Chapter 2

Everything happened like a whirlwind after the sad news had come to Vee. On the very same day, she had to cancel all pending commitments and had her staff make important phone calls to file for her immediate resignation from her agency. Her managers and assistants had to coordinate with different agencies to send advanced notifications of the major changes on her plans for the year which would affect existing contracts. While flying in her private plane, she discussed pending contracts with her attorney and announced willingness to pay for damages or penalties for breach of contract, if any. After hours of calls making arrangements, Vee’s appointment for Guy's fashion line photoshoot for a magazine was the only one left in her line up for the rest of the summer, and her friend readily mentioned that he would be declining the invitation if the editors would demand for Vee, and offer other top models to grace the shoot and be given the opportunity to carry his brand as an alternative.

After everything was settled the next day, Vee's press relations manager, Davie, finally released an official statement of her bereavement leave and indefinite break from the modeling world. This was to answer the media's growing questions on what her plans were, now that she was orphaned and without an immediate relative who could look after her. Vee knew that while some were genuinely concerned, not everyone who reached out to her had real thoughts of her well-being. Obviously, she wasn’t a minor who needed thorough looking after, nor was she even stripped of riches for her to worry about what her future would look like - surely those who were keeping the buzz about her ill fate were just in for a juicy story to share to the world. Afterall, who wouldn’t be intrigued by the sudden and tragic deaths of two of the biggest names in the highest social class, leaving all the inheritance to a seemingly spoiled princess?

The Rustik-Yates chain of hotels, which was managed by Vee’s older brother, Viktor, now has a vacant president and CEO position and the stakeholders are starting to fret on the fact that a young woman inevitably seems to be the only qualified heiress. Business columns, social media platforms, and traditional media stations had ongoing debates on whether the business world was questioning Vee’s skills and knowledge in running a corporation, or just too prejudiced on the fact that she was too young at twenty-two, a sheltered princess who had never set foot in business meetings with her father and brother in the past, all the while so busy and focused in her own world with her modeling career. Other discussions were focused on Vee being a “fashion model” which didn’t have much “significance” in the business world as it was deemed as a mere “hobby,” much to the indignation of fashion icons. The stories had almost everyone in the social circles too interested and invested in the development of the controversy that even the unaffected individuals were dragged in. This included the only known closest relative of the Yates who was Vee's Uncle, Reagan, who was based in Ireland. However, through an official statement which came out almost immediately after the rumors of him taking over started circulating the media, he announced that it had never crossed his mind to take over a business which was not his own, knowing that there is another qualified individual to take on the role. He also had to point out that he was already fairly occupied with his own shipping line and his plans of further expanding it with the help of his three sons. He couldn’t help but make a sarcastic remark directed at the biased media people who were pretending to care about the Rustik-Yates business’ welfare. You won’t get drama out of our family.

"Reynold Yates," Vee's official statement read, "has his Last Will and Testament which will be presented and read to me in a few days by Attorney Wilhelmina Pimenova, our family lawyer. I shall wait for further instructions from him, which I'm sure - with him being prepared for everything - he had already listed. I have to admit that it would take time for me to learn what I need to, but I trust that everyone from the world of business and fashion would respect my need to privately make plans for the benefit of all the employees of Rustik-Yates Hotels."

The sudden death of a great billionaire in the country really shook the business world. It created a lot of nasty and tangled stories of betrayal, inheritance feud, and conspiracies which the media men feasted on, but as respect for the departed, the other magnates refused to make comments. However, the facts remained unaltered in the prevailing news.

On the day that Reynold Yates met with a car accident, it was said that he was trying out his new car which his best friend and bodyguard, Alister Gallagher had designed. The two were together in the car on the way to a business meeting, closely followed by Viktor Yates in his own sports car. Traffic was normal and the newly renovated highways were not as crowded as during the weekdays, which made it more surprising when the investigations showed that the car tires were the cause of the accident.

The new car which Alister was driving was seen to have suddenly swerved as caught on street CCTV and had hit the center island causing the entire car to tumble upside down and crash against Viktor's sports car, which then led to an explosion. As a result of the explosion, all three bodies got severely burned which made identification very difficult. Only the family heirloom - rings which had the family's symbols - of each victim has helped the authorities be sure of their deductions. It didn't help when Vee refused to have her father's and her brother's bodies undergo autopsy and DNA testing for further investigation. She refused to divulge to the media what her reason was when she made her decision and simply announced that she didn’t want the already burnt bodies of her loved ones further mutilated.

In reality though, she was holding onto her brother's recorded video call sent to her a few seconds before the accident had happened. Whatever happens, never allow anyone to touch our bodies. While it felt too weird to receive such an instruction, Vee could not discount the fact that Viktor's face was extremely serious like she had never seen before. And never show them this call.

Vee could not understand why her brother would send her such instructions as though knowing there was something bad that was about to happen. More questions started flooding her mind as she recalled that there was also her father's voicemail message which was recorded and sent to her at the same exact time that Viktor recorded his - and her father’s words were supporting Viktor’s instructions. Wait for my last will and testament. Follow Viktor.

A part of her was hopeful that everything was just a bad joke, a sick prank where someone would suddenly say "Cut!" and take back every detail of what had happened, letting her go back to her normal world with her father and her brother constantly calling her when she was out-of-town. The moment never came, though,  and she found herself attending one meeting after another to arrange for the interment of her loved ones. A lot of people, familiar and stranger alike, came to her, each expressing their condolences and offering assistance. It didn't even occur to her that she had even met the Gallagher heir, Conan, a few days back, while he also had to arrange for his father's interment.