Chapter 4 - THE DEVIL'S CLAUSE
The word million hung in the room, suffocating the siblings. Robert’s eyes widened with a frantic, desperate hunger. Claudia stopped hyperventilating, suddenly calculating her survival. Daniel slowly picked himself up from the floor. Twenty-five million dollars was enough to erase Robert’s fraud, save Claudia from federal prison, and pay off the dangerous men hunting Daniel.
“Where is the money, Ocampo?” Robert demanded, stepping toward the lawyer, his fists clenched.
“Safely held in a blind trust,” Ocampo replied, unbothered by the aggression. “Your mother drafted a conditional will. You want the inheritance? You must earn it exactly as she stipulated.” The attorney adjusted his glasses and read from the final page. “To inherit the estate, Robert, Claudia, and Daniel must live together in my original home in San Antonio. You are not permitted to leave the property lines for exactly three hundred and sixty-five days. No spouses, no luxury vehicles, no outside financial assistance. You will live on a strict budget of five hundred dollars a month. Together. If any of you leave the property, even for a night, the entire twenty-five million dollars defaults immediately to St. Raphael’s Nursing Home.”
“That house is a rotting shack!” Claudia shrieked, dropping her holy-woman act entirely. “There is no air conditioning! The roof caves in!”
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“Then you better learn how to fix a roof, Claudia,” Ocampo said evenly. “You abandoned her in this single room for two years. She is asking for one year of your time. If you refuse, I mail copies of these yellow envelopes to the IRS, the church board, and your creditors by morning.”
They were trapped. The mother they had discarded like trash had orchestrated a flawless checkmate from her deathbed. I looked at Mrs. Mercedes’ peaceful face. The fake pearls suddenly looked like a crown. She hadn’t just waited for her children to arrive. She had built a prison to save their souls.
