When Justin and I walked into Mr. Parker’s office, William was the only one there waiting. He smiled before standing to give me a hug.

“How are you doing sweetheart?” he asks as we all took our seats.

“I’m doing alright.” I say with a smile, “How’s the business without Peter the Great?”

He laughs, “We’re doing alright. There are a lot of sad clients, but I think we’ll sludge through.”

I smile, “Good.”

I look over towards the door to see an older man step through the door, “Good morning, I’m Bradley, you must be Madison.”

I stand to shake his hand, “I am and I hope it’s ok, but I brought a little support with me.” I say, nodding towards Justin.

He smiles, “As long as everyone is ok with him being here.”

William steps in, “I have no problems with him being here.”

“We’ll I do. He has no right to be here and he shouldn’t be.” Victoria says from the doorway, making her grand appearance.

I sigh, taking a deep breath, “She shouldn’t have a say.” I all but growl.

She saunters in, taking a seat next to William, “Honestly I don’t think William here, should be in here either.”

“That’s not up to you, Victoria.” William says to her. “And I would feel better if Justin was here for Madison.” He adds, looking back towards Mr. Parker.

He sighs, looking back and forth between me and William, “I guess majority rules.” he says with a smile.

“Thank you.” I whisper to him before taking my seat. Justin takes my hand in his and gives it a tight squeeze before Mr. Parker started reading the will. He read through the Will rather quickly. I was a little confused by some of it, but he informed me that he was going through it all again more clearly.

“So in the case of Mr. O’Day’s business, he hereby gives his half of the business to his Daughter, Madison Ashley O’Day.”

I gasp, wide eyed, “Wait what?” I look at Will then back at Mr. Parker, “I don’t know anything about his business. How, I mean, I don’t get it.”

“He wants to see you fail again darling. Honestly what is there to be confused about?” Victoria says, with that smug look on her face.

I ignore her, looking back towards Mr. Parker, “Is this something I can give to William or am I the only one that can have it?”

“Your father wanted this company to stay in the family. He wanted you to take over for him and help William run the business.” He pauses, “Your father wasn’t crazy enough to think you’d be able to do it right off the wagon. Once it‘s your‘s you can sell it to William or anyone you choose, but he did say very clearly that he wanted this to stay in the family.”

“William…”

He shakes his head at me, smiling, “I wouldn’t buy it from you anyways. It’s your father’s company, I just helped.”

“William you’ve done more than help over the last thirty years.”

“I agree with him on this though, Madison. It should stay in the family, both your’s and mine.”

“But I don’t know anything about this business.”

He laughs, “You don’t have to. I can take care of it. I may need you for a few meetings, but other than that, I can do this. I will do this for your father, because it’s what he wanted.”

“You can’t do the job of two men by yourself and not get paid for it.” I sigh, “I can’t sit at home and take money for something I didn’t do.”

“Madison, I have enough people helping me that you don’t need to worry. I wont be doing anymore work than I was. You father was a hard worker, but we were together. What he did, I did with him. I’ve been doing just fine for the last two months.”

“Two months isn’t all that long of a time, William.” I sigh, “I could always hire people to help you and I can pay them with my father’s half of the money.”

He smiles, “We can do that. I can also teach you the fundamentals, so when you need to show up for a board meeting you wont be completely in the dark.”

I nod, “That would be great. I guess I can come in when I wont be in the way and just see what’s going on so I feel like I’m a small part of this business.”

“We’ll work this all out Madison.”

“Ok, but I’m still not completely comfortable with it.”

“We’ll get you comfortable soon enough. Don’t worry about it.” William says with a reassuring smile.

“Ok, what other surprises do you have for us?” I ask Mr. Parker.

He smiles, “I’ll move on to the Real Estate portion.”

This is the part that made me the most nervous. If I could’ve asked my father for one thing it would have been the beach house. It has so many good and bad memories that I can’t even begin to think about never going back there.

“The property in Malibu, Mr. O’Day has left to Victoria.”

She grins, “The man did have a brain.”

“I wasn’t finished.” Mr. Parker says, “He left the house along with the mortgage to you Victoria.”

She gasps, “He what? That mortgage should be paid in full.”

“According to this statement from the bank, there is still over a million owed.”

“Did he leave money for that to be paid?” She asks, wide eyed.

“I’ll get to the money shortly.”

“The property in New York will be left to Madison.” He continued.

“New York?” Both Victoria and I ask at the same time.

“He owned a building in New York. It’s for a non-profit organization for grieving families of war.” He looks over the paper work in front of him, “It looks as though he has an account for just this program and he has left it in your name, Madison. You will use the money to pay for the employees and any renovations that need to be done around the building over the years.”

“In can’t believe he did that.” I say, tears draining from my eyes.

“He actually was in talks to purchase a building in Orlando, Florida along with one in Los Angeles, California.” Mr. Parker says, “There is enough money in the account for you to still purchase these building if you choose, I can let the companies know.”

“Yeah, I would love to purchase them.” I say without even a thought.

He notes this on his note pad before continuing, “The property in Miami Beach has been left to…” He pauses to look back down at the will and my heart stops, “Madison.”

I start sobbing, whispering ‘thank you daddy’ over and over again.

“Can we get to the money? I’d like to know what I’m being left with.” Victoria says with a deep sigh.

“Madison?” Mr. Parker asks, cautiously.

I nod, wiping my face with my hands, “Go ahead.”

“The will states that he has left the sum of Seventy-six Million dollars to his Daughter, Madison.”

The breath whooshes out of my chest as I stare blankly at him. Seventy-six million dollars? Is this a joke? I didn’t even know he had that much money.

“What?” Victoria screams, jumping up from her seat, “He left me nothing?”

“He left you the real estate property in Malibu.” Mr. Parker reminds her.

“With no money to pay for the mortgage?” She asks, in shock. “He gave it all to that ungrateful little bitch and left me nothing.”

“Watch your mouth.” Justin growled at her.

“Oh I’m sure you’re thrilled. You just hit the mother load didn’t you, you piece of Tennessee shit. I‘m sure you‘ve known about the amount of money Peter was worth and just sat around acting like Madison‘s prince charming just waiting for your pay day. Well it‘s here, now you can take the money and leave my whore of daughter. I have to give you credit, it was a brilliant plan.”

“Look you bitch,” He starts, standing up, “You can say what you want about me, I couldn’t give two shits what you think, but I’ll be god damned if you talk to Madison like that. She has done nothing to deserve the way you’ve treated her, her entire life.”

“And how would you know?” She asks, not backing down.

“I’ve seen the way you’ve treated her, I’ve heard the things you’ve said about her. She doesn’t deserve it and I will not stand here and let you belittle her when you brought this whole thing on yourself.”

“I did nothing but love those kids and my husband. It‘s not my fault they were all ungrateful little bastards. Especially Matthew, going and committing suicide like he did. Dumb child.” She yells.

I stood up, getting right up in her face. I didn‘t realize I‘d hit her until my hand was back down by my hip and my palm was tingling.

“Don’t you dare talk about Matty.“ I say through my tears.

"Aren't you going to do something? She just hit me!" She yells toward Mr. Parker.

"I didn't see anything, did you?" William says to the room.

Justin shrugs, "I didn't see anything either."

She stares at the attorney and he just shakes his head, "I think you need to settle down Mrs. O'Day."

"I can't believe this, i've been nothing but good to you." She says, towards me

“Stop lying. If not to us, at least to yourself.” I say to her, “You haven’t been a mother since the day I was born and you just made it crystal clear when you disowned Matty.” I breathe in a shaky breath, “I’m an orphan. I’m a Twenty nine year old orphan and I can’t tell you how bad that hurts.”

“I’m always going to be your mother. Stop being so dramatic.” She says, rolling her eyes.

“No you will not. As long as I’m around, you will have nothing, do you hear me? Nothing to do with her. If you call, write, even think about her I’ll make your life a living hell.” Justin warns, stepping in front of me.

“Justin.” I say in a warning tone. We are still in an attorney’s office.

“I’m sick of her shit. I wont sit by and watch her disparage you anymore. You‘ve been through enough.” he turns to Victoria and smiles, “And you got exactly what you deserved. Maybe next time you’ll think twice about being such a bitch.”

I hear William chuckling beside Victoria and I can’t help but smile.

It feels good to have someone stick up for me and this is his second time in a short amount of time.

“Are we done?” Will asks, still grinning.

Mr. Parker nods, “I’ll have some paperwork done up for you all to sign, but that can be done later. You all have a good day. I’ll be in touch.”

“Thank you.” I say, shaking his hand, before Justin whisks me out of the office.

************************************************************************

It’s the night before my birthday, and for the first time in two years, I’m actually excited about it.

Usually I go to my rock and spend the day talking with Matty, but this year is going to be different.

This year, I’m going to have fun.

We finished up all the necessary paperwork last week and it feels good to not have a worry in the world.

I convinced William into buying my half of the company. He of course said no over and over until I threatened to sell it to Victoria. He was quick to take it, promising to always keep the company the way my father made it. He refused to change the company name and told me that if I ever wanted it back, it was mine. That and when he died he was leaving my father’s half to me… again.

It feels really good to have that stress off my shoulders. Even if it’s just for a little while.

I signed all the papers to purchase the new buildings for the grief centers along with a few others around the country. Justin, Hadley and Trace are helping me find some good counselors and workers for the new buildings. It’s been fun traveling around the country, meeting all kinds of people that are going through the same things I was.

I spent a few days in the center in New York, that my father started and I can’t tell you how much it actually helped me. Just listening to all the others talking about the same things I’ve been feeling. I guess it was nice to know I’m not alone.

I’m currently sitting in front of Matty’s grave, and for the first time, I’m not crying.

“I know I’m a day early, but I wanted to come out and wish you a Happy Birthday. One more year and we’ll be thirty.” I laugh, “Daddy will have to throw you a bash up there.”

“I’m sorry I can’t stay long, but I promised Justin I’d be back by ten and it’s almost nine thirty now. I couldn’t not stop and say Happy Birthday to you though.”

I smile, “I love you Matty.”

“I’m really happy, I think the only thing that would make me happier is if you were here with me. I know you would have loved to see me smack Victoria. Oh, who am I kidding you were there being a fly on the wall and you loved every second of it.” I say laughing.

“Happy Birthday Matty… I love you.” I say, kissing the top of his grave before walking my way back to my car.