Chapter 14
CHAPTER 15: The Terms of Inheritance
Sarah and I sat in the plush leather chairs of the downtown office, listening to the attorney read through the long lists of assets, properties, and corporate bonds. When he finished, he adjusted his glasses and looked at us over his desk, expecting the usual reaction—excitement, greed, or shock.
I looked at Sarah. She was looking at her leg. Not the broken one from the club, but a temporary replacement she had been fitted with while her new, permanent device was being built.
“We have some very specific conditions for accepting this inheritance,” Sarah said calmly, her voice steady and resolute.
The attorney blinked, his pen hovering over the paperwork. “Conditions, Mrs. Sterling? The court has already validated your claim. The money is legally yours.”
“We don't want the money to just sit in a private trust,” I said, picking up the thread. “We want the entire estate liquidated into a public foundation. We’re naming it the ‘Arthur Pendelton Endowment for Legal Integrity.’ It’s going to provide top-tier, free legal representation for victims of white-collar crime, elder abuse, and financial fraud.”
The attorney’s mouth opened slightly. “You want to liquidate the entire corporate shareholding?”
“Yes,” Sarah continued. “And forty percent of the remaining liquid capital is going directly to a permanent endowment for nursing students at the state university, specifically those specializing in rehabilitative medicine and prosthetic care. We want to fund the technology that helps people walk again.”
The attorney looked at us like we were completely out of our minds. “You’re talking about nearly eighty-five million dollars after taxes. You could own estates anywhere in the world. You could leave your jobs tomorrow.”
May you like
“We like our jobs,” Sarah said with a soft smile. “I love my patients. And Julian loves his work. We don't need eighty million dollars to live our lives, counselor. We’ve seen exactly what that kind of wealth did to Eleanor, and what it did to our family. It’s a poison if you don't use it to cure something.”
The attorney left an hour later, his briefcase heavy with signed documents, looking completely stunned. I don't think he had ever met people who walked into his office rich and chose to walk out entirely unchanged.
