Chapter 2 - 1: The Funeral
Chapter 1: The Funeral
The sky is covered with dark clouds. Lightning is flashing and there is a heavy rainstorm.
Yet despite the raging storm, a large crowd had gathered at the Lancaster estate. Because today the head of the Lancaster family, Theodore Lancaster, has died.
The atmosphere was thick with grief, but Kael sensed something more than sorrow.
His grandfather, Theodore Lancaster—the wealthiest and most powerful man in town—was gone. And with him went the last semblance of unity in the family. Now, only his vast fortune held them together.
Kael stood near the staircase, his hands buried in the pockets of his black suit. He watched as relatives he barely knew—uncles, aunts, distant cousins—moved around the room. Their faces were expertly composed, their eyes just the right amount of glassy with fake sorrow. But Kael could see through it. He had always been an outsider in this family, which made him the perfect observer.
They weren’t here to mourn. They were here to claim what they believed was theirs.
He saw his uncle Damian standing by the coffin, a look of expressionless grief on his face. The man, in his fifties, knew the game of business, but was not as intelligent as his father. Next to him stood his son, Eric, who carried the same smirk he always wore when belittling people he considered beneath him—which, in Eric’s mind, was everyone.
On the other side, Kael’s other uncle, Raymond, was leaning against a marble pillar. Although he wasn’t as skilled at the game of deception as Damien, he had that hidden glint of greed in his eyes. His daughter, Vanessa, was scrolling through her phone, utterly disinterested in the event.