ANTHONY MARCELLUS, THE SECRET BILLIONAIRE HEIR

An Unexpected Surprise

Sir Winconstin rolled his eyes in frustration on hearing Gina’s voice, he wasn’t expecting her home this early. Gina was a businesswoman, she was the owner of one of the largest malls in Ohio and was always very busy. Sir Winconstin had wanted to use that opportunity to bring Tony in without her finding out until later, and it’d be a surprise.

But unfortunately, she was here and there would be plenty of trouble now. He was sure of it.

Gina was a beautiful woman even though she was in her late fifties, she was still very much beautiful just like Jennifer Lopez, she had blonde hair and hazel eyes, thinly pointed nose and thin lips. She was 5 '8 and that made her look younger and pretty, her dress and the jewellery she wore would tell anyone how wealthy she was instantly.

“Someone please answer the fucking question?” Gina yelled, strolling to face Sir Winconstin, she stood in between Tony and his father.

“Calm the fuck down, Gina. I’ve warned you several times to stop yelling,” Sir Winconstin yelled back, but it wasn’t really a yell, just a frustrated sound coming from an old man.

“I’m calm, I just asked a simple question,”

“And you’re gonna get an answer,” Sir Winconstin interrupted her, raising his eyebrows at Gina, she was a hard woman to deal with, but Sir Winconstin knew how to handle her.

But still, he knew just how desperate Gina was, he might be able to handle her but there was no way he’d be able to stop her from doing what was on her mind.

Sir Winconstin fell in love with a very difficult woman, although she wasn’t like this when they first met, in fact she just began to show her true colours the moment Winconstin started talking about a second wife.

“I’m waiting,” Gina replied, standing akimbo and glancing at Tony, wondering who the hell he was. It better not be what she was thinking, because she was starting to see things as she looked at him.

“This is -“

“Don’t worry, father,” Tony cut Sir Winconstin short, rising from the sofa, he buttoned his blazers and centred his gaze on Gina.

Walker was amazed at his boldness, and so was Winconstin but none of them made an attempt to stop what he was about to do.

On hearing the word ‘father’, coming from someone she hadn’t seen in all her life, Gina knew it was what she was thinking.

“I’m Anthony Marcellus, the long lost son of Sir Winconstin Marcellus, and also the son of Pricilla Frey, the woman you had threatened to murder if my father married her.” Tony let out the words with confidence, he wasn’t afraid of anything in the first place, so Gina didn’t scare him, not when she had a history of threatening his mother.

She might not have killed Pricilla, but if Winconstin had married her, he wouldn’t have suffered and maybe, just maybe his mother would have survived.

Walker nodded at Tony’s confidence, but he did it when Gina wasn’t looking. He was the personal assistant and general overseer of everything Sir Winconstin owned, but he still had great fear for Gina.

Gina was lost for words at first, the confidence this man had gave her goosebumps, she had been thinking the same thing when she looked at him closely. The green eyes, the resemblance between him and Winconstin became clearer.

Instead of responding to Tony, Gina turned to Winconstin instead.

“You told me that woman died with the baby,”

“I lied, isn’t that obvious?” Winconstin said, pouring himself a drink.

He had liked the show Tony gave Gina a few moments ago, that would tell her that his long lost son was no joke.

“You lied to me, Winconstin? You’ve been lying to me for thirty years or more, how can you do this?” Gina was starting to tear up, the fact that Tony existed was a problem for her own son, and that was what she was trying to protect from the very beginning.

When she heard that Pricilla died with the child, she was very glad, although she didn’t show it.

“I lied to keep the boy safe, not because I wanted to, if you had allowed me to marry Pricilla without your threats, there would never have been any secrets.” Sir Winconstin defended his actions clearly, picking the glass cup from the table and sipping at it.

Gina didn’t know how to respond, or how to react to what she had just discovered. Winconstin was somewhat right, but to her he wasn’t, and he would never be. There was no way she was going to allow this to happen.

“He’s a stranger, Winconstin, we can’t have him live in this house,”

“My blood runs in his Veins, Gina. What so wrong about bringing my own son into the family, at least I’m no longer getting married to his mother, your prayer worked. She died!” Sir Winconstin was getting frustrated once again, he couldn’t understand the reason why Gina was getting so worked up over Tony.

“There’s everything wrong about it, I’ve a son for you, Winconstin and this stranger just became his competitor.” Gina blurted out without thinking twice and everywhere went silent instantly.

Sir Winconstin was not so surprised to hear it, but still he was amazed. If this was the reason Gina had been trying to keep him for marrying another woman then it means she wanted all his inheritance for her son. He relaxed on the sofa and stared closely at Gina who was panting heavily from her yelling.

Walker knew that all along, he knew it was because of her son that she didn’t want Sir Winconstin to get married to another woman but he didn’t tell his boss because he didn’t want to bring issues into the family.

Tony now understood the reason why this woman was so angry at him and didn’t want him to be here. There was a man, his step brother, and now that he was present in the family, there might be issues as to who gets Sir Winconstin’s inheritance. Considering the fact that the man’s days are even numbered, Tony was about to be so wealthy but it wouldn’t come so easy.

“What competition are you talking about, Gina?” Sir Winconstin asked, even though he kind of knew where Gina was heading with this.

“My son is the true heir, Winconstin, and you know that,” Gina stated, she was starting to reveal all what she had been fighting for, there was no use hiding it anymore. The competition was here already, she needed to speak to her son immediately after this conversation.

“I choose who my heir would be, Gina. I’m the one who chooses the heir, not you.” Sir Winconstin knew this was what Gina had been driving at, and he already knew who he wanted as his heir.

“My son is the first son, Winconstin, he’s the rightful heir by birth,” Gina wasn’t backing down, even though she knew all the power was in Winconstin’s hands.

“There’s no heir by birth in the Marcellus family history, Gina. The father chooses which son he wishes to pass down his inheritance to, that doesn’t mean the other sons wouldn’t get anything out of the properties.” Sir Winconstin explained, he hadn’t talked about this before, he wasn’t even sure he’d ever talk about it until today.

He was the youngest son of his father; Sir Winconstin the first, and he was chosen as the heir to his father’s inheritance. His brothers were infuriated, but they had no choice. They also got something out of the properties and he was also a generous heir as he shared most of the inheritance amongst his brothers and they were all satisfied and established themselves.

The Marcellus family way of sharing inheritance has been criticised by many for years, but it hasn't changed still.

“I don’t care what you do, Winconstin. This man must not become the heir to this family, my son would be Sir Winconstin the third, not this stranger,” Gina concluded and started towards the door angrily and then she paused, holding the door knob and turned her head around.

“Just like I threatened to kill your mother, you should always watch your back, son, because I would rather die than see you become heir.” Gina finalised and stormed out of the lounge.

Sir Winconstin sighed heavily, poured himself another glass of whiskey and glanced at Tony. He didn’t seem scared, even with Gina’s threat, he was really not like his mother; he thought.

“You don’t need to worry about that, Tony. You’d have protection wherever you go, Gina wouldn’t be able to touch you.”

“I’m not scared of her, if anything; I just hope her son his also as willing to die for the heir position like she is,” Tony said, he picked up his glass of whiskey and gulped it down, it was needed in this kind of situation.

“You’ll meet him soon, maybe the two of you can get along and take away all this fuss about heirs.” Sir Winconstin sighed, he knew that was really a false hope.

“I do hope so,” Tony agreed, but he also knew it wouldn’t be that easy.

If he was in the other man’s shoes, he wouldn’t go down without a fight either. It was just a normal phenomenon.

“Walker, set Tony up, give him one of the mansions, get him all the cars he needs and also all the guards he needs, real guards Walker, real guards. And finally, give him the hundred million dollars gift I promised.” Sir Winconstin announced, smiling at Tony.

Tony was speechless, it showed all over his face.

“Welcome to the family, son.” Sir Winconstin giggled and continued sipping his whiskey.

***

“Hello son, I need you at my place immediately, something just happened, you’ve a competitor,” Gina spoke urgently and hung up without waiting for a response from her son…..