The Possessive Lord's Contract Wife

"Isn’t it meant to only be family?" Agatha commented, displeased by Damien’s arrival.

"I was informed that your husband’s niece has married Lord Hawthorne; therefore, he is family. If he wasn’t considered family, then you would not be seated here," said Errol Knight, a man of the court.

Damien pulled out Eloise’s chair and helped her to sit.

Agatha rolled her eyes, believing it to be an act.

Damien took his seat, and with everyone present, the will reading started.

"I first want to offer my condolences to the family of Thomas Wilkins. It is always unfortunate when we have to gather for death. I want to remind everyone seated of the importance of respecting the wishes of the dead," Errol said, looking at both couples. "It would be good to leave without fighting."

"My husband and I can respect Thomas’s wishes," Agatha promised.

"So will we," Eloise said.

"Good. As long as we all respect each other as well, this should go smoothly. I have the will brought in by Mr Clive Wilkins, brother of the deceased," Errol said, turning to Clive. His hand hovered over new papers. "And the will sent this morning by Lord Hawthorne." 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

Clive frowned, puzzled by the mention of a second will. "My brother only had one will," he said.

"That brings me to having a conversation we must have before the will is read. I wanted both sides here to address this instead of sending notices. There is to be one will. If a new one were made, then the old one would be forgotten. However, it seems that a will was forged," Errol said.

Clive looked at Agatha. He did not like the turn of events.

Clive’s palms became incredibly damp, and the room started to feel as though the sun was right behind him.

Agatha remained reserved, believing the will Damien presented at the last moment would be the one exposed.

"It is a serious crime to forge a will. You can be imprisoned and have hefty fines to pay. This crime will be recorded by this court, sent to other courts, and to the palace. If you lie once, the court will assume you could lie again in other cases. I am giving a chance for the culprit to speak," Errol said, hoping it could be dealt with civilly. "It could help lessen your punishment."

Silence fell upon the room, which was expected by Errol. No one ever easily admitted to their crimes, but when there was tension between two sides of a family, Errol only had to wait.

"Our time is not to be wasted. My husband took over his brother’s home after his passing and found the will. Any other will was forged, but not by us," Agatha spoke up. "You should question the one who turned against her family."

Eloise noticed the trap Agatha was setting up for her to argue, and didn’t give in to it. Since she wasn’t the one who forged a will, it wasn’t on her to speak up.

"We shall be here all day because she is too stubborn to admit to her faults. Eloise has been rather irrational as of late and hasn’t made the best decisions. I hope the court will take pity on her and not punish her for her actions. After all, she is without her parents," said Agatha.

Eloise squeezed Damien’s hand as she restrained herself from speaking back to Agatha. She would not entertain anyone who didn’t matter.

Agatha was seething inside that Eloise was acting all high and mighty. Did Eloise think she was important or well above them all because she was now Lady Hawthorne?

"That is enough. I am asking about who forged a will. Lady Hawthorne," Errol said, turning to Eloise for an answer. "Do you have anything to share?"

"You asked for the one who forged the will to speak up. Since it wasn’t me, I didn’t think it was my turn to speak. Are you asking who I believe did it?" Eloise questioned.

"No. I have allowed the culprit to speak up. Since both sides are denying it, the chance to lessen the punishment has passed. After receiving both wills, we examined them carefully. One is genuine, while the other has some mistakes," Errol revealed.

"Because of the increase in forged wills around the town, the court has been more strict with looking into what is presented to us. We want to make sure the dead’s final wishes are granted, so this is a serious matter," Errol said, angered that someone tried to fool him.

"Mr Wilkins, can you fully attest that the will you presented us is genuine?" Errol asked, his cold gaze fixed on the puny man.

Clive gulped. He dared not face Agatha since he already knew she was looking at him. He could not mess this up.

Clive was nervous, but he had never heard of anyone being exposed after using Orlo. Since Orlo had destroyed the original will, it had to be that Damien had also created a fake.

"It is the will left by my brother," Clive answered.

Errol smiled, starting to enjoy that Clive wouldn’t confess.

Clive was fortunate that because Damien had sent the second will early in the morning, Errol had to start work earlier, so he was now more patient.

"After the increase in forged wills, we put in place a little detail which would tell us if a will was forged. Even without the second will, you would have been caught. Mrs Wilkins," Errol addressed Agatha. "What do you think of these two papers just by their appearance?"

Errol pushed the two wills toward Agatha since she was the most talkative.

Agatha stared at the wills. "One of them is filled with stains, and the other is perfect. One is fake, and the other is not."

"I am glad you took notice of the appearance," Errol said, pulling the wills back towards himself.

"Like everything else in this world, paper spoils over time. It would be quite odd for Lady Hawthorne to have forged a will years ago when her father was alive. Then there is the will your husband presented," Errol said, picking up Clive’s will and bringing it to his nose. "I can still smell the fresh ink."

Agatha grasped what Errol was getting at. "It is possible that Thomas created a new will as he knew he was going to die. He wanted my husband to take over the home and care for Eloise."

"How does a man go from his will being about his daughter to the only mention of her name in the new will being for her uncle to marry her off? I had time, so I looked further into this family and dug up Lady Hawthorne’s late mother’s will, which was left here for safekeeping," Errol revealed.

’My mother?’ Eloise thought, surprised to hear of another will.