There had always been a secret agreement between Cindy and Carmen. It was that one could do whatever she wished, but promises between them had to be kept.
Alexander Sterling seemed to know this somehow, and he used it to his advantage right now. Cindy looked at him squarely. Her lips had turned slightly red because she was biting them hard. She wanted to give that small, sad smile she always gave, but she did not.
Instead, she reasoned, "If it was not you, I would have gotten married already, but it is you. This is why I am hesitant." She lied.
Alexander's eyes shattered like glass. Something squeezed inside his heart that he could not explain. He fell silent for a good while, trying to balance his emotions.
Cindy did not want him; she had never wanted him.
He stood up and walked slightly away. "Carmen left a will; the hearing is tomorrow. Be ready by 8." With that, he was gone.
Cindy finally smiled that sad smile of hers.
She did not know what to think about Alexander Sterling, so she stopped thinking. They were going to cut ties soon anyway. He was going to find some other rich girl or a popular idol to spend the rest of his life with anyway, so it was not such a big deal.
She went to bed; this night was not good either.
In the morning, Alexander drove her back to the Richards Mansion. Her mother greeted them as soon as they entered, "Little Cindy and Alexander are here."
Cindy nodded and hugged her tightly, "Yes, Ma."
Her mother had lost some weight, but she was still very beautiful. Her eyes were still full of sorrow. She had lost a child; she was allowed.
Alexander also greeted her, "Mom…"
Carmen's mother nodded silently and greeted him back. This had been her son-in-law for three years. He was also a boy who was like her own child; nothing was awkward between them.
Cindy's father, Richard, was not around. Cindy looked around, "Where is Dad?"
Her mother pointed towards the study, "He is in there with the lawyer. Come, let us all go in; we were waiting for you guys."
The hearing was simple. Carmen had a lot of properties under her name. She had worked for many big companies when she was still alive, and many things were under her name.
Her lawyer was Mr. Ji. He was a short, stubby man who wore heavy glasses and carried a leather bag on his side. They all knew him. He smiled respectfully, "Sorry for your loss."
They all nodded and said nothing. Mr. Ji fixed his glasses and pulled out some papers from his bag. They were a few pages, nothing out of the ordinary.
Carmen liked to keep things simple, but the amount of wealth she had was not. She had worked on several government projects and even represented the country many times abroad. Mr. Ji listed all the wealth she had, but this was already common knowledge, so no one was shocked.
Mr. Ji liked to fix his glasses. He read aloud the allocation of Carmen's assets, "I leave my jewelry and half my real estate to my lovely mother; the other half will go to my father. The summer house will go to my in-laws; thank you for all the love. I leave my company to Mr Alexander Sterling and the rest of my assets will be given to my sister, Cindy."
Cindy did not say a word. The rest of the things included shares in both Richards and Sterling corporations, all the money Carmen had amassed during the time she was alive, all her clothes, the rest of her houses, and many other things Cindy did not even know about.
Her sister's death had made her very wealthy, but all of these things could still not fill the void left after Carmen died.
They all thought that Mr. Ji was done, but he suddenly fixed his glasses once more, "My sister will receive all of this only when her marriage to Mr. Alexander Sterling is done; otherwise, she will not receive a single thing."
Cindy froze…
Her parents and Alexander's parents both looked at them. Cindy looked down, while Alexander Sterling did not say a single thing.
Cindy asked the lawyer, "Can I get some time to think about this?"
Marrying Alexander Sterling was truly something she did not want to do. The lawyer looked at her and shook his head, "I am afraid not. The will has to take effect today or else there will be a lot of trouble in the future. I also need all of your signatures to show that you comply with what is written here."
Cindy's mother looked at her, "Baby, to tell you the truth, Carmen already talked to us before she passed away. It was her dying wish; can you please just this once make her wish come true?"
Cindy sighed, "But mom…"
Richard looked at her, "I know it is difficult, but you can consider this a way to protect what your sister left behind."
Cindy thought hard about it. She was going for a marriage of convenience with her sister's husband just so she could get the things she left behind. She had also promised back then, but following up on that promise seemed hard.
Mr. Ji saw the dilemma and offered, "One year…you can get married for a year, and then you can choose whether to separate or not. The clause only says you will receive the things after marriage, but it does not state that you will lose them if you separate. One year is a good amount of time."
Richard Sterling looked at his son. He did not know what he felt about this whole arrangement, but he knew his son very well. Alexander was not refusing; there had to be something.
Cindy Richards looked at Alexander Sterling too, "Do you want to do this?"