Chapter 2: The ‘Burbs, Part 2

After being awoken by the doorbell and seeing what he assumed to be a lawyer outside his door, Jonathan was a bit rude, at first.

“Who are you? What do you want with me? Can’t you call?”

“Mr. Jonathan Lancaster, I assume? I am sorry to bother you. I am Philip Redding with Redding, Redding, and Ahmed law firm. Do you have a moment?”

Jonathan was defensive, he did not trust the leaches and the look on his face showed it.

“Let me explain, Mr. Lancaster. We represent the estate of Mr. Charles LaRouche, I believe he was your uncle, yes? I would have called and asked you to meet in our office, but as I was coming this direction, I thought I would come in person, I hope you do not mind the intrusion.”

At least he was polite, Jonathan thought to himself. After offering him some coffee, they got down to business. As per the will, Mr. Redding was reaching out to all the inheritors, that included his three cousins, children of Margarete’s, and his own younger sister. The three cousins were to receive one million dollars each and Jonathan’s sister, Anna, was getting fifty million dollars. Though Jonathan was doing well for himself, it would be a while before he could save up that kind of money; he immediately started to imagine what a nice boon fifty million dollars would be after all the negativity of the past few months, dealing with Shelly and the divorce.

“For you,” Mr. Redding went on, “there is first this letter. He left the bulk of his estate to you. And it is quite substantial.” Jonathan’s mouth just dropped. The lawyer went on to explain that there was in various savings around one hundred and thirty-five million dollars, beyond what he was giving Anna and the cousins. There was also his home, a significant villa in Nice, that was worth close to fifteen million and an apartment in New York City worth about ten million, Mr. Redding explained.

Jonathan remained speechless, taking it all in. Mr. Redding added, “After reading the letter, please contact our office and we will make the arrangements for the transfer of all the deeds, funds, etc., and if you choose, to work with you to sell any of the properties.”

With that Mr. Redding got up and left, leaving Jonathan in a stunned state. Who knew Uncle Chas was so damn rich. Once he started to get his senses back, he started to think about how furious Margarete and her children were going to be, inheriting only one million out of so much. Fuck them, he thought. He immediately called Anna who had already spoken with Mr. Redding about her inheritance. Anna was just a couple of years old when their mother passed away, so she never really had a relationship with Uncle Chas, though visited him a few times with Jonathan when they were older. She was so genuinely happy for Jonathan, given the mess his life had been since he met Shelly. There was no jealousy, she was beyond ecstatic about inheriting so much herself.

After his chat with Anna, Jonathan grabbed himself a nice bottle of French wine, which he rarely had, but guessed it was fortuitous that he would have a bottle in the wine rack now. Pouring himself a drink, he played with the sealed envelope in which was a letter from Uncle Chas.

Dear Johnny boy, I know how much you hated being called that, but figured I’d get the last laugh. I’m dead, but I guess you know that by now. I’m sorry about all you have been through with Shelly, she was a cunt. I never liked her, at least from what you told me about her. She might have been a good fuck, but there is more to life than sex. Well, not much that compares, but, you know what I’m saying.

Your mother, yes I’m crying now, was the joy of my life. The rest of the family shunned me, but your mother, she was so innocent, she loved openly. She was an amazing woman and I know you and Anna inherited her sweet nature. The three of you gave me so much joy and pride. Her loss crushed me, but seeing her in you and your sister gave me hope.

By now you know that I’m giving you the bulk of my life savings. Be responsible. Don’t spend it all in one place; I know you aren’t foolish though, just stay away from damn selfish women! Do what you will with the NYC apartment. I thought of giving it to Anna, perhaps the two of you can make an arrangement. But for the villa, we need to discuss that. Ultimately, it is now yours and you can do as you wish, but I ask that you keep it for at least the next five years, stay there as long and as often as you can during that time, then decide its fate.

On the estate is a family, they took care of me, loved me, and accepted my “deviances”. I love them and gave them a bit over the years. They are well taken care of but choose to live on the estate. I actually offered them the villa, but they didn’t want it, they wanted you to have it. If they choose to continue to stay on the property, let them, that is the only stipulation I ask of you. I think you will value having them in your life.

Jonathan, I love you and hope that in what I am offering you your life, your future will be as bright as can be.

Forever (ha, what a farce that is!)

Uncle Chas

Jonathan was crying while reading the letter. He placed his glass of wine down on the counter, leaned over, and sobbed. Memories of his mother, his childhood, laughing, and learning about sex from Uncle Chas, all came flooding into his mind. Over the years they drifted apart, Jonathan caught up in his own world, building up his consulting business, finding love, and then having his heart crushed. He and Shelly did not have a big wedding, so he didn’t even think of inviting Uncle Chas, a decision he now regretted tremendously.

It took him a few days to fully comprehend his new reality, being worth over 140 million dollars, when he added his own wealth in with that inherited from Uncle Chas. A level of wealth he never expected, his own life ambition was to build his company up to a quarter of that and then sell it off. He still had many years of hard work to achieve that kind of value in his private company. For now, he focused on work, being in the midst of a few projects, so worked tirelessly on them, distracting him from thinking about what to do now.

One afternoon while working from home the doorbell rang unexpectedly. It wasn’t Mary, as she hadn’t texted and, besides, she always came through the side door. Looking at the Ring app he saw that it was another neighbor, Beth. The last person he wanted to see or deal with. Beth was the neighborhood HOA representative, cum policing bitch. She was a nuisance. He wanted to not answer, pretending he wasn’t home, but the music playing probably gave him away.

“Hello my lovely Beth,” Jonathan said with as much false flowery accent as possible.

She just stared at him and then marched right into his house without even being invited. Jonathan just rolled his eyes as she swooshed by him and went straight to his living room.

Pointing to the sofa, she said in a curt voice, “May I?”

Jonathan just laughed, he wasn’t in the mood and given all that had happened, knew he was going to be selling this place soon, so didn’t give a rat’s ass about the HOA or Beth anymore. He could just have fun.

Beth wasn’t a bad-looking woman, in her mid-40s with two teenagers, a son and a daughter. The girl he knew was good friends with Mary’s daughter and heard from Mary that she was just as embarrassed by her own mother as they were annoyed by her. She had dirty-blond hair, with a slight wave, shoulder length that framed her roundish face. Her eyes were a beautiful blue color, her lips full. She was into the regular suburban housewife regime of keeping fit—gym, yoga, swimming, walking, and whatever diet was the fad of the day. She more often than not was wearing tight yoga pants that showed off her round, curvy ass. She was a little on the thick side, though given her features, she looked good. She often showed off her cleavage, she liked the attention, her breasts being quite big, Jonathan had guessed around 36Ds. She was pale, with some freckles, adding to her looks, as far as Jonathan was concerned.

On this particular day, she was in her usual yoga pants and a long, loose-fitting tee shirt that had a low cut, showing off the tops of her tits.

“How may I help you on this glorious day, Beth? But please keep in mind, I am working from home today, so technically am on company time.”

“Hmmppff,” Beth huffed. “I don’t know how to say this. But I saw you and it is disgusting and disturbing. It has no place in a neighborhood like ours. You should be ashamed of yourself, Mr. Jonathan Lancaster. We won’t tolerate the likes of you here. We won’t have the moral standing of our neighborhood downgraded by your antics.”

Jonathan just looked at her dumbfounded, having absolutely no clue what she was talking about. However, the accusation of immorality was certainly making his blood boil with irritation. But, he knew better than to let her get to him.

“What are you talking about Beth? What did you see me do? What acts of immorality am I committing that riled your sense of propriety?”

“You know exactly what I’m talking about, Mr. Lancaster.”

“No, I really don’t. Perhaps, I partake in a few too many immoral activities to know exactly which one you are referring to,” Jonathan replied, laughing.

“Not funny. I saw you. And her. Mary. I saw Mary sneak into your house. So I came over and looked and I saw you two. It was disgusting. I can’t believe Mary of all people would allow herself to be corrupted by your evil ways.”

“What did you see Beth? Did you see me fuck her in her ass? She likes anal you know.”