The Heir On The Driveway

Chapter 03 - The Rolls-Royce Arrives

The Rolls-Royce moved slowly through the gate, too quiet for something so large.

Its black paint caught the midday sun in clean, dark flashes. Tan leather showed briefly through the windows. The car rolled along the stone driveway and stopped behind Edward and Caleb with the calm of a verdict arriving on schedule.

Edward turned, annoyed enough to pretend he was not afraid.

“Who the hell called you?” he snapped.

The rear passenger door opened.

A man stepped out in a black suit, white shirt, and black tie. Forty-two, clean-cut, controlled, carrying a sealed cream legal envelope in his right hand. He straightened his jacket, then looked at the scene: Caleb’s dusty clothes, the red scratch, Edward’s raised posture, the distance between them, the mansion front door behind it all.

The attorney’s expression did not change.

That made him more frightening.

“My office was retained before Mrs. Elena Ward passed,” he said.

Caleb swallowed at his mother’s name.

Edward laughed once. “Retained for what? A fantasy?”

The attorney began walking toward them.

The Rolls-Royce remained parked. Its rear passenger door stayed open, dark interior visible. Nothing moved except the attorney crossing the stone driveway with the envelope held carefully at his side.

Caleb stood frozen, breathing hard. Shame clung to him like dust. He wanted to wipe his face, smooth his shirt, somehow become the kind of person a lawyer would stand beside. But the attorney did not wait for him to look respectable.

He stopped beside Caleb.

Then, to Edward’s horror, he gave the dirty, injured young man a small respectful bow.

Not theatrical.

Not submissive.

Recognition.

Edward’s mouth tightened.

The attorney turned to him.

“Mr. Whitmore,” he said calmly, “this estate is legally his.”

The palms moved in a hot wind.

Caleb stared.