come in very handy for him, and his Jaguar dealer wouldn’t complain, either. If he remembered what he’d borrowed from me, he might even start paying me back. I wouldn’t remind him.
“And it will increase when you get married.” Fred turned to me. “Yesterday, you asked about Angela. She will also have an income.” Okay, good for Angela. I was sure it would be more than fifty thousand a month. “Then there are numerous other bequests to relatives, friends, and employees, which amount to less than two million dollars. As his executor, I will take care of those.” He tapped the stack of papers. “You each have a list, although it is not complete. There were some bequests your father chose to not be made public.”
All of that had been his original plan. What was no longer part of the plan? It was my name that had not yet been uttered. I was already thinking it through. Four years at Yale, I must have gotten a degree. Business, yeah, that was it. I could get a job with that. Or maybe I could drive trucks.
“Jason, you were to have received a similar monthly income. That has been changed.”
I decided on the trucks. Maybe Katie could ride with me.
She was frozen beside me, and I felt two red hot lasers drilling into my shoulder. Maybe I’d be riding alone.
Maybe I could freeload off Eric. I could wash his cars. We’d make sure Rosita fixed him a real nice lunch today.
I didn’t have enough time to build up real confusion. Fred’s mouth was still moving.
“Your father had originally planned to leave the bulk of his estate to the Boyer Foundation, and Mr. Kern and the board of directors would have been trustees. However, except for the other distributions I’ve mentioned, you are now the sole heir of the estate.”
“No.”
There was pounding in my brain and a wave of heat shooting up through my chest and head, like a ring crushing me. It was a primal reaction, before I even really understood the words. Sole heir? It was rage, absolute fury. And it showed.
“Jason?” The lasers beside me had suddenly malfunctioned. The way she said my name, she sounded as if she were about to lose power completely.
I was so angry I didn’t care. How could he mess it up so completely? When he’d been leaving it to someone else instead of me, I was annoyed by the rejection. But this was total idiocy. He hadn’t even told me! I would have killed him if he hadn’t already been dead.
Fred decided to keep going. “The estate is primarily stock in the companies your father owned and controlled, but also includes his properties, art and valuables, and,” he was faltering, seeing my anger, “some other investments.”
“Why?”
Fred took a deep breath. “I’m sorry, Jason. I know this wasn’t what you expected.”
“I won’t take it.”
I’d hit Fred’s button. “Just a moment.” He said it angrily and with exasperation. I hadn’t seen him like this. “You have no idea what you are saying.”
“But I don’t want it. I refuse.”
“Then I’ll take it,” Eric said, his eyes wide. “Give it to me. What’s the problem?”
“At least listen to him.” Katie had rebooted.
“Just tell me why he changed it,” I said.
Fred was calm again. He shook his head. “I don’t know why. When he instructed me to revise his will, I asked him why, but he chose not to confide in me.”
“He could at least have told me,” I said.
“I think he would have. But there was no opportunity.”
“When did he come up with this brilliant strategy?”
“We first discussed it several months ago. He signed the will at my house Saturday evening last week and died on his way home.”
On his way home. That was past stupidity, deep into farce. I couldn’t even think, only feel, and all I felt was anger. Why couldn’t he have said something to me? When did we even last talk? Two months ago? Three? What did it mean? Why am I here?
It was all too much. Minutes passed and I just sat, and the others knew better than to break my silence.
At least Fred and Katie knew better. “Deal with it, man. If someone gives you fifty million dollars, you just say yes. This is not hard to figure out.”
It was too plain to put into words, but I tried. “I just want something to live on and to get rid of the rest.”
“You can live on whatever you want.”
“I don’t want to be Melvin.”
That shut him up. He didn’t even know what it meant.
Katie knew nothing she could say would persuade me, so as desperately as she wanted to try, she wasn’t talking. The harder you push a mule, the more obstinate it gets. She left it to the expert.
“It will take time to adjust.” Fred shuffled the papers. “But you will. And it will take a short time for probate and transfer of titles.”
He risked a small smile. “You can’t get rid of anything until it’s actually yours.”
“What do you mean, about not wanting to be him?” Eric said. “I still don’t understand.”
“Everything he was. His deals, his influence, his manipulations. Sitting in his mansion, being the big man. Being the king.” Was that it? “Being so sure of who he was.” I turned to Fred. “No. I won’t do this. If I have to sign something to refuse it, then make it quick.”
“You do not understand.” Soft, round Fred had again lost patience and was finally, suddenly, very hard. “And the stakes are too high for childish behavior.” He paused while he got my attention. Now I was seeing the Fred who counseled ruthless men.
“Listen to me, Jason. Your father had great power in this state, and his wealth was only part of it. He had thousands of employees and held immense sway over government. He could make or break anyone he wanted. He had no rivals because he had defeated them. You know who he was.”
I had his attention. “I know who he was, Fred. Everyone knew exactly who he was.”
“That is the point. Now his death has left a vacuum, and that is very dangerous.” He was speaking deliberately, as if I were a child. “I had thought to wait before I had this discussion with you, but I see I need to do it now. You have no choice, Jason. You must take your father’s position.”
“I don’t want it. You know me. I’d hate it.” I looked away from him. “It wouldn’t work, anyway. Let someone else be king.”
“That is not an option. I said that a vacuum is dangerous.” He was measuring me; I could see it in his eyes. “Your rivals have already taken the first steps to fill it.”
“My rivals? I said I don’t want it. If they do, let them have it.”
“You don’t know what you are saying. There will be war.”
“You mean that literally?” I shook my head. “War? People getting killed?”
“Perhaps, yes, but I’m referring to a larger conflict. Political influence and union violence will be part of it. Organized crime would take sides. There are many ways battles would be fought.”
“And this was how Melvin got to the top, I suppose?”
Fred shook his head. “I will not discuss that with you. But the Boyer companies could even be forced out of business, and your own wealth eliminated. If you do not choose to fight the war, you will lose it.”
“But all I have to say is ‘Yes,’ and I’m king, and everything’s fine.”
“Not that easily. You will have to fight, and it will take some time to consolidate your position. But I will be helping you, and you will have other allies, and you will have your father’s wealth and his name.”
“What would have happened if he hadn’t changed his will? Nathan Kern wasn’t going to be fighting wars.”
“Perhaps that was why your father changed his will.”
Every time I started to get the boat upright, he shoved another wave in and swamped it.
“Does Kern know about this?”
