A poisoned cigar.  A poisoned cigar finally rid the world of his dear old dad.  So simplistic, yet so brilliant and deadly.  Who was the evil genius who thought of it?  He wished it had been him, but alas it was not.  He covertly scanned the library wondering if the genius was in the room. 

He looked to Fox, who had one hand on Whitney’s slightly rounded stomach and the other hand intertwined with hers.  Ah, young love, Julian Crane thought, but fraught with so many obstacles.  Shaking his head, he returned to his thoughts.  He believed Fox could have pulled this off, but Fox’s time as of late was consumed with Whitney and the baby. 

He easily dismissed Eve, Sheridan, Theresa, Pilar, and Ivy.  None of them had the heart to do such a dastardly deed.  Luis, Antonio, and TC were all too passionate and angry to let Alistair die in such a slick and easy way.  So that left his newly raised from the dead stepmother, Katherine, and her lover, Martin.  They had managed to elude his father all these years; they could have pulled this off.  And there was also Becky.  He had not forgotten Becky held a degree in biochemistry from Brown although she worked hard to cover that little tidbit.  He might have to send his latest ex-wife, courtesy of the Caribbean, a little diamond bauble as a thank you gift, just in case.  Julian smiled.

___________________________________________________________

Fox Crane wondered why he was here.  He had more important things to do, for instance finding out why Whitney Russell wasn’t more excited about the baby.  Yes, the pregnancy was unplanned and a shock, but they were about to become parents and he had happily accepted it.  Hell, he sent out announcements to everyone in his PDA and he hoped that soon he would be sending out wedding invitations.  He thought she was coming to terms with Chad being their half-brother, and their intimate relationship with the daily sessions with the psychologist.  But maybe it wasn’t working as well as he thought.  No, he thought, shaking his head.  It was something else; something else was bothering her.  Turning his head to face her, he vowed to get to the bottom of it.

He turned his attention to the reason they were all here.  Why hadn’t this will reading started, he wondered?  He didn’t care if Alistair left him anything.  He had been siphoning off money from various Crane owned companies and dummy companies since he was 15.  Invested correctly, he had enough money that his great-great-great-grandchildren never had to work.  And he knew his father was a billionaire in his own right.  So the question reasserted itself, why was he sitting here?

___________________________________________________________

Eve Russell slipped into the room as quiet as a mouse.  She prayed she snuck in unnoticed, but she immediately felt Julian’s gaze upon her.  She refused to look at him so she lowered her head.  The last thing she needed was for TC or Simone to see her have any sort of interaction with Julian.  She didn’t want to be involved in any fights or arguments today.  What she really wanted to know was why she had been summoned to the Crane mansion?

___________________________________________________________

Looking around the room, Sean Raymond noted everyone in the room and mentally checked them off his list.  The Lopez-Fitzgeralds, the Russells, the Bennetts, the Winthrops, the Hastings, Miss Lenox, and of course, the Cranes. 

“Good afternoon.  I’m Sean Raymond, Mr. Alistair Crane’s personal solicitor.  In lieu of a written will, Mr. Crane made a video will,” Sean concluded.

Oh heavens, would he never be rid of Father, Julian said to himself, as the tape began. 

Fading in from black was Alistair Crane, larger than life, looking healthy and alive.  “Friends,” Alistair began, then laughed.  “None of you were my friends.  In fact, you were all beneath me and before you get into an uproar, the library doors have been locked so you have to listen to me.  So Luis, Sam sit down.”

Pausing midstride, the two men went back to their wives’ sides. 

“Now to the part you hungry vultures are waiting for, the division of my estates is as follows:  all Crane properties, except for the house in the Hamptons and the yacht, I leave to my worthless and undeserving son, Julian.  What a bitter disappointment you are to me, thank God your mother is dead and can’t see the louse you are,” Alistair said matter of factly.

An intense pain ripped through Eve’s heart as she listened to the vile last words Alistair said to Julian.  She wished she could go over to him and wrap her arms around him, but unfortunately, that wasn’t possible. 

“Ah, it’s good to know even in death Father is still Father,” Julian said sarcastically.

“But you are better than the rest of the losers in this family,” Alistair continued.

___________________________________________________________

Whitney squeezed Fox’s hand as Gwen Hotchkiss Winthrop laid her head against Ethan’s shoulder. 

Although Ethan was no longer a Crane technically, Gwen knew in his heart he still was and always would be.  Many nights, she held and rocked her husband as Ethan cried for all he had lost.  For as crazy, manipulative, and murderous as the family was it was the family he knew, loved, loathed, and missed.

___________________________________________________________

“Sheridan and Luis, I leave the Hampton estate to you.”

Sheridan Crane and Luis Lopez-Fitzgerald looked at each other in disbelief.  Luis quickly prepared himself for the catch as Sheridan recovered from the shock. 

“The estate is where I first discovered that your whore of a mother, Sheridan, was cheating on me with your degenerate of a father, Luis.  I’m pretty sure this is where the two of them decided to fake their deaths and leave you kids alone with only one parent.  Though I personally think Pilar got the worst end of the deal, five kids to support by cleaning up after Julian, Sheridan, and myself, day after day, then come home bone weary to take care of her mixed breed kids.  All of this forced Antonio and, you, Luis to grow up and be men before your time,” Alistair commented, shaking his head.  “Such a shame.”

Antonio Lopez-Fitzgerald tightened his arm around his mother.

“Kids, don’t listen to him.  He’s lying.  He’s trying to hurt you,” Martin Lopez-Fitzgerald cried to his children.

Luis started towards Martin, but Sheridan grabbed his arm and shook her head.  She held on tightly to his arm.  After staring into his wife’s eyes, he calmed himself slightly and sat down. 

“Dr. Eve Russell, or should I say Dr. Eve Johnson?  Has TC finalized the divorce yet?  Well, whatever your name is, the yacht is yours,” Alistair began.

Julian groaned.  Why wasn’t he surprised his Father knew? 

Eve prayed this wasn’t what she thought it was as she felt TC, Simone, and Liz’s intense gazes on her.

“You no longer have to reminisce on all the fun times you and Julian had frolicking around on it.  Have you two used it since Eve was kicked out of her house?” Alistair questioned. 

“You slut, you slept with him while we were married?!” TC Russell yelled with clenched fists.

Shaking her head furiously, Eve refuted the charges against her.  “No, TC, of course not.  I never cheated on you.” 

“Yeah, right,” Simone Russell said cynically.

TC opened his mouth to say more when Liz Sanbourne patted him on the shoulder and whispered into his ear.  Whatever she said seemed to appease him and he merely sent Eve deadly glares. 

Eve looked into Simone’s eyes and saw hatred, but beyond that was hurt, disillusionment, and bewilderment.

Eve hated that the past she tried to hide so desperately was ruining her youngest baby girl’s heart and life.

__________________________________________________________

“And finally, the main event, the distribution of Crane Enterprises.  Julian will have controlling interest with 51%.  The boys, Nicholas Foxworth, Ethan Martin, and Ethan each will receive 10%.” 

Ethan moved to the edge of his seat and looked at Gwen.  Why was he in Alistair’s will? 

“And finally for the girls, Sheridan, Regan Winthrop, and Quinn Diana will each receive 5%, and the remaining 4% is left to the future child of Julian and Eve.  Cause the way you two have been going at it, there’s bound to be another bastard child,” Alistair finished. 

“You lying tramp!  I knew you were sleeping with him,” TC shouted.  He ran over to Eve and got in her face. 

Eve thought quickly on how she should handle this and decided to fight fire with fire.  “And you’ve been keeping your hands off my sister?  I think not.  You’re having sex with my sister in our house,” she said to TC in a firm voice.

For a split second, TC had the decency to look away.

“So don’t get in my face and scream at me,” Eve continued. 

“Liz is worth ten Julian Cranes.  You’re a whore and I’ll make sure our daughters stay away from you,” TC said, his voice menacing.

Deciding enough was enough, Julian jumped into the fray and went to stand in between TC and Eve.  “Lying in wait for her sister’s husband makes Liz an upstanding citizen?  You can’t be that stupid, can you, TC?” Julian questioned.

TC’s heated gaze turned to Julian.  “Don’t you open your mouth to talk to me.  Even your father thinks you’re a parasite,” TC said angrily as he took a swing at Julian.

Sam grabbed his arm before it could connect and pulled him away from Julian to the other side of the room. 

“Man, you gotta calm down,” Sam told TC.

“Turn this off, we don’t want to hear anymore,” Luis demanded. 

“I’m sorry, sir, but my instructions where to play this to the end.  If it’s of any help, he’s almost finished,” Sean responded, politely.

“Oh, TC, I was just joking with you.  You do anger so easily.  Let me correct myself, Sheridan, Regan, Quinn, and Endora Lenox each will receive 4.75% stock in Crane Enterprises.  And yes, I did say Endora,” Alistair said laughing. 

Julian and Tabitha Lenox stared at each other.  Feeling Eve’s gaze on him, Julian turned to her and mouthed, “I’m sorry.”

Sheridan shook her head, disappointed, and TC smirked triumphantly. 

“Chad Harris, if you’re wondering why you weren’t included in my will.  Well, that’s a long story, but I’ll make it quick.  While Eve was laboring away in New York City all by her lonesome, so was Ivy, here in Harmony, with a half-drunk Julian outside in the waiting room.  Due to the pain medication, Eve never got a good look at her baby until the next day.  And what was described to me was the whitest looking baby anyone had ever seen a black woman give birth to.  The doctor assured me the little boy wouldn’t get any darker and since I couldn’t allow Julian to raise a non-Crane- - yes, Ivy, I knew about your last minute romp with Bennett- - I switched Eve’s baby with the dead Bennett passing as a Crane baby- -“ Alistair continued.

Ivy Winthrop Crane fainted, landing in a heap at the foot of her chair.  Ethan and Sam Bennett were both too devastated and stunned to attend to her.  Secretly enjoying the entertainment Alistair was providing, Tabitha saw to Ivy.

“Don’t worry Ivy, I didn’t kill your baby.  It was already dead.  SIDS, the doctor believed.  Ethan, you can now drop this ridiculous Winthrop name thing and retake your rightful Crane name.  Now back to you Chad, your mother was a nice Southern woman whose husband died a month before in an accident at work and she died giving birth to you.  Neither she nor her husband had any family to speak of.  So I guess, once again, you’re an orphan.  But I’m leaving you a quarter of a million dollars for helping wreak havoc in TC’s life,” Alistair informed Chad.

Whitney clutched Fox’s hands as if holding on for dear life.  God answered one of her prayers and now she prayed that this baby was somehow Fox’s. 

Fox wrapped his arm around her.  This was the best thing he had heard all evening; Chad wasn’t their half-brother.  His future wife hadn’t unknowingly committed incest.  Everything else, he could deal with later. 

“I have reclaimed my eldest grandson, Ethan, and acknowledged my newest, Endora and now on to my great-grandchildren.  Theresa Lopez-Fitzgerald, you are carrying my twin great-grandchildren.  But you do so by illegal means.  I have tape of you locking Ethan and Gwen’s real surrogate into a closet.  I also have pictures of you drugging Ethan’s drink and then putting on a wig, pretending to be Gwen, slipping into bed with him, and forcing him to have sex with you,” Alistair stated. 

Ethan and Gwen were stunned.

“Theresita,” Pilar Lopez-Fitzgerald cried. 

“Theresa,” Martin echoed.

“Outside the library doors, Miss Lopez-Fitzgerald, awaits the Sheriff, because your brother and Bennett couldn’t arrest a rat in a cage, to escort you to your cell.  You’ll be arraigned on an array of charges from rape to possession of illegal drugs to false imprisonment.  But don’t worry, I put in a good word for you with the Governor and he’ll let you have the twins here in Harmony when the time comes.  And oh by the way, Grace, you were never married to David Hastings.  It was a lie that Ivy came up with to break up you and Bennett.  And yes, that means John isn’t your son.  Ivy blackmailed both David and Eve to help pull the wool over your eyes.”

Ivy fainted once again after seeing the evil looks Sam was giving her.  She had finally and truly lost Sam. 

Grace Bennett grabbed John Hastings to her and murmured softly into his ears.  Jessica, Kay, and Sam formed a circle around them and held them tight.

“My monies will be distributed the same as the stock for Crane Industries.  Julian, don’t embarrass this family or ruin my legacy.  My arms are far reaching, even in death.  Good-bye,” Alistair laughed as the screen went black.