You Want My Grandma’s $8 BILLION Inheritance DREAM ON! SCUMBAG, Watch Your Empire COLLAPSE Overnight! Chapter 01
In the seventh year of my marriage, I was about to inherit the eight-billion-dollar fortune my grandmother had left behind.
Attorney Julian Ward sat across from me and slid a stack of documents onto the table.
“Ms. Grant, once you sign these, Grant Hotels Group and all of your grandmother’s real estate holdings will officially be transferred into your name.”
I wrapped my fingers around the pen, but my mind was somewhere else.
Alexander Langford.
He’d told me he was flying home tonight and had managed to get me a limited-edition Patek Philippe watch.
Seven years of dating. Seven years of marriage.
He still spoiled me like I was the little girl he’d fallen in love with.
“Ms. Grant?”
Julian’s voice pulled me back.
“There is… something I need to verify with you.”
I looked up.
He adjusted his glasses, his expression unusually tense.
“To complete the inheritance process, we needed a copy of your marriage certificate. But…”
“But what?”
“I accessed the state’s marriage records.”
He turned his laptop toward me.
“According to the official registry… your current legal marital status is unmarried.”
The screen displayed my record from the state database.
**Name:** Evelyn Grant
**Marital Status:** Single
I stared at that one word.
Single.
Until my eyes began to sting.
“That’s impossible.”
My voice came out surprisingly calm.
“Alex and I got married seven years ago. The morning after our wedding, he insisted on filing the paperwork himself because he said I’d barely slept the night before and didn’t want me running around doing errands.”
Julian was silent for a few seconds before opening another file.
“Mr. Alexander Langford did register a marriage seven years ago,” he said carefully.
“But the spouse listed on the certificate wasn’t you.”
“It was… Sophia Vale.”
Sophia Vale.
The daughter of the Langford family’s chauffeur.
The woman who always wore plain dresses, spoke in a soft voice, and politely greeted me with, “Good afternoon, Ms. Grant,” every time we met.
“The marriage was registered on October 8th, seven years ago,” Julian continued, his voice sounding distant, as though I were hearing it through glass.
“The day after… your wedding.”
I could hear my own heartbeat.
One beat.
Then another.
Slow.
Heavy.
“Ms. Grant?”
Julian studied my face.
“Are you alright?”
I lowered my head and looked at the diamond ring on my left hand.
Alex had designed it himself.
He’d told me it was one of a kind.
The only one in the world.
Turns out there had been two all along.
One on my finger.
The other on Sophia’s.
My phone buzzed.
A message from Alex lit up the screen.
**Evie, I got the limited-edition watch for you. Only ten exist in the world. My flight just landed, but I need to stop by the office first. I’ll come straight home as soon as I’m done. Miss you.**
Attached was a photo.
The watch box rested on the seat of a first-class cabin, beside a half-finished glass of red wine.
As I stared at it, something suddenly clicked.
Earlier that afternoon, Sophia had posted an Instagram story.
The picture showed the floor-to-ceiling windows of an airport VIP lounge.
Her caption read:
**First time flying first class. What a view.**
I’d even liked the post without thinking.
So that was it.
“Mr. Ward,” I heard myself say, “go ahead with the inheritance.”
He nodded.
“I’ll prepare the transfer documents.”
“I want every asset liquidated.”
He froze.
“Everything?”
“Grant Hotels Group was your grandmother’s life’s work. She spent sixty years building—”
“Sell it,” I cut him off.
“Every last piece.”