The Rise Of Jonathan Hazel

CH. 5 (Last will and testament)

“Jonathan it's such a shame that I couldn’t be there to welcome you myself but life has always been so fair to me I don’t mind it playing a smart one on me and making me absent at this time. But enough about me. I’m sure everything still seems very confusing. Especially your identity.”

The man cleared his throat.

“You are Jonathan Hazel the child of my first son Robert Hazel. I’m sure you are confused as to why you never met me or knew anything of this life before. It is because your mother chose to raise you out of the family.

“Your father, my late son died from a tragic plane crash a year after you were born and your mother who had never been a fan of the problems that came with being a member of such a widely known family, more or less blamed the family for his death. She decided to take you far away from us to live out there with the rest of the world where you would be safe.

“I didn’t rest, I sent out a search party to find her. We then came to an agreement. I didn’t want the last part of my late son to be taken away from me and she wanted you to live a normal life. So we agreed that the day you turned eighteen, you would come back home and take your place.

“But your mother suddenly disappeared from the face of the earth after four years. All this while I'd thought that she had decided to renege on her word but we've only recently found out that she died and you were sent to live in an orphanage home. I went to sleep with an ache in my heart every day for the past twenty-five years because I wouldn’t get to be part of your life. And I guess now life has caught up to me and taken me to my final resting place.”

Jonathan collapsed into the nearest chair, his brain spinning.

“I left instructions for my will and last testament not to be unveiled before the entire family and for me not to be buried until you are found! I am confident Bernard, my right-hand man, would make sure this happens.”

The picture that this man had painted before Jonathan still looked a bit scanty but it all started to fit in clearly in his head. It would explain everything…

 The very little he could remember of his mother, she'd always been very flighty. Shooing him into the house every day and telling him he couldn't be seen playing outside with the other kids.

“This is going to be the first time anyone apart from myself and my manager Bernard would be hearing this.” Jonathan’s grandfather’s voice echoed through the whole room.

Everyone present was engrossed in all he had been saying.

“This is my last will and testament.” The man boomed.

“I hereby will the control of the entire Hazel Empire to Jonathan Hazel as the only heir to my first son Robert Hazel. All the companies in my name, no matter the location – Japan, The United Kingdom, Australia, Korea, Africa, and various states here in Venice.”

Grandfather William Hazel paused for a while in the video recording and then continued,

 “I give each access of one trillion dollars’ worth in stake of my empire to Peter, Ryan, and Eva Hazel, my wonderful grandchildren.”

Somewhere in the room, a person's fist clenched until the knuckles were white, but no one else saw.

To Jonathan, everything seemed like a dream. Was this even possible? His net worth was in trillions of dollars all of a sudden. In fact calculating or doing any form of mental math in his head would lead nowhere!

The Hazel Empire consisted of over two hundred of the top 500 companies globally, all of which had market capitalization of not less than one hundred billion dollars, spanning across all continents and industries.

Everything legal that moved and shook the economy of the entire world, they had a major stake in it. Governments of nations were loyal to the Hazels, they basically controlled a quarter of the entire world!

And now he was in control of it all.

All his life he had had to survive on the little he could get and recently whatever his ex-wife and her family deigned to give him. But now, what they were compared to who he was, was like comparing a grain of sand to the tippers of sand at a beach. He was suddenly richer than continents and not just nations.

His heart raced, he felt like he would faint.

His cousins clapped him on the back and rejoiced on his behalf. Eva even hugged him from behind. But he couldn't feel anything, his brain was running helter-skelter.

“You have unrestricted access to the plethora of vehicular transportation you will definitely need as a man of your status. Three luxury yachts. Two private jets and a private chorper. A beast limousine and a host of various other land vehicles worth millions of dollars. You will also be presented with the gold card, granting access to an account with a sum of one trillion dollars to do with as you wish.”

Jonathan felt the lawyer place the golden card in his palm but his mind was flying about the place.

William grinned widely,

“You are my blood and because of this, I know you will do nothing but the best. I am still with you in spirit to guide you and Bernard Lampley will be with you all the way. I love you my grandson.”

And the clip ended.

“Mr. Jonathan!” Bernard Lampley rushed into the room at that moment, not giving Jimmy time to recover. Jonathan didn't even know when he'd left the room.

“There's something you need to see!”