Prologue
Kaley
After everything I went through with Sloane and then Sutton, and then with Sloane. Not to mention the Keystone brothers…. The Will of Mr. Keystone was read.
At least the first part.
Sloane pulled out a document on vellum. It was marked with a large red number on the back. A John Hancock sized #1 was clearly marked. “As you can see, folks,” Sloane said. “This is the first document in the Will.”
“You mean there is more?” Ash asked.
“That’s what it means when there are numbers on a document,” Thomas said to Ash.
“Dad and his lists,” Seb said.
Sloane coughed and said, “Dear sons and Ms. Crawford, I am glad to have you all here at the reading of my Will. My dear friend and trusted attorney Mr. Sloane will instruct you on what you must do in order to continue with my plans for this Will. You see, in life I didn’t have the chance to play with you much, as much I should as a parent, and to take you on trips, to work on projects together like other fathers. Instead I built a business that hopefully would last for generations so that you and your children would continue having a life that would be fulfilling, challenging, but comfortable. So bear with me and Mr. Sloane for this game I wish to play with you.
“There will be 5 documents in this Will with instructions or a puzzle or even a poem. You are to solve each of the 5 puzzles to move on to the next. You may decide to work together on each or to work alone or in pairs. Either way, however you decide to reach the conclusion and to solve the puzzle, the results is what I am looking for. No matter how you decide to tackle the problems, there are a few absolute rules you must abide by:
1) All 4 of you must live together at the House during this time.
2) Ms. Kaley Crawford will be living at the House with you, but not as the Head of Housekeeping’s daughter, but as one of you.
3) Ms. Crawford will hold the key to each of your share of the inheritance, provided you follow the rules.
4) If any one of my biological sons have romantic relations with Ms. Crawford, their inheritance would be forfeited.
Sloane stopped reading to take a sip of water. I couldn’t help reacting to the 4th absolute rule about no romantic relations between me with any of the Keystone sons. Seb looked stricken just as Thomas and Ash.
Sloane cleared his throat and started reading again.
“The first puzzle to solve involves one of my favorite childhood memories. I wish for all of you to get a taste of what it is. Solving this first puzzle will bring you to the next.”
Now that there was a will, there would be a way. So where would I find the key to a pie that would show me the way to a childhood favorite?
Chapter 1
Seb
I didn’t expect the reading of Dad’s Will to go like that. Dad was always business-like as far as I knew him, even to us sons so I expected his Will to be business-like like he was.
But I suspected he did have a fun side to him once. Perhaps when he was younger and didn’t become so driven where business was more important than family. I expected the Will to be cut and dry…but I suspected it was his last way to show us he was human. Or so I hoped.
So in a way, I did expect Dad to turn his Will into some kind of game. Only I didn’t like that Kaley was part of it in a way Dad knew would torture us boys. She was forbidden to us.
Absolute Rule #4: If any one of my biological sons have romantic relations with Ms. Crawford, their inheritance would be forfeited.
Just when Kaley and I had gotten back together…just when we have cleared the air over the betrayal I thought she committed with my father. Kaley wasn’t the one in the video. Dad wasn’t the one in the video. It was a big misunderstanding, and I was duped into thinking Kaley had betrayed me when she had nothing to do with it.
I felt so guilty for putting her through everything in the past two years, I wanted to make up for it in so many ways… So many plans. Almost all of them involved being romantic with Kaley.
It was as if Dad knew.
He knew about Kaley and us Keystone Brothers. He also knew that we had thought that the two of them were having an affair. He also knew we would find out she wasn’t. Right before the reading of the Will.
What kind of game was Dad playing? And why?
Chapter 2
Thomas
I expected Dad’s Will to be complex…like the man, himself. What I didn’t expect, however, was how it affected me when Sloane read it. It was like Dad had come alive and was speaking to us from beyond the grave. It gave me goosebumps just listening to Sloane recite Dad’s conditions.
Definitely, it was Dad’s Will. No one else would think of something so…well, cruel yet playful, domineering yet masterful at the same time. Dad was good at what he did throughout his life. He was also a master planner.
I remembered a time when I was about 12 years old, and I was staying at home alone with Dad while Seb and Ash went with Mom to visit Mom’s family. I wanted to go with Seb and Ash, but I had a science project I had to finish for the Science Fair at school. Dad walked into my room where I had set up my project on my desk and was putting the finishing touch on the project.
“You know, Tom,” Dad said. “Your structure for the buildings looks good… theoretically, for a place where there wouldn’t be any hurricanes, storms, earthquakes, or other natural disasters. Beautiful concept, and it is certainly something I might consider using for one of our hotels, but realistically, it wouldn’t work.”
I was, of course, a bit disappointed in how Dad shot down my project. I thought my project was a winning concept. “But Dad,” I said. “If you see here at the center, there is a built-in solar panel. And all the walls of this hotel will be solar energy absorbing and generating. The gardens and walkways around the hotel also are filled with plants and grass that are known to ingest carbon dioxide and turn it into fresh oxygen.”
“Very thoughtful and environmentally-conscious,” Dad said. “But impractical with the way it is set up.”
I was disappointed again. Didn’t Dad see the beauty and genius behind my science project? I was creating a modern city for the future, starting with my hotel that would be energy efficient, cost-efficient, and environmentally-friendly.
“I know you are designing an ideal city here, Tom,” Dad said. “The environmentally-friendly part is a given, but what about the structure?”
I took a look at my hotel model again, and noticed what Dad was talking about. The base of my hotel, which were two pillars supporting a spherical-shaped main building, was top-heavy.
“Are those two pillars solid concrete, too, or are they hollow?” Dad asked.