| #30: Don't reject her marriage proposal (2) |


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This is part 2 guys! Hope you enjoy it!
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Not a moment later, the meeting began once the detectives got organized. "Sorry, for the delay. There's just so many documents to go through. But, let's start with the basics" Pixis apologized as he got ahold of the papers he was looking for.

First off, they'd begin the meeting with asking the a couple of questions that would determine the cause of death to be a heart attack or not, like it was originally stated before the memorial. It was what was speculated. Pixis reached into his blazer and pulled out a pen to start writing down the answers that the family gave them and they could document them immediately.

He cleared his throat and then looked over the papers in front of him. "Did the deceased usually take any painkiller medication?" Pixis asked the first question, and you perked up.

You were very well versed in anything that regarded Grisha's health, since you always made sure he took his medicine, made sure that he went to his doctor's appointments and always made sure to be up to date of what he forgot. But before you could answer, you turned your head when you saw Yelena speak up before you could.

"Yes. He had a knee injury, so he regularly took painkillers," Yelena answered, and you nodded along. That was exactly it. You watched the way that Pixis started to write down what Yelena said and Nile felt like he could start to proceed on the next few questions while his partner got the information written down. "The investigation pointed out to us that the medication he took the day of his death was..." Nile started, but then leaned down to look at the document in front of him to look close and see the exact name of it.

"...Diclofenac. It's what was found at the scene," Nile said, and after that there was a small pause in your head where you tried to figure out whether you heard that right or not. you saw how Nile looked up at everyone, awaiting a response, and suddenly your heart skipped a beat and you leaned forward in your seat. "Wait. That can't be-" You started, cutting yourself off and both Nile and Pixis turned to look at you, as well as everyone else.

You felt multiple eyes on you as you suddenly remembered a very important fact just from what Nile said. He would never take that medication willingly. You know what medication Grisha took like the back of your hand. Is that a mistake? You've never caught Grisha using that medication because even he knew for a fact it was a death wish.

"He couldn't have taken that medication. He was allergic to it, like deathly allergic," You pointed out and a weird feeling suddenly settled deep in your chest. If that's what they found then...is that what caused this? You were at a loss for words.

That can't be the reason. You suddenly felt a hand on your shoulder and you turned to see Eren, along with the trio and Erwin looking at you with unease and uncertainty in their eyes. They wanted to know if what you were saying was 100% certain. "Y/N...are you sure?" Eren said as his voice dropped at what you were saying. He was catching on to what's happening, they all were.

You nodded with assuredness. You always remembered to keep Grisha away from that medication so he didn't take it accidentally, but even he was always so careful to take the right painkillers, not Diclofenac. You could feel a sharp and cold weight in your chest. This didn't make any sense. He never took those kinds of meds. He was very, very allergic.

How was this possible? You even remember that when you found him that day, the bottle of his painkillers as next to him, spilled over, but it looked like the same ones he always took. Not the medication that Nile and Pixis just said. It didn't make any sense.

"Yes. I'm completely sure" You said as your breath started to hitch a little, and you turned back to look at Pixis and Nile, who were looking down at their documents to really check to see if what was documented on them was correct, but they saw no error.

They looked back up at you, as Nile raised a hand to rub the back of his neck. "It's been confirmed that it was Diclofenac," Pixis said, looking back up at you, not knowing what else him or Nile could possibly say to that. There wasn't much to it. What was on those papers is what was determined and they were only here to deliver the information and ask questions.

"It says here in the documentation that he took that medication the day he died," He said and as soon as he did, you suddenly felt all blood rush from your face, your face dropped, and your entire body froze. How were you supposed to react to that?

And as Nile and Pixis continued to explain the issue with the medication, it only felt like the air was being sucked out of your lungs with every passing second and your mind slowly began to go into a state of frenzy as you tried to piece everything together.

"We wanted to point this out, because it turns out that the label on the bottle didn't match the contents," Pixis said, and that didn't help the feeling that your brain was forming into knots and it was far too crowded with  thoughts that were rushing in all at once. You couldn't take it. Did this mean that...no. It can't. You refused to believe it. It's not possible.

Your realization was quickly sending you over the edge faster than any of the things that have already happened to you today already, sending you into a painful spiral. 

Everything was starting to hurt and it was hard to keep it together with so many people around but you were sure that even the trio and Erwin, who were closest to you were noticing.

The way you were just the slightest bit hunched over but not entirely to show that your mind was in distress so its just enough to show your calm composure on the outside, how your hair was slightly falling over your face like a bit curtain but they could still see a peek of the distress in your face that you were trying to hide behind the neutrality you were trying to keep, and how your back was rising and falling with short breaths.

From your posture, they could tell you were trying to keep it together as best you could, and for them, it hasn't quite sunk in yet what all of this meant. But you did. You knew exactly what this meant. You knew Grisha's medical history all too well and this wasn't a mistake.

You were going to try and fight against the block you were feeling to use your own voice, but then, across the room, Yelena voiced out exactly what you were thinking. "So, what you're saying is that...Grisha died because of medical negligence?" She asked, and her pointing out, except, maybe it wasn't medical negligence, and it was something that was planned.

Mistakes like this don't just happen. You knew Grisha's doctors and they wouldn't mix up his medication and tamper with it like that. "We were told it was because of a heart attack," Zeke said from across the room and you couldn't even forced your head to move to look at him. You weren't even able form a single coherent thought right now.

The more that the voices around the room started to chime in, the more the walls felt like they were enclosing around you with realizations. "Who prescribed his meds? Something weird is going on. How did this happen?" Karina said, and her voice only made your head hurt more.

You couldn't think, you felt everything start to crash all at once and you could barely take it. Stop it. You begged in your head over and over. "Don't worry, we're still trying to investigate all possibilities so its best not to jump to conclusions," Nile said, and you continued to beg in your head for everyone to just stop talking. Stop it, please. You repeated again in your mind as your breathing got heavier and harder to hold back

And then everything in your head stopped. It all went blank. Until you could only think of one single thing. Keith Shadis, the audit team, the pills, everything. You promised yourself you'd forget everything that man told you but now it was resurfacing and it was all making sense.

His words were echoing in your head. What he said about the information he had that could apparently make you the new chairwoman of Eldia Group.

Is that why he was killed? To silence him? He'd warned you. Had he known that this would happen? Did he know that Grisha's medication would be tampered with? That someone had been after him? Did he know somebody was after Grisha and that if he died, you or someone else in the family would get the title of chairman or chairwoman?

Those pills you saw spilled over weren't his usual painkillers. They were switched. Everything that you've brushed off over the last couple of days was starting to crash down on you and you felt a harsh pang in your heart that made you nearly gasp in agony.

This was too much, you couldn't take it. None of the things that happened the last couple of days were a coincidence and if the first target was Keith, and then Grisha, were you next? Is that why someone was out to get out at around the same time all of this started?

A hand slapped over your mouth in shock, catching the attention of the trio and Erwin right next to you as they noticed how your eyes were wide and distressed, not bothering to hide it anymore.

After all of this, thinking it had no relation to Grisha and that it was all a coincidence and after Grisha reassured you that everything was fine, Keith had been trying to warn you that he had proof of someone's wrongdoing.

Proof of the switching of the pills and everything else. He had proof of the person that deliberately switched the medication and...killed Grisha. So in turn, they killed him. To stop Grisha from finding out.

Someone killed him. Someone killed Grisha. You knew in the back of your head that this was too sudden, that he couldn't have died just like that because he'd been doing so well medically.

None of it had made any sense to you but now it does and its making every part of your body hurt in ways you could've ever imagined. You thought that the killer who was after you was something entirely different to what happened to Grisha, but now you know, that it's not. It's all connected. Nothing that's happened recently has been a coincidence.

The same person who's trying to kill you, get rid of you, because you probably know too much than everybody else here because of everything that's happened to you, is the same one who killed Keith too.

And maybe it wasn't the same person who killed Grisha, because maybe the person who killed him is someone from the inside. Someone who knows how to infiltrate themselves in Grisha's lives and by proxy, Grisha's medication.

It was someone who stealthily switched the medication without leaving a clear trace that it was a murder, and rather making it seem like it was just 'medical negligence' and that it was an 'accident'.

Why didn't you see this coming? Everything was right in front of you, so why couldn't you connect it before Grisha had to die for it? Why did this realization have to come at his expense?

They killed him to silence him, to remove him, and leave him behind. And it seems either nobody in this room has caught on to everything you had or they just didn't care. Zeke was an exact example of this. You or anybody here should not be surprised

"Medical negligence on my father doesn't sound good at all. We can't have a scandal like this surface to the public with the current crisis going on at Eldia Group. This will only give the public something to gossip about," Zeke said and you leaned your elbow against the arm of the couch while keeping your hand against your mouth.

Your chest was heaving, but you were trying to suppress it in order to not alarm anybody of what was going on in your head. But couldn't even manage to hide it from the people next to you who were glancing over at you in concern.

You didn't even have the energy to react at how Zeke was only taking out of this the fact that the company might face another scandal if this got out. Did he just rule it out as medical negligence and not want to hear about any possibilities?

And he wasn't the only one who only seemed to be focusing on what the public might think and not putting more thought into what could have really happened to Grisha instead of settling for the option that they have to worry the least about.

"God. Just thinking of what people will say gives me a headache," Karina said, and you curled your free hand into a fist after hearing that. Just when you think they can't stoop down lower, they do exactly that.

All they can think about is if people will make up stories, if it will damage each of the branches they work in and are CEO's for but when it comes to finding out what could have actually caused Grisha's death, a family member, they're so quick to turn a blind eye because now that he's gone, its so much easier for them to do things their way.

You were now reaching a phase in your internal breakdown that you were now starting to visibly shake in place as you lowered your hand from your mouth and glared at Karina the moment she spoke up again. "By how much did our stock prices drop since he died?" Karina said, and you swallowed as your breaths were no longer even. They were choppy and short.

"We can't let them drop further, that's for sure," Yelena said with a sigh as she crossed her arms together, earning a nod from Floch next to her. You couldn't believe this is what you were hearing.

Its like they've completely lost perspective and only hear what they wanted to hear. You were trying to contain yourself in that moment from blowing up and letting out everything that was going on in your head and how it was driving you insane to know all of it by yourself, but it was so, so hard.

They wouldn't understand. You'd get laughed at out of this room. This wasn't something you could just blurt out as much as it hurt to keep it inside.

Knowing that the conversations in this room were steering away from what Nile and Pixis were actually here for, so they were quick to bring everybody back down to the topic at hand. Like Zeke said, they had people and guests waiting for them just outside.

"Alright. One last question. Who knew about the allergy Grisha had to Diclofenac?" Pixis asked, and he watched as everyone in the room started to look at each other, wondering if the person next to them knew exactly what the other was thinking. They all knew the answer to the detectives question themselves, but what they didn't know is that they all knew the same thing.

As your eyes scanned the room, the pieces began to click into place. You would save them the trouble of. You would make sure everybody here in this room knows that everyone knows the reason behind Grisha's death, and many of them were not above suspicion. They all knew about Grisha's allergy as much as you did. Someone here was involved and was responsible.

Someone in this room killed Grisha "The ones who knew about his allergy are his doctor, me..." You suddenly started, feeling like it was a miracle alone that you were able to find your voice after feeling how tight it was before.

You paused in your words as you started to look around the room and saw that everyone was looking at you with varied expressions. Whether it was concern, confusion, disdain, smugness or all of the above. You inhaled sharply and looked every single one of your family members the same way.

And then you finally dared to end your sentence. "...and everyone else in this room" You concluded, and after that, it felt like the coldness in the room dropped significantly.

The tension rose in the air and suddenly everybody started to catch on to what you were insinuating. Once again, you were met with confused glances as your relatives looked each other, you were also met with harsh glares sent your way as everybody started to suspiciously looked at each other. And then you made yet another realization just from the way that they were all looking at each other..

The last thing you wanted was to divide this family even more, even if they were separated beyond repair, but someone in this room is hiding their true intentions and you'd find out who, even if it eventually got you killed, too.

Even if it cost you your life. But even when you flat out pointed out to them what was wrong here and that this wasn't about medical negligence at all, of course you shouldn't be surprised at the fact that they would want to brush it under the rug. "Here's what we'll do," Zeke said and his voice made everyone, including you, turn to look at him.

"We'll announce that it was a heart attack, just like we all thought it was. It'll make things easier for everyone," Zeke said as his voice sounded casual and dismissive. His eyes flicked around the room, gauging reactions, his lips pulling into a tight smile. He didn't even flinch as he spoke of his own father's death, like it was just another scandal to manage and brush aside. Seeing it, yout eyes nearly bugged out of your head.

You couldn't believe that Zeke, Grisha's flesh and blood, wanted to just rule out his death and something completely different just for the sake of the well-being of the company and his status.

Especially because anyone out there would quickly be able to piece things together and it obviously wouldn't look good for any of your family members in their respective branches. It was such a low move, even for them.

You couldn't believe that Eren, who was as young as he was, could see the severity in his brother's words. You weren't even related to Grisha by blood and you could see clear as day that what Zeke wanted to do was wrong on so many levels.

He wanted to lie to the public for his own benefit. And for him to act so nonchalant right now just blows your mind. And you didn't think you could be any more shocked than that, but when Karina chimed in, you shouldn't have expected anything different.

"Good thinking, Zeke. None of us can afford rumors or scandals right before succession," Karina said, and both Zeke and Floch nodded along while Reiner, and the people on the couch you were sitting in were looking in indignation at the people in the room who were supposed to be the voices of reason and the adults to look up to, but they were proving to be exactly everything but that.

Even if Zeke felt all of the eyes on him that he had right now, it clearly didn't bother him. As the head of the family now, being the oldest, what he said goes. Until further notice at least. He's the rumored chairman and he was already acting turning his back on his father.

"And besides, It's not like Grisha can come back to life if we reveal the truth," Karina said shamelessly and your jaw nearly dropped. It took everything in you not to lunge at her. You could even see the way that Pixis and Nile turned to look at each other uncomfortably because even they couldn't believe what they were hearing.

You were about to throw all reservations out the window and snap, but Eren beat you to it. "Zeke," Eren said lowly, in a tone you've almost never heard him speak before. In a tone that even Mikasa and Armin turned to look at him with full concern on their faces.

Eren's features were hardened, angry, and upset. And the room went silent in a second, waiting for him to continue. "What are you doing? Don't you see what's going on here?" Eren said, leaning forward to the edge of his seat and you briefly made panicked eye contact with Armin and Mikasa before you three turned your heads again to face Eren, who was awaiting a response from his brother.

Zeke simply sighed and held up a hand up at his brother, and Eren's face twisted in offense. He was really going to ignore everything his little brother had to say to? At the very least, did he not care about what Eren had to say?

"I'm handling it, Eren. It's what-" Zeke started and knowing what his brother was about to say, Eren shot up from his seat and you widened your eyes in shock, as well as Armin, Mikasa, Erwin and Reiner's as well. Floch and Karina were certainly surprised that's for sure.

You looked up and you nearly shrinked back at the visible fire in Eren's eyes. He was breathing heavily and he did not care that everybody was looking at him right now, Eren knew that Zeke and his dad didn't have the best relationship, but on a day like this, even after finding out the real reason that Grisha passed, he'd think that his own brother would have a lot more compassion. But that word didn't seem to be anywhere in his dictionary.

Eren's voice broke through the tension like a lightning strike. "Don't you dare say it's what he would have wanted. You know that's not true. You have no idea what you're talking about," Eren hissed as his fists clenched, his face twisted in anger and his chest heaved. But beneath all of that, was deep betrayal and disbelief for the actions of his brother. Though, he didn't know why he was surprised or shocked at all.

It was clear that the conversation they had a year before at their father's birthday lunch didn't spark in any change in his brother. He didn't 'turn a new leaf'. He's the same as he's always been and Eren felt like a fool for trying to understand and give him a chance.

"You don't get to make that call," Eren said to his brother, nearly seething, while all Zeke could do, was stare blankly at his younger brother, without a single word. And all Eren wanted Zeke to do, is to put his ego aside and do the right thing.

The room was silent for seconds that felt like forever. Eren's breathing was so heavy from the adrenaline in this body, and everybody could hear it.

Zeke just stared at this little brother, and then disregarded him completely, turning his head to look back at the two detectives who have witnessed this entire meeting, that was supposed to be wrapped up by now with awkward looks on their faces. They didn't know what to do.

They considered stepping out for a moment because this felt like something they shouldn't be here for. But they put their focus back on the situation when they saw Zeke turn to look at both of them.

There was a certain...emptiness in Zeke's eyes. That's the first thing they noticed, and the second, was the tone that sent chills down their spine. "I'll put in a word with the commissioner general," Zeke said and Eren looked at his brother like he just lost the last shred of respect he had for him.

The brunette sat back down in his seat with defeat and Armin and Mikasa were both quick to get closer to their closest friend and see if he's okay, all the while, Mikasa happened to send small glances filled with deathly glares Zeke's way.

She's always hated Zeke and everything he stands for. Today has served as more proof than ever. After that, everyone watched as Zeke stood up, adjusted his suit and his hair, looking over every single person in the room threateningly. "This meeting is over. Everyone in this room better keep this a secret," Zeke said as he started making his way towards the door, with Yelena, Karina, and Floch quickly standing up to follow after him.

You were still planted in your seat, unable to move. Seeing as more and more of your family were heading out, seeing that the people who were next to you on the couch were also standing up, you were finding it harder and harder to contain yourself.

Once Eren, Armin, Mikasa, and Erwin, along with Reiner, it was like your entire body was anticipating the moment everybody left so that everything inside you would just stop hurting.

"Where's the attorney?" Zeke said as he headed towards the door, and you also saw that Pixis and Nile were gathering their documents, putting them back into their folders and standing up too. In a couple of seconds, you'll be all alone.

"Is the will going to be read outside? In front of everyone?" Karina asked as she followed after the Zeke and you noticed the way the trio, and specifically Eren, were walking in a bit of a daze.

While Erwin, looked at you in concern as he noticed that you weren't standing up with everyone else. But he understood that if you needed a moment alone, he was more than happy to give it to you. He knew you needed time.

"Its the only way to make it as official as possible," Zeke responded, with a certain level of smugness that made your blood boil. He just wasn't hiding it anymore, was he? Soon after that, the sound of footsteps and the amount of people in the room started to decrease and you started to get impatient.

Your hands were gripping the edge of the couch as your chest heaved and your mouth went slightly agape. You needed to be alone. You couldn't hold it anymore. Your body full hunched over, your hair fell over your face and once you heard the door close shut, that was your cue.

You let out a loud, pained gasp and moved one hand to clutch your chest, feeling it tighten, as your senes began to overload. Your breathing got heavier, harder to get through your lungs, and your hearing was becoming muffled. Your vision was distorted and every part of your body hurt. You were getting dizzy, everything was spinning. How do you make it stop?

How were you able to hold your own before when getting that dump of information? You were continuing to let out strained gasps as you continued to clutch your heart and your eyes closed, trying to bare the pounding in your head on top of everything else. Your ears were ringing.

You needed to snap out of this and leave this place, but you didn't even know how to get your entire body to stop hurting, let alone to get moving. Your breaths were shallow ragged. You were unstable and being here any longer was not helping.

Your senses were so shot that you didn't even notice a sob erupting from your throat up until it left your mouth, which was followed by tears that started to fall down your cheeks through your currently closed eyelids. This was all too much, you needed to get out of here. You didn't even want to stick around to hear the will because it just wasn't worth it.

Nothing was worth this. You panted as your gasps subsided and once you opened your eyes, your vision was glassy and blurry with tears that came out without warning. You should have listened to your gut about everything that's happened to you lately, but you didn't and it led to this. Grisha being murdered.

Your entire family was either failing to realize that and acknowledge it whatsoever, or just didn't care at all. But as your breathing got back to normal and you came to one conclusion, it didn't matter if they all hated each other's guts or this was just some race to the top for them, but you had to convince them to see the bigger picture, just like Eren was trying to do with Zeke. That this wasn't about power and status and that this was all about survival.

Even if the very killer was in this room just seconds ago, they needed to see that this went much further than just brushing it off and releasing what the public wanted to hear instead of the truth. It will only get worse that way. But without expecting it, your thoughts started to clear on your own and you began to focus on one thing.

The space around you let you breathe and how muffled everything felt was now coherent. That's when you stopped trying to overthink this. You weren't going to drive yourself crazy anymore and you'd just act upon what you were thinking instead of letting your emotions holding you back from actually making a change.

Grisha's death has to mean something and not having his death be treated as if he was a nuisance that needs to be disposed of. Swallowing back your incoming sobs, you wiped your tears and that's when your body started to respond to you. Just as you started thinking clearly, or at least what you thought was you thinking clearly.

You shot up from your seat and started heading straight towards the door of the office. If you were lucky, you could still catch up to your family members and they haven't dispersed in the party again yet. You opened the door in a rush, stepped outside and let it close on its own behind you. Your heels clacked in a rhythm that shows how desperate you are to make them really see what was at stake right now.

As you followed the path of the office that led back out to the party, you turned a corner and saw that they were all still together at a group and were about to enter the party area. From what you could see, everyone was sitting down at their tables, talking, but nothing more than that.

You didn't want to cause commotion from what you were about to tell your family. You wanted their reactions to be made before they went back into the space full of guests, and it didn't matter if you got yelled at, laughed at, or called names. You just wanted to desperately get your point across.

Neither of them had noticed your approaching presence, so you decided to make yourself known instead. No hiding, playing games, or trying to hold back. They needed to know and realize how severe all of this really was.

"Hey!" You called out to them, and when they heard your voice, every single one of them looked back at you just before they reentered the party, and once again, you were met with very different expressions. Some full of worry for you, others annoyed at your presistence, and others who looked completely unbothered. But you didn't care. Not one bit.

"Grisha was murdered," You blurted, and it didn't take long for your words to be met with gasps and whispers from afar, but your mind couldn't was in too much of a frenzy to tell who it was from.

"You can't keep pretending it was a heart attack or that it was medical negligence. We can do something about this now. It was murder. It's as simple as that," You said as your chest heaved with exhaustion from your own breakdown before and having to race after them.

You know you've had problems with your own family before, but if they still had an ounce of care for Grisha and what he did for them to get them to where they are and who he was as a person, then they'd do the right thing. Even if you knew that the bar was very, very low. You had to try, though.

And apparently you hadn't been as discreet as you thought you were because once you became aware of your surroundings after you said that, you cursed at yourself inwardly when you saw that the guests had turned their heads at what you said, out loud, to everyone. All the people that were at the memorial had heard you and you felt the embarrassment flood through your body. But you would never take back what you said.

You'd bare the stares, the whispers, everything. Only if it meant that your family would do something about this. Pixis and Nile looked each other in shock and surprise and then back at you once they heard what you said.

Hange, who was sitting at their table with your employee's, Connie, Sasha, and Jean, suddenly shot up from their seat as they heard your words. What the hell happened in that room that this is what came out of it?

Connie, Sasha, and Jean started whispering amongst each other as they looked back and forth between themselves and you. Everyone started to speculate on what you said. Grisha had been killed? He didn't die from a heart attack?

You did exactly the opposite that Zeke asked; to keep  your mouth shut about the truth and keep it from everybody else in this party and the rest of the world, and now you just advertised it for everyone to hear. Which is why he was the first one to direct his glare toward you. First thing he says and its the next thing you do. But you unlike hime you weren't going to hide behind the truth.

You looked at every single one of your family members in the eye as you took slow steps towards them, but especially the ones who were looking at you with hatred in their eyes. Others, like Eren, Erwin, and the rest of the trio, were looking at you with pride.

They promised that no matter what, they'd stand by you, especially now since they'd come to the same conclusion back at the meeting but none of the ones who were supposed to be 'role models' and figures to follow in the family were willing to step up and do it.

So now, knowing that the very same person who killed Keith, and Grisha, was the one after you too, you had no choice but to take charge, and lead.

"I know the reason why Grisha got killed. I'm sure you all know it too, on some level. And it'll be the same reason why I might get killed, too" You said as you looked at them with all the seriousness in the world.

You truly believed that if Grisha met his demise, it will be a matter of time until you met yours soon too if you didn't do anything to fight back. Karina heard your words and her face was flooded with rage and anger.

"You little brat! Are you drunk?" She snapped at you, but this time, you didn't budge one bit at her words. In fact, you found her words very ironic. Eren said exactly what you were thinking

"Look who's talking," Eren mumbled, earning discreet snickers from Erwin, Reiner, Armin, and Mikasa. Armin nudged Eren slightly, having liked his friends' little quip. Karina had heard it too and her snapped to the side to look at Eren, but that only made the brunette smirked in victory, knowing that her words had no meaning or value on anyone anymore.

She had no credibility. Karina bit back on her words and instead, Yelena opted to be the one to get you to stop. Which made you remember that Zeke was still staring at you with a piercing glare that made you realize that you really had stomped on his plan and it was taking everything in him not to react.

"Y/n, I advise you to stop making a scene. Look around you. People are staring," Yelena said as she tried to approach your outburst with a much calmer, yet hostile tone to her voice.

You shook your head in disbelief, looking at every single one of the people in front of you who were looking at you with so much distaste and annoyance in their eyes just because you uncovered what they wanted to hide. And they knew it would be a lot worse for them if they tried anything right now, so just standing in place and only be limited to their words and body language was probably driving them crazy.

"I could care less if people heard. In fact, let them. They deserve to know the truth you're all hiding from them," You said, and they visibly looked more irritated and exasperated with you by the second, but you didn't mind that.

All you could think about was your mind trailing over each other faces in this family that you suspected the most. Was it Yelena? Floch? Karina? Zeke? You didn't even doubt the trio, Erwin, or Reiner for a second because when it came to your gut feeling about a person or situation, you've learned to never turn your back on it.

You'd trust all of them with your life, and they've proved time and time again that they were on the right side of this, and that's all the proof you needed. The trio has been beyond immersed in trying to finish college, Erwin has barely been able to leave his office, and Reiner is barely around.

That alone narrowed it down to the people who would be most capable of doing something like this. And that was easy enough. They have never given you a reason to think they would be responsible for this. Never had any problems with Grisha, they were all leading their own lives and it would be very unlikely.

The people who have actively rejoiced in Grisha's death, who have had grievances with him, who wished on his downfall, who had a reason to do something so horrid, and who are just awaiting to get all of his fortune.

The more you glanced around at the people who you suspected the most, the more you began to think; were all of them in on it? How many people were involved outside of the family? You had so many questions, but you wouldn't just stand here and do nothing. You'd fight for this, just as you promised you would.

Before you could continue speculating, you caught the hardening of Zeke's glare. He eventually scoffed and finally spoke up. "Get her out of here," He said plainly, turning on his heel and walking back into the party, all while Floch smirked at the situation you'd put yourself in and followed after Zeke.

Karina and Floch also started to follow after Zeke You didn't even have time to think before a swarm of guard appeared in front of you and pushed back the rest of the family back into the party.

Having a swarm of guards suddenly start to enclose on you made you step back cautiously and it left the trio, Erwin and Reiner all trying to peek through the barricade of guards to see if you were okay. "Hey! Leave her alone!" Eren yelled out to the guards, letting his body move first before thinking as he started to head towards you, but Armin and Mikasa, held him back.

This was still their fight, but one wrong move now and it would make things worse. Besides, you already had someone looking out for you. Erwin heard this and was fighting every muscle in his body to stay in place, even if he wanted to do exactly what Eren wanted to do just now.

And as if on cue, just as you were staring to get surrounded, your knight in shining armor arrived. Levi suddenly appeared and came into the scene and stepped in front of you without hesitation, sending deadly glares, with venom deep in his eyes, their way.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you. Step away from her if you don't want me to break every one of your damn limbs," He threatened, his voice low, controlled, menacing. The weight of his words were enough to make the guards pause. His lethal gaze flickered over each and every one of the guards, calculating, like a predator sizing up its prey.

His intimidation tactics seem to work because many of them shrunk back, but they were still sticking around and remained in position. Levi watched the way they sent uneasy glances to each other, even if none of them dared to move a muscle or step towards you.

His piercing eyes and his words were enough to assure them that the man in front of them could be capable of doing serious damage if he wanted to. His eyes were a silent promise of violence if they even dared try to come close to you.

But now, as you remained frozen in place, unable to get past the barricade and as you realized that there was nothing you could possibly say to make your own family see the situation for how it is, then there's was truly nothing else you could do.

Nothing would ever make them change their twisted minds that were filled with so much greed and shriveled hearts and you would have to accept that. If you had to do this on your own, then that's what you'd do. You're strong enough to do it, you know you can.

Zeke walked over to the attorney Grisha hired to read over the will, with Floch, Karina, and Yelena all following after him.  "Let's get started. Read out the will," Zeke ordered, and the attorney blinked in surprise at what the eldest Jaeger brother just asked for. This was a legal matter and the entire family had be present for it. But it was also a matter of intimidation.

It was clearly chaos right now and the attorney needed the entire family's presence to be there as its read out, including you. "I was told to wait until Ms. Y/n was here," He said, and Zeke was slowly starting to fail at hiding just how put off he was by this whole situation by the way he didn't hesitate to turn around just as he'd gotten back to his table and then glared at the attorney. As a warning. The man gulped and fixed his glasses, nodding, giving in.

The attorney watched as Zeke sat down, as well as Floch, Yelena, and Karina, all at the same table. The attorney turned his head to the side and saw just a peek of you in between the wall of guards surrounding you, so he supposed that if you were technically present, he could start to read it now. You were frozen in place. You didn't know if you wanted to be around to hear that Zeke or Karina get everything they ever wanted at the expense of Grisha's death.

It was tearing you apart. They'd be able to gloat, brag, and hold it over your head for who knows how long. You inhaled sharply and closed your eyes as you started to hear the attorney start to read out the document in his hands that contained what everybody was waiting to hear. You needed to leave.

"Grisha Jaeger left a will that detailed explicitly his assets, including shares and convertible bonds, that can only be acted upon if a suspensive condition condition is met," The attorney started, and your eyes widened as you felt your heart rate start increase yet again, beating against your ribcage painfully in a way that you could hear it in your ears and it distorted everything else.

Meanwhile, everyone was starting, including your family members were starting to wonder what the attorney meant by 'conditions'. Karina and Zeke wondered in their heads if getting the inheritance wouldn't be as easy as they though it would be. They should've known Grisha would make it harder for them.

Now, for the moment of truth. You knew that the attorney was about to read out the will and who it went to, and you didn't want to stick around to find out anymore. Its been enough for one day and you just wanted it to be over already.

"His will is as follows..." The attorney started, and it seems that Zeke was already expecting it to be him who gets it all or at least the bigger portion of the inheritance, because there was a cocky smirk on his face that you just want to wipe clean off his face.

But just as the attorney prepared to continue, you looked up at Levi with pleading and pained eyes, hoping he understood that you wanted to do nothing but get out of here. He nodded silently instantly, and you smiled tearily at him. You shook your head and finally started to get your feet to move.

"I, Grisha Jaeger, bequeath all real estate, including the mansion in Paradis City, and cash to be donated to the Eldia Welfare Foundation," The attorney started, but you had already started to move.

Once the guards started to notice you were going to walk past them, and that you were no real threat, they opened a path to you, as well as Levi who was right behind you and glaring at anyone who even looked at you wrong.

As Levi and you headed straight towards the exit, you had many eyes on you. Hange's, Erwin's, your employee's, the trio, the rest of your family who were watching you walk away with victory written all over their faces, but you kept your head down and continued walking forward, ignoring the judgement, the stares, the whispers. None of it mattered to you anymore.

"I also bequeath Eldia Group's management rights, as well as all shares of its affiliates, to the designated legatee," The attorney continued, and at this point, you were just a couple feet away from the exit and you were starting to walk faster.

You'd passed by far too many people but you didn't make eye contact with any of them. You already know what the outcome of this was going to be, and everybody else knew it too.

You knew the attorney was about to read out the name of who the inheritance will go to, and you hoped you'd be out of the party by then. Seeing that you were heading out, Hange didn't hesitate for a second to leave their table and start heading over to catch up to you, too.

But just as everyone was starting to get antsy at the long pause the attorney was taking to say who the designated legatee would be, people like Karina were already starting to fix their hair and their clothing, Zeke started to fix his suit, and Floch started to get ready to hear the answer and rejoice in pride.

Erwin, Reiner, and the trio were off to the side, preparing for what the answer would be, because after how much Zeke flaunted the fact that it was practically his, they wish they could leave the party right then and there too.

Nobody else was as excited about this but the two people who wished on the worst for Grisha the most. And who wanted to stick around to see that?

Just as you were about to reach the exit, you knew the name was about to be announced and your heart started racing against your chest. But nothing could've prepared you for what you heard next.

"The designated legatee is Eldia Fashion and Beauty's CEO...Y/n L/n," The attorney finalized, and after that. You froze.

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