Chapter 3

After long, sleepless days and nights, when the time finally came for her to go home, Vee forced Guy and Lenka to leave her alone and assured them that she was alright. She wanted them to also get some rest as they had spent days and nights alternating with assisting her. She promised that if she needed anything, her house helpers would do a great job.

In truth, she wanted to have some time to mull things over and process her own emotions. Just as how her father had raised her and Viktor, she would never show weakness in front of anyone she didn’t fully trust, thus she would always put on a strong face every time the cameras snapped at her during interviews. The first and last time she ever cried since hearing the news was in front of Guy and Lenka on that fateful day of her last fashion show. Her friends had expressed worry for her lack of emotional display, but she may have been trying too hard to follow her father’s teaching that even when she had tried to release some emotions, she found herself devoid of them.

However, now that she was finally alone, as she sat on her father's bed, all the fatigue she endured within a week of roller coaster experience seemed to finally seep into her nerves and slowly softened her heart.

And she started crying.

The tears which she thought would never flow again started pouring from her eyes as she wailed, thumping her chest to try and ease her breathing. She sobbed as she replayed every single recorded video call she ever had with her brother. She wept as she listened to every voicemail message that her father had left her. Tears flowed freely down her cheeks as she listened to the men's quirky voices trying to annoy her with nonsensical topics. She bit her lower lip and chuckled when she browsed through pictures of Viktor showing a different girl in his arms on every shot. Damn womanizer. Her eyebrows raised in awe at her father's all serious snapshots during meetings which were secretly taken by Viktor. I didn’t realize you were so elegant. Mixed emotions flooded her heart and she allowed herself to stay slumped on the bed, unstable and trying to pour all other emotions out.

Yes, let’s grieve… Just for today, let’s grieve… 

She didn’t realize that she had already fallen asleep after crying her eyes out. When she woke up, the sun was already up, its rays fighting to enter through the thick, glass windows and through the heavy curtains which were slightly parted. She stood up and took a good stretch, and tried to assess if she still felt overwhelmed with emotions as earlier. She could sense her heart starting to burst with sadness again, but she had to force herself to calm down and again remember what her old man would always say. Show must go on, darling. The show must go on.

Big show, this is, Daddy. She thought. What were you up to?

The day finally came when Attorney Wilhelmina Pimenova would read the Last Will and Testament of Reynold Yates.

Vee went to the Rustik-Yates Hotel and chose to stay in her father's office and meet the lawyer there. Guy and Lenka were with her as witnesses, and both were feeling more anxious than how she actually was.

"You two could stay put and stop walking around," Vee said as she rolled her eyes. The two ignored her and continued whispering to each other about the possibilities of Vee becoming a full-time business magnate, and being the prettiest and the youngest, at that. "Yeah, talk about me like I can't hear you."

“I should still style her and do her makeup, yeah?” Lenka whispered to Guy, her eyes sparkling with excitement and determination. Vee could imagine the fashionista gear rolling in Lenka’s head.

“I definitely can’t let her wear lingerie in shoots and shows…” Guy mused, “but I sure can create some designs which would fit her new world!” He clapped his hands decisively.

Vee simply raised her hands as her friends had seemingly gotten over their own grief upon seeing her looking better and more composed than ever. She let them chat away, discussing plans of how to make her the most stylish and prettiest billionaire.

“Not that you aren’t yet,” the two even said in unison. 

When Attorney Pimenova arrived, all three of them settled and followed instructions on taking oath. Afterwards, the lawyer read from the Will.

"I, Reynold Yates, sixty-seven, hereby cancel all other Will and Testament I have created or written in the past, of every nature. This handwritten Will shall be honored as my last, irrevocable Will. I appoint my only daughter, Venera Rustik Yates, to look after my Estate and I hereinafter refer to her as my 'Executor.'"

Guy and Lenka gasped at the first paragraph which was just read out. They both wondered how and when the old Yates had decided on updating his Last Will with his youngest daughter as the person to ensure that his instructions were followed. It was weird not to have his older son do it, but what was a lot more mind-boggling was the idea of Reynold seemingly knowing that Viktor would be unable to function, leaving his daughter all alone.

"...to take my office as hers, and solely decide on the employment of executives at the time she assumes office..."

Vee could not focus on the rest of what Attorney Pimenova was reading out. She could feel her heart starting to beat so fast as she anticipated the weight of the responsibility which her father had left her.

As the Executor, all decisions are to be made by her alone.

She wasn’t new to owning a business, but her father’s was not to be taken lightly - it was talking billions at a much larger scale than what she was used to.

"...all these should take effect by the time Venera turns twenty-three, and is married to the sole heir of my trusted friend, Alister Gallagher."

Attorney Pimenova paused after reading the last paragraph off the Will. She turned her poker face towards her audience, anticipating their violent reactions.

"W-wait-I'm sorry, WHAT???!" Vee, Guy, and Lenka all jumped from their seats and stared at the lawyer as though the latter just started speaking in an alien language. Their jaws were dangerously agape, and the attorney wondered if they would soon fall to the ground. She could remember her own reaction when the old Yates had called her office to notarize his Will with that ridiculous passage about marrying his daughter off.

"What do you mean with 'married?'" Vee seemed to have found her voice again. "I am going to marry some...some random man?!" She looked horrified, her mouth opening and closing like fish out of water.

The beautiful but stern-looking lawyer nodded casually at the gaping faces of the three, earning incredulous glares.

"As it states, you must marry the Gallagher heir when you turn twenty-three, in order to assume office and be the 'Executor'" she explained, carefully rephrasing Reynold's words. The three were too dumbfounded to conjure another reaction, and they all sunk back into their seats, unable to even say another word.

The rest of the Will was read out and in the end, Vee had found herself lifting a pen, her hand ready to sign the document for her acknowledgement despite all the oddities. She was still in shock even after the lawyer had gone, unable to process what just happened. It was Lenka who had to shake her back to her senses.

"You remember meeting Conan Gallagher, right?" Lenka asked, her disbelief from earlier seemingly had disappeared in a poof, as now she was looking a little dreamy and very excited. Vee slowly shook her head, clearly not remembering what Conan looked like, despite remembering she had briefly met him just a week back. Guy gave Lenka an I-told-you-so look.

"Conan was the hot guy you met in the administrative office of the cemetery! He happens to be the son of your father's bodyguard! I can't believe you don't remember! And I don't think your Dad will give you away to some random man who isn't good-looking." Lenka narrated, her voice had a tinge of annoyance, clearly frustrated by the fact that her friend had failed to imprint on such a heavenly being.

Vee rolled her eyes. Not that she wouldn't want a "hot guy" for a husband, but she would rather go for someone mild-mannered. She could not remember what Conan looked like, and even though she was aware that the Gallaghers were her family's trusted friends, she still could not understand why her father would marry her off.

"Maybe because you didn't really seriously date any decent man in the past?" Lenka retorted sarcastically. Vee realized she was apparently thinking out loud.

"The only person of the male species in your circle is Guy, other than your father and brother." Lenka stated in a matter-of-fact tone, as she folded her arms over her chest.

Guy looked at Vee with a mixture of curiosity and worry. He knew that marriage was a big thing for the young woman, and being suddenly thrust into a situation like what she faces now could be equally shocking as losing her father and her brother at the same time.

"Do you have a plan?" He carefully asked. He feared what kind of response they would get from Vee.

"I need to talk to Conan Gallagher," Vee declared.

She straightened her coat and fixed her hair. She ignored the anticipating look and scared expressions on her friends’ faces.

She tried to compose herself as she looked around the office as she tried to convince herself that the decision forming at the back of her mind was plausible. As she laboriously avoided Guy’s and Lenka’s searching gazes, her eyes fell on the painting behind her father's desk. She could imagine him sitting on his swivel chair, his serious face hidden behind his clasped hands, elbows on the desk and staring straight ahead at an invisible target board. Surely the abstract painting would have created a mystical backdrop if he were photographed from the front.

Really - what were you thinking, Daddy? She needs to know why her father wanted her to marry the Gallagher heir.