Chapter Thirty-Six
The waitress returned with their coffee and Kelley held John's stare. It felt like John was inspecting him, almost memorizing his facial features. It felt awkward and Kelley shifted in his seat before John finally lowered his gaze and cleared his throat.
“Let me start off by saying that if I knew about your housing predicament I’d have made contact with you sooner.”
Kelley frowned again and wished this man would just get to the point. “Why? Who are you?”
“I was your father’s lawyer and close friend for many years. After his death, I was in control of your trust and as per his instructions I was to contact you after your seventeenth birthday for the first instalment of your inheritance.” Kelley shook his head at his words. John was serious and for a minute Kelley thought he'd contacted the wrong person.
“My father’s alive. I would know if he had died.”
“Charles Alexander isn’t your biological father.”
“What?” Kelley sat perplexed but hearing those words had things click into place. So many things made sense now that he’d never understood before. 'You're no son of mine.' The words mulled around in his head. Charles hadn't meant that he was cutting Kelley off with those words. He'd meant it literally.
“Charles Alexander was adopted by Neil and Maylene Alexander as a baby. Your father, Kellan Alexander, was born two years later. Charles always had a chip on his shoulder because he wasn’t blood and their relationship was strained at best.”
“How did he die?” Kelley felt a tumultuous amount of emotion he hadn’t expected and Carey’s hand found his and squeezed lightly.
“In a car accident when he was twenty-three. He was a good man, he loved your mother dearly and they were engaged to be married when she found out she was pregnant with you.”
“How the hell did she end up being married to Charles? Where’s my grandparents?”
“That part I don’t know, I just know that when you were born your father named you and a week later he was dead. On the day of your birth, though, he created a trust for you with me as executor. He loved you from the moment he found out about your existence.”
“How did you find me now? You said you’ve been looking for me for weeks.”
“I hired a private detective because, after Kellan’s death, your mother disappeared with you. Charles moved here to Yorkdare Bay and your grandparents held out hopes of meeting you. Unfortunately, they died two years ago, your grandfather of cancer and your grandmother passed soon after he did.”
“What’s in it for you?” Carey looked pointedly at John. Kelley smiled at the protectiveness in her tone because he had wondered the same thing.
“Excuse me?” John looked almost flustered by Carey’s question.
“You can’t access this trust without Kelley, can you? You need him to get your share of the money.”
“I set out to find Kelley because it’s the right thing to do and Kellan was my best friend. We were as close as brothers. There’s nothing in it for me but seeing that Kelley gets his inheritance and away from Charles’s influence.”
“Was my father’s accident suspicious or not?” Kelley’s hand gripped the seat beneath him because at this point he wouldn’t be surprised.
“It was but was later ruled accidental. They couldn’t determine if his failed brakes were because of tampering or not.”
“You said my grandparents held out hopes of meeting me … surely they knew where I was, living as Charles’s son.”
“Charles flew out to visit them twice a year, according to them he had remained unmarried.”
“This is insane …” Carey’s voice was soft but Kelley still heard her and he agreed. It felt like a movie he was watching, the actions of Charles were just too fantastical to comprehend.
“I was just as shocked to find Laura had married Charles. The point of the meeting though is that upon your seventeenth birthday, the first instalment became available. The second instalment is for when you go to University, and the third instalment will be released on your twenty-first birthday.”
“My father’s money …”
“And your grandparents, you are their sole beneficiary since Charles had taken his inheritance to buy the hotels in Yorkdare Bay with an investment from them.”
“What does that mean? Does Kelley have shares in those hotels?” Kelley hadn’t even thought about that but clearly Carey had.
“Yes, Kelley will own fifty-one percent of the Alexander hotel chains on his eighteenth birthday.”
“That’s an insane amount of money. Those hotels are international.”
“This is a bank card and that’s the pin. The first instalment is five hundred thousand dollars. When you turn eighteen you’ll receive five million plus your hotel shares. When you turn twenty-one you will inherit twenty million dollars and the residences owned by your grandparents.”
Kelley blinked a few times as John pushed the regular-looking envelope in his direction. “I don’t know what to say.”
“Finish school son, go to college, get a degree and take over what is rightfully yours.”
“Does Charles know about all this?”
“I doubt that he does. He hasn’t contacted his parents in five years, he probably assumes that when they die the hotel shares will become his since he built it up and made it what it is today.”
“Keep it between us. I’d like to tell Charles myself when I turn eighteen.”
“If it’s acceptable to you I’ll continue to act as your lawyer as well. I’ve guarded this trust for seventeen years and I’ll continue to do so. I’ll gladly be a part of anything that causes discomfort to Charles.”
“Do you have a picture … of my dad?”
John smiled then and pulled another envelope from the folder and slid it over to Kelley. Kelley opened it and took out the dozens of photos inside. He saw now why John said he looked like his father, he was a carbon copy of him, although he was a bit bulkier, but the rest of him was Kellan Alexander.
Tears slid over his face as he looked at the first few pictures. There was one of Kellan holding him, the biggest, goofiest smile on Kellan’s face. Carey’s fingers touched his cheek as she wiped his tears away and her hand soothed his back.
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