"Why does Noah get so much?"
Silas and the third brother voiced their outrage.
Arthur stayed silent, and his wife held her tongue for the moment.
On the surface, their branch of the family had hit the jackpot.
Speaking up now would just make them look insanely greedy.
But Silas and the third brother didn't see it that way.
They felt Noah's cut should have been carved out of Arthur's share, rather than diluting their own payouts.
So even with their father on his deathbed, taking his final breaths, they refused to let
it go.
"Dad, my boy is your own grandson! You can't just leave him with crumbs!"
Silas was the first to start whining.
Lydia wasn't about to be left out. "Dad, you know how devoted my kids have been to you all these years. Even if you don't care about me, you have to think of them!"
"If Noah gets a separate share, why don't my two kids get one?"
"Dad, we don't mind you taking care of Noah, but he's Arthur's grandson! Shouldn't his cut come from Arthur's portion? Why does he get his own slice?"
The two of them bickered endlessly, making it impossible for Harrison to even pass away in peace.
He was practically afraid their sheer audacity would resurrect him out of pure anger.
But before he could even form a word, Arthur's wife finally snapped.
"Enough! Why should it come out of our pocket? Noah wasn't even raised in this family."
"If you hadn't dragged him back here, none of this would be an issue."
"Just because he's here doesn't mean I acknowledge him as one of us!"
Arthur's wife had originally been the quietest person in the room.
Now, she completely lost her temper.
The other two factions were led by the General's actual bloodline, but in Arthur's household, his wife wore the pants.
"Dad, if you want to give money to Noah, fine."
"But you have so many other grandkids and great-grandkids. You have to keep things fair."
"Otherwise, the rest of the family is going to feel robbed."
Arthur's wife at least had a shred of logic.
If she were any more volatile, she would have flipped his hospital bed over by now.
Harrison choked on a breathless gasp of pure fury, hacking violently.
The room erupted into chaos, and it thanks to Claire skillfully
was
press pressure points that his
coughing finally subsided.
He spoke slowly. "I hear your complaints. But I will not change my will."
After the coughing fit, his voice was surprisingly clear.
The General took this final window of clarity to give his last instructions.
His descendants listened with half-hearted apathy.
Since they weren't getting what they wanted, none of them really cared to pay attention.
Harrison clearly noticed. He fell completely silent, tears streaking his weathered face.
He weakly motioned for Noah to step forward.
Noah approached, his expression entirely blank. "Great-grandfather."
He looked both obedient and deeply bitter.
Harrison knew the boy's heart was harboring intense resentment.
But he was out of time to fix it.
elbet
"Noah, it's been hard on you. The organization will handle my funeral. If you want to cut ties with the Darwin family, just walk away.
"You can't force people to be family. I realized that far too late."
With those final words, before Noah could even respond, the old man's hand slipped off the bed. He
gone.
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"Great-grandfather!" Noah collapsed heavily to the floor.
He hadn't expected the General to leave so abruptly.
After holding on for so long, even Noah believed the old man was invincible.
Yet he had simply slipped away on an otherwise entirely ordinary afternoon.
Wasn't he obsessed with his descendants? Wasn't he refusing to die because of them?
Why did he suddenly just let go?
Noah couldn't wrap his head around it. He just felt an overwhelming sense of loss.
Someone let out a dramatic wail, shoved Noah out of the way, and threw themselves over the General's body.
"Dad! Dad! Open your eyes and look at us!"
"You can't just leave us! We can't survive without you!"