Sounds of music were heard from the apartment where Mark and his wife, Elena, lived. The apartment belonged to Margret, Elena's mom. It was an inheritance from her parents, so when Mark got married to her daughter, since he didn’t have money, he packed his belongings to live with them.
He married her out of love, and Elena loved him for being the rich, handsome, and charming guy she knew, but along the line, she began to change, especially as Mark couldn’t give her what the husbands of her friends were giving to her friends.
Mark and Elena met when they were both in college. Then, Mark was one of the richest guys on campus, from the prestigious Darius family. Her family, the Wood family, was also a rich one, though not as rich as the Darius'.
The patriarchs of both families were friends and arranged for both their heirs to get married right outside of college, since they already seemed to get along. Margret, Elena's mother, was thrilled as she would be called the luckiest mother-in-law in the city of Colorado that her daughter would be getting married to.
Things go smoothly until Mark's father and grandfather both die in an airplane crash, leaving Mark alone, while his stepmother and stepbrother plan to take the company from Mark. Mark's step-relatives had always been jealous and had never liked him, so when the leaders of the Darius family were suddenly absent, they took advantage of their absence by kicking Mark out of the house and depriving him of his inheritance.
"Mark, I want to see you in my office right now," Jennet said as she called Mark two days after the announced plane crash. Mark was in his office then.
He blinked his eyes several times, scoffing in reaction to his stepmother's attitude all of a sudden.
"Could it be the end of the pretense I've been hearing about steps happening here?" His voice was filled with sarcasm. He was quite surprised at the unfriendly tone that his stepmom spoke to him. She was friendly to him when his dad and granddad were alive.
"Look, if you think I'm joking, then wait around. Soon things will change, and you'll no longer be who you used to be." She retorted with a loud warning.
"Mom, who does he even think he is?" He could hear Brown's voice in the background. Brown was his stepbrother, right from the time his dad was alive, Brown had never cared to hide his dislike of him. Mark's dad couldn't do anything, no matter how much he talked to Brown to be nice to Mark, Brown wouldn't change.
He stormed out of his office with anger. "I'll go show those two that I'm still in authority, they literally have no power over me!" Mark said to himself.
When he arrived, there was a lawyer already sitting there with Jennet and Brown. Immediately they saw him come in, they put up sinister grins on their lips.
"What the hell is going on here? Why did you call me from work and who's this man sitting here?" Mark barked. Jennet made a gesture for him to calm down.
"Listen," she chuckled. "Now your dad and granddad are dead, and we are about to take over the properties. All of Darius' family assets." Her voice was cool here. Mark pushed forward a chair and sat down. This is truly an important event as he was told in the call.
It occurred to him that the man in front of them was a lawyer.
"Mr. Presh, please bring out the will," Jennet urged. Still, Mark observed the surrounding aura. Brown was eyeing his mom and then both gazes would always end on him.
"What's going on here?" He was forced to ask, but no one gave him a single response.
"No need to ask, soon you will know."
It was evident that after the will was read, Mark couldn't hear his name.
"Come on, is this a joke?" He rose, heaving. His fists were balled, and he stared at Jennet with bloodshot eyes.
"Sit down!" Jennet barked at him. His eyes glared wide as to how she shouted at him as if he was a kid. "If you make any fuse here, I wouldn't hesitate to call the police and have you arrested."
"Now you have to hand over your company, which, as you see from the will, belongs to my son."
Brown giggled. "I told you," he said. "You're nothing, I wonder what you are going to do now. You were so proud." Brown made a spatting gesture at Mark. Mark stood there lost in thought. He didn't believe this was happening. It seemed like a dream to him.
"I guess you are all joking. I'll be the one to drive you both out of my dad's assets. You have no space here."
"Listen, boy," the lawyer said.
"I guess you should be referring to yourself," Mark crossed his arms against his chest with a tight face. "Because there's no boy here."
"Whatever you choose to call yourself," Jennet smirked. "It is only for a limited time. You're nothing but a homeless man now."
Mark jerked backward. He was puzzled at how Jennet's hate was revealed all of a sudden.
"This will have been stamped and approved by the government. Look here, your father and grandfather signed as well," he pointed the signatures to Mark, who peeped and suddenly looked away.
"You are all fraudsters!"
"Mind your words, or you will have to cool off your feet in jail," Jennet warned him. Her eyes were damn serious, but Mark only laughed, she was just displaying her naivety, he told himself.
For a while, Mark thought it was not going to happen until he no longer had the wealth that had buoyed him for so long, and found himself helpless. His bank accounts were frozen, and all assets automatically converted to Jennet and Brown's names.
"What the hell is going on?" He stormed into his stepmother's office to ask questions as he couldn't get access to his banking apps.
Jennet smiled at him. "I have nothing to say but welcome to your new life!" Mark stood there confused, speechless, and angry. He saw as her eyes darkened, her face leaned towards the desk over to where he stood. He wondered what she was about to say.
"Now get out of my office!" She growled. Out of anger, Mark stormed off determined to find a way and get the government to look into this case. He couldn't because he didn't have any money, even for the basic consultations.
Now he had been dating his girlfriend, Elena, for over two years. It seemed like the world was crashing into him. Things worsened when Jennet invited the court, and they threw his things out of the estate.
"He has refused to leave, he's trespassing on our property." She cried to the judge to whom she went to report. Nobody would have believed her until they saw the will. Mark's name wasn't there, the court had no choice but to grant her wish.
"Go away, you miserable boy!" She belittled him. Her son, who was from another father, stood by her side throwing his things out into the street. It happened that rain fell that day, and before he could pick them up and take them away, they had been soaked.
He picked up his phone to call Elena.
He told her everything that had happened within the past few days.
"That's not an issue, we will sort it out. Come stay with me and mom!"
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