Love In Contract | Taekook

Chapter 5

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TAEHYUNG'S POV

"You ready for this?"

I heave a sigh as I stride toward my lawyer. "I just want to get this over
with so I can go back to pretending like this asshole doesn't exist."

Sana clicks her tongue against the roof of her mouth. "It's bad karma
to talk about a dying man, you know."

"After all the shit my grandfather did, I think Karma will overlook my
comments." I swing open the glass door and gesture for sana to walk in ahead of me.

"Just keep your cool," she says, lowering her voice once we're inside. "Let me do the talking."

I felt nothing when my grandfather informed me of his cancer diagnosis. Not sadness. Not grief. Not regret. I didn't feel satisfaction either-I'm not a monster. But it felt like it was any other day. Like I'd overheard someone else's conversation as they passed on the street.

So, when his lawyer called and mentioned something about discussing my grandfather's will, I wanted no part of it. My grandfather hasn't offered me anything my entire life. Why would he leave me anything in his death?

And why would I want anything with his name tied to it anyway? But his
lawyer hounded me until Sana convinced me to meet with him.

Most grandparents are loving, generous people. They create strong
bonds and fond memories with their grandchildren. They're like extensions of a child's parents. But Lorenzo Aorta isn't like most grandparents. He didn't bat an eye when he pushed my mother away for marrying someone he didn't approve of; or when he refused to welcome my father into his family despite the wonderful man he was; or when he pretended that I didn't exist for the first sixteen years of my life.

My father was from korea, and Lorenzo couldn't stand the fact that my mother married someone outside their circle. He's an old-fashioned man with old-fashioned beliefs.
Italians marry Italians. Money marries money.

He's deep-rooted in ethnocentrism, passed down among generations.
Even after my parents died and I was forced to spend two years living on his estate until I turned eighteen, he barely uttered two words to me until
I moved out.

To be honest, I didn't care that he didn't accept me as his grandson-but he hurt my mother, and I will never forgive him for that.

Lorenzo's lawyer, Frank, stands when we walk into his office.
"Taehyung, thank you for meeting with me. You're a difficult man to get a hold of."

I scan the room, surprised to find that my grandfather isn't here for this
meeting. I clasp Frank's outstretched hand for a quick shake. "Let's make this quick. I have a game tonight."

Sana digs her elbow into my ribs before we lower into the chairs
facing Frank's desk.

"Yes, of course." Frank drops down into his leather chair and slides a
manila file folder across the top of his desk. "Your grandfather named you
in his will, and he asked me to share a copy with you. Look it over, and let
me know if you have any questions."

I hand the file to Sana. "I don't want anything from Lorenzo. I told you
this on the phone."

Frank swallows as he tugs on his collar. "I understand that, but there's
something you need to know concerning the villa in Tuscany."

My eyes snap up to his. "My parents' villa?"

Frank grimaces. "Technically, the villa is in Lorenzo's name. He-"

"No, it belonged to my parents. They owned it, and they left it to me
when they passed."

Granted, I wasn't old enough to inherit it when they passed. They had it in their will that it would become mine on my thirtieth birthday, a present they thought they'd be here to surprise me with.