River Yates watched as his uncles fought with the lawyer over the inheritance his parents had left. Tears begged to fall out of his dark eyes but he would not allow it. There was still an hour of the funeral left and he did not want to look weak in front of all the guests who had attended. But his heart couldn't handle all the ugliness of his greedy relatives. They hadn't even finished burying his parents yet but they were already fighting over the inheritance. He wanted to shout and scream and kick them all out but he couldn't embarrass his parents like that. Even if they were gone, he knew he still needed to make them proud and act like a person worthy of being their son.
He walked over to his lawyer and uncles and asked them if there was something wrong. His uncles gave him a disapproving look before turning back to the lawyer, completely ignoring him. Their actions only hurt his pained heart further but he still tried his hardest to hold back his tears. Fortunately for him however, his mother's father interrupted the commotion.
"Don't worry about them, kid," his grandfather said, gently patting his back, "morons like them will just continue to make a fool of themselves until the very last second of their lives. If you worry about them, you'll only end up being as foolish as them, too."
The rest of the funeral went by in a blur. Everything happened so fast that he barely could find a time to say a final goodbye to his parents. But he did manage to find a few seconds and he hated that he had to do something like that so early on in his life. He felt upset that they were gone but more than anything, he felt angry that they had left him so fast. He still had so much time to grow into adulthood and so much more to achieve in his life and now he would have to do it all by himself without his parents' support. He was being forced to grow up too fast and he didn't know how to feel about all of it.
And right after the funeral, with no time to recover over his parents death, was the rest of his life turned upside down.
He walked into the family room in his large house to see the rest of his family all sitting, side-by-side. Some were looking beyond angry and others had a caring facade on. He was born into this family however, so he knew just how fake they all were.
"Oh, my dearest nephew," his Aunt Linda cried, "what will you poor child do now?"
He held back the urge to roll his eyes. Instead he just shrugged.
"Leave the boy be," Linda's husband Greg groaned. His voice had an underlying tone of anger laced all over it. "He has already gone through a lot today."
"I just feel so sad for him," Linda replied. "I can relate to the pain of losing a parent."
Linda had only been in the Yates family for a short while as she had married Greg only a couple of years ago after his first wife had left him, but she had still somehow already mastered the Yates' family trademark slyness. Everything she did had an ulterior motive so it was only natural for River to doubt her kind actions.
Linda and Greg began talking to one another and the rest of the family got involved in the topic. River took this chance to run off to his room but before he could do so, his grandfather walked in with the family lawyer right beside him.
"Good," his grandfather began, "since the whole Yates family is here, let us set all the inheritance matters straight. Go take a seat, lad," he said, pushing River towards and empty sofa. He took a seat beside him.
All eyes were then trained on the lawyer.
Before he could even speak however, River's second uncle Joe pointed towards River's grandfather and asked, "He's not a Yates so shouldn't he leave? This is confidential family business."
River had an urge to punch his uncle in the face but as he had been doing the whole night, he held back once again.
The lawyer shifted from foot to foot, clearly uncomfortable, "Mr. and Mrs. Yates has given full guardianship of River Yates to Mr. Bennett, Mrs. Yates' father. As the legal guardian of River, he has the right to be here as a representative for him."
The whole family was once again in an uproar. Julius Bennett was the father of Maria Bennett, River's mother and therefore he had no blood relation to the Yates at all. Unlike the Yates, he also wasn't a multi-billionaire and instead lived in a humble little apartment in the city. He didn't want to be involved with money and wanted to continue living his life the way he was raised and therefore, he didn't even accept any monetary gifts from his daughter or her family.
"How will he raise a teen boy with no money?"
"How did they think he was better fit than us?"
"Why would they darken their own son's future like that?"
Everyone spoke over one another, clearly not caring whether anyone had answers or not.
The Lawyer –Mr. Trent – cleared his voice and begged for everyone to quieten down.
"My job isn't to question my clients," he began, "and therefore I do not know why they chose Mr. Bennett as River's guardian. However, monetary wise, they have left enough for him to raise River comfortably."
Once again, the family was in an uproar. Deep down, River was more than glad his parents hadn't left him in the guardianship of one of the crazy Yates. He couldn't have imagined living with them for more than five minutes without going crazy.
"Everyone please, I have an appointment right after this so it would be helpful if everyone can listen to me so we can all be on our way."
"And what about the hospitals? Who have the rights over the Yates hospital chain?"
Lawyer Trent looked uncomfortable once again. From the look on his face, it was clear that no one was going to like his answer very much.
"The whole inheritance, every single thing they owned has been left to their son, River Yates."
Everyone in the room went completely silent. There was nothing but silence but somehow it was the loudest sound River had ever heard in his life.
"What?" Greg growled. "What do you mean they left everything to this kid? Our forefathers worked so hard for that hospital and right before my father's death he put my brother in charge of everything only for him to give it all away to a kid?"
"The hospital wasn't even Bradley's," Joe, River's younger uncle began, "but the board of directors chose him to take over and we all respected that. We all have equal stocks in the hospital and have been working our whole lives there. How can he just give it all to a child that hasn't worked a single day in his life?"
Their wives nodded, anger clearly written all over their faces.
"This is ridiculous," Linda all but cried. "I barely get to see my husband because of how hard he works and now all his hard work is not even going to his own children but him?" She said pointing at River.
River just silently watched the commotion before him. He had a lot to say but he knew very well that no matter what he said, it would be overlooked. No one cared about him or his dead parents. The only thing they cared about was the money his parents would leave behind and all the benefits they would get if River was placed in their care.
"How will he even run an entire hospital chain at this age?" Greg exasperated. "My son has been working at the hospital for five years now, hoping that he could become a board member and possibly President in the future and now he's just going to give up everything for a kid that doesn't even know how to clean his own shit?"
"Look," Lawyer Trent began, "I know it's hard to understand, but—" he didn't get to finish what he was saying as Greg angrily stood up and stormed towards him. Before he could do anything to the Lawyer, Joe stopped him and encouraged him to listen to what else the lawyer had to say.
Lawyer Trent heaved a deep breath and began speaking again, "Of course Mr Yates isn't expecting River to take over the company right this instant. He has put forth some conditions."
Both uncles and their wives visibly relaxed but their faces were still red with anger.
"And what are those conditions?" Joe asked.
"First, River must complete his education and become a qualified surgeon. After he has completed his degree, he will start to work in the hospital as a surgeon. They want him to work as a surgeon for at least one year. Once that year is up, the board of directors will vote on whether they believe he is fit enough to take over the company. If he is, he'll take over. If not, they will elect who they believe is best fit and River will continue working as a surgeon until the next elections."
River could see all the wheels turning in his uncles' heads. Those sly old men already had begun thinking of what they could do to gain the most power in the company.
"And who will be the President while River completes his education?"
"The board of directors will select the next temporary President through voting."
Both brothers turned to one another before sitting down, neither trying to make it obvious that they were already planning to sabotage each other's chances.
"There is also some monetary inheritance that he will be receiving but as he is still a minor, that money will not be in his possession until he turns eighteen." Everyone nodded, pretending to care. They were all busy making sly plans in their brains to care about anything else. "And aside from his education, there was also a condition of completing at least two hours of voluntary work at the hospital every week," Lawyer Trent finished, speaking only to River now. River nodded in response.
"That is all then. May Mr. and Mrs. Yates' souls rest in peace."
With that said, he literally ran out of the house and away from the crazy family. The rest of the family quickly followed suit, not even bothering to console or even bid goodbye to the newly orphaned River.
Soon enough, River was left alone in his giant family home with his old grandfather and that's how it would stay for the next couple of years.