved, but no sound ca out.
Hudson stepped forward. "He seems to want to read the will."
Edouard’s mouth twitched, possibly trying to say "no," but nobody paid attention to him. They were already muttering among themselves.
"Just let Hudson read it. Co on, the old man’s barely hanging on."
"Stop wasting everyone’s ti."
Hudson nodded at Marlowe. The lawyer stepped past a couple of relatives and pulled a thick stack of papers from his briefcase, handing them to Hudson.
The room fell silent imdiately. Even the monitors seed to quiet down.
"The will begins with an asset inventory," Hudson announced. "Liquid funds: five hundred million. Property and other holdings: nearly eight hundred million."
Soone gasped behind . Gwendolyn’s eyes widened.
Hudson continued reading. "All LGH shares to be transferred to Hudson Laurent."
He paused, eyebrows raised. "You’re giving everything?"
Edouard’s eyes widened with panic. His forehead tensed as a vein bulged above his temple. He struggled against the mattress, trying to lift himself up, but only managed to raise his shoulders half an inch before collapsing back down.
The heart monitor sped up its beeping.
Hudson t his grandfather’s gaze steadily. "Well. Thank you, Grandfather."
Edouard made a broken, hoarse sound. His fingers twitched before going still.
Around , voices blurred into whispers.
"Why would he leave everything to Hudson?"
"They weren’t even close like that."
"It’s not like he needs the shares. Hudson’s been running LGH for years anyway."
"No one’s removing him as CEO, with or without this."
"Forget the company. What about the rest? Let’s get to that part!"
Hudson waited until the noise died down before continuing.
"Grandfather instructed that all his property be liquidated and converted to cash." He paused. "He wanted it divided equally. One million to each family mber."
The silence that followed was deafening.
Then soone spoke up from behind. "That can’t be right."
"One million? Out of billions?"
"There must be so mistake. Hudson, are you sure you read that correctly?"
Hudson held up the docunts. "Absolutely certain. It’s written here in black and white. The will was properly notarized. And the person who drafted it is standing right here."
Marlowe stepped forward. "The instructions were explicit. That’s the allocation."
A voice rose above the others. "What about the remainder? Even after giving one million each, there’s still an enormous amount left. Where’s the rest going?"
"Donated," Hudson replied. "All of it. To charity."
This ti the silence lasted longer, heavier, like a physical weight pressing down on the room.
Gwendolyn broke it with a shriek. "He wouldn’t leave us with practically nothing! Edouard wouldn’t do that!"
A woman near her nodded. "One million is insulting. He might as well have given us a damn coupon."
A man shrugged. "Hell, I’ll take it. If you don’t want your share, hand it over to ."
The situation escalated quickly. Dozens of voices talked over each other, so shouting. A man by the window jabbed his finger into another’s chest. Two cousins I didn’t recognize started arguing about who had closer blood ties.
Several out-of-towners stood off to the side, glued to their phones, grinning like they’d won the lottery despite the modest sum.
Hudson allowed the chaos to continue for about a minute before raising his voice.
"Enough! This is a hospital, not a bar fight! What’s written stands. No amount of complaining will change anything."
The noise gradually died down.
A man in a corduroy blazer made a disgusted sound and stord out.
"What a complete waste of ti," soone muttered, following him. "Should’ve just stayed ho."
"Let’s go. This was a total bust."
People began filing out. Handbags snapped shut. Suit jackets were grabbed from chairs.
Within minutes, the room had cleared out, leaving just Hudson and .
Gwendolyn shot Hudson a venomous look. "You don’t feel guilty?"
"Guilty?" Hudson smirked. "As the Alpha of The Sabreridge Pack, I should have inherited everything automatically, but he was trying to circumvent pack law. I simply... corrected the situation."
Gwendolyn stomped off. She knew she’d lost her battle with Hudson.
Hudson approached the bed.
He leaned over his grandfather’s face.
"They’re gone. Every last one of them. Not a single person in this room actually cared about you. They only showed up to collect their inheritance. The mont they realized they weren’t getting what they expected, they left. Probably complaining about bad luck all the way to their cars."
Edouard struggled to open his eyes.
His gaze locked onto Hudson, wide and blazing with fury.
"You... you changed my... my will..." The words scraped out like broken glass.
His chest rose in short, irregular gasps.
Hudson looked down at him as if the old man was already a ghost.
"You spent your entire life betting on the wrong people, Grandfather," he said. "You chose Gwendolyn over my mother. You helped push her toward her death and thought I’d never discover the truth. You were wrong. You favored Declan over , sent overseas hoping I’d get myself killed. Wrong again. You hid your diagnosis and made secret deals with a lawyer you assud was loyal to you. That was your final mistake."
He turned and reached for my hand.
We walked out without looking back.
Just as the door slid shut behind us, the heart monitor emitted a shrill, continuous beep.
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