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Sister-in-Law Live-Streamed a Name Fight; I Took the Fortune
NovelShort
Completed
After my sister-in-law Sharon gave birth to the family's first grandson, she posted the birth certificate online that same night, the baby carrying her surname. "I didn't have a child to carry on your Gilbert bloodline. Women in this new era have the right to give their own child their name!" She thought she'd broken free of some feudal chains, that she was the heroine of her own story. Then she turned around and sneered at me for having a daughter.
Chapters (4)
第1章
After giving birth to the family's first grandson, my sister-in-law Sharon Fox stayed up that night to post the baby's birth certificate online, the surname listed as her own.
"I didn't have a child to carry on the Gilbert line. A modern woman has the naming right."
She thought she'd smashed the chains of some feudal past, that she was the heroine of her own story, and in the same breath she sneered at me for having had a daughter.
"So what if it's a girl? She still ends up with her father's name. You deserve to spend your whole life as this rich family's breeding machine."
My mother-in-law was so furious she landed in the hospital, while Sharon live-streamed from outside the ward, holding forth on female independence.
I calmly tucked the blanket around Myrtle Gilbert, then turned and took over the corporate seal for every auction house the Gilberts owned.
She could have her vanity and her clicks. As for the empire generations of Gilberts had built, I would graciously accept it on my daughter's behalf.
.....
The smell of disinfectant hung thick in the hospital corridor.
Sharon stood at the ward door with a selfie stick, live-streaming.
"Ladies, the surname on that birth certificate is Fox. My name."
"A modern woman carries a child for ten months. Why should that child automatically take a man's name?"
"I'm here to break the feudal rules of these old families. I won't be anyone's tool for having babies."
Tens of thousands of comments flooded her stream, all likes and praise.
In the bed, Myrtle's face had gone ashen gray.
The night Sharon delivered the first grandson, she'd put the birth certificate online with her own surname on it.
The old woman's angina hit her on the spot, and an ambulance rushed her into intensive care overnight.
She had barely stabilized before Sharon showed up at the door with her whole team.
I sat at the bedside, wiping the cold sweat from Myrtle's forehead.
Out in the hall, the voice pitched higher.
"Someone's asking me how my sister-in-law is doing, the one who had a girl."
Sharon gave a soft laugh at the camera.
"Oh, her. She had a daughter and trots along happily under the Gilbert name."
"She deserves to be this family's servant for life, a breeding machine with no self at all."
"In families like this, some women have knelt so long they've forgotten how to stand."
Agreement and mockery scrolled past in an instant.
In the bed, Myrtle's fingers trembled. She was trying to pull off the oxygen tube and sit up.
I laid my hand over the back of hers.
"Mom, the doctor said you can't get worked up right now."
Myrtle looked at me, her eyes shining wet.
She had run the Gilbert holdings for decades, a force in the boardroom. Never once had she taken this kind of insult to her face from someone half her age.
"Daisy Pruitt... what did the Gilberts ever do to deserve this, marrying in a curse like her..."
I lifted the cup of warm water and moistened her lips with a cotton swab.
"Don't rush. There's plenty of time yet."
The commotion outside was escorted downstairs by the security guards who arrived.
Myrtle got her breathing even and looked at me.
"Where's Clement Gilbert? His wife is out there making a scene like this. Where the hell did he go?"
Clement is my older brother-in-law, Sharon's husband.
I didn't hide it. I told her the truth.
"He went out of town to look at that art-investment project. Said his phone died, no way to reach him."
Myrtle closed her eyes. A single tear slid from the corner.
To be fair, the Gilberts had treated Sharon well.
She came from an ordinary family. Back then Clement swore he'd marry no one else, and though the old man and Myrtle weren't pleased, they still gave a sky-high bride gift and brought her in with every honor.
Then, the moment she was through the door, she started building her "clear-eyed truth-teller" persona online.
Myrtle gave her jewelry; she called it the objectification of women.
Myrtle tried to teach her the account books; she called it a capitalist's tool of exploitation.
Now that she'd had a child, she'd stepped right on the family's face to raise herself a blank monument reading "modern woman."
Myrtle's eyes snapped open. She turned her hand and gripped my wrist.
"Daisy, the Gilbert auction house has always been mine to run."
"The eldest is soft. That woman has him wrapped around her finger."
"The second keeps to himself. He doesn't fight for anything."
Myrtle held my eyes.
"You're the one with real resolve in you. Starting tomorrow, you go take charge at the auction house."
I stilled.
"Mom, but Sharon's side..."
"Isn't she so high-minded? Doesn't she treat money like dirt?"
Myrtle tugged at her dry lips.
"Then she won't touch a single cent of Gilbert money."
With that, she signaled me to take a tianhuang-stone corporate seal from the drawer beside the bed.
I took the seal and tucked the blanket back around her.
"Mom, rest and get well. Whatever storm's out there, I'll hold it off."
When I stepped out of the ward, Robert Gilbert was leaning against the corridor wall, waiting for me.
"Mom asleep?"
"Yeah. Asleep."
I showed him the seal in my hand.
Robert raised an eyebrow.
"She gave this to you?"
"Scared?" I asked him. "Take this, and the eldest's side is going to blow up."
Robert reached over and put an arm around my shoulders.
"Let them. The Gilbert legacy can't really be left to someone whose only skill is live-streaming."
I leaned into him and let out a long breath.
Sharon could have her vanity and her clicks.
As for the empire generations of Gilberts had built, I would graciously accept it on my daughter's behalf.
第2章
Sharon Fox had gone viral, all the way.
By the next morning, her name topped the trending lists on every major platform.
#HighSocietyDaughterInLawFightsForNamingRight
#SharonFoxRejectsReproductiveBlackmail
#TheMomentAnIndependentWomanWakesUp
She'd taken that footage from outside the hospital room, edited it, and posted it.
In the clip, she looked polished and bright, every word sharp as a blade.
And me, I was just the backdrop, one blurred profile at the edge of the frame.
Down in the comments, her fans tore into me.
【Look at that other daughter-in-law, standing there like a doormat. A disgrace to women everywhere.】
【She had a girl, so of course she can't hold her head up in a family like that. Nothing but a free nanny.】
【Sharon's amazing! This is the kind of star we should be stanning!】
I stared at the screen, and a nameless heat rose up in me.
I nursed my sick mother-in-law, and in their mouths that made me a spineless slave.
She'd sent that mother-in-law into intensive care, and it made her a hero smashing the chains of feudal tradition.
Robert Gilbert plucked the phone out of my hand.
"Stop reading. It's just a mob getting swept along by the noise."
I nodded and gave a small smile. At least my husband still had his head on straight.
"I'm not angry that they're insulting me."
"I'm angry that Sharon Fox is buying trending spots with Gilbert money, then turning around to smash the Gilbert pot."
Robert sighed and pulled a thick stack of documents out of his briefcase.
"You asked me yesterday to look into the accounts the eldest branch has been handling. The results are in."
That snapped me alert. I took the file and started turning pages at once.
Clement Gilbert's so-called "art investments" over the past half year were a bottomless pit.
Bit by bit, he'd pulled nearly three hundred million out of the auction house's reserve fund pool.
And what he'd bought was all work by nobody so-called "avant-garde artists."
Every one of those artists' agencies traced back to Sharon Fox's family.
"She's laundering money. Hollowing the Gilberts out."
I gritted my teeth and slapped the file down on the table.
She swore up and down she didn't want the Gilberts' dirty money, and behind the scenes she was sucking us dry like a leech.
"Does Clement know about this?"
"You still don't know Clement? Whatever Sharon Fox says goes. He probably really thinks he's making tasteful art investments."
Robert's tone carried that anger you feel when someone just won't rise to the occasion.
This was the sad truth about wealthy families.
Stupidity wasn't the frightening part. The frightening part was a stupid man holding the resources.
I closed my eyes and drew in a deep breath.
"Robert, help me get in touch with a few of the auction house's core appraisers."
"And call Lawyer Chavez from the legal department to my office."
Robert looked at me and nodded.
"All right. I'll go do it now."
At ten in the morning, I walked into the Gilbert Auction House building for the first time as its head.
Half an hour later, the executives filed into the conference room one by one.
I wasted no words. I dropped the copies of the eldest branch's three-hundred-million bill right on the table.
"You're all old hands at Gilbert."
"Three hundred million. Where did it go? Can anyone explain that to me?"
The room went dead silent.
The finance director stammered.
"This... this was approved by the eldest young master himself. He said it was an investment..."
"An investment?" I cut him off.
"The rule at this house is simple. Any transfer over fifty million requires the company seal and the joint signature of the appraisal committee."
"Which of you signed off?"
The chief appraisers shook their heads, one after another, washing their hands of it.
"Second Madam, we honestly knew nothing about this. Those paintings the eldest young master brought in never once passed under our eyes."
I nodded and set the seal down on the table.
"From today on, without this seal, anyone who dares move so much as a cent out of here, I'll send him down to the station to sip tea with the police."
They all looked at that piece of tianhuang stone, and every face changed.
They knew. The Gilbert house had turned.
第3章
The one-month celebration for the eldest grandson was a quiet affair by Gilbert standards.
It wasn't that they hadn't wanted to make a show of it. Winston Gilbert simply found the whole thing too embarrassing.
Sharon's popularity online showed no sign of cooling. She'd even started taking sponsorship deals, selling merchandise built around her whole "independent woman" brand.
So only a handful of core relatives and top executives had been invited to the inner rooms of the old Gilbert family home.
Winston sat at the head of the table, his face dark.
Sharon, though, carried the baby right up to him, her tone all show.
"Grandfather, look at your great-grandson."
The old man glanced at the plump, healthy child, and his expression softened just a little.
"He's a fine boy." Winston sighed.
"But the name on his registration has to be changed back. The eldest grandson of the Gilberts can't carry the Fox name."
Sharon's face shifted. She pushed the baby into Clement's arms, pulled over a chair, and sat down.
"Grandfather, what century do you think this is? You're still clinging to those old ideas?"
"I carried this child for nine months. Why shouldn't he take my name?"
"I've already announced it publicly online. If I change it back now, what will my followers think of me? Do you have any idea how much it would hurt my brand?"
The relatives exchanged glances. No one dared say a word.
Winston slammed his hand on the table, furious.
"You married into the Gilbert family. Everything you eat, everything you wear, every comfort you have—which of it doesn't come from us?"
"And now you want to talk to me about independence?"
Sharon didn't give an inch.
"Grandfather, don't try to hold your money over me. I, Sharon Fox, have no need for Gilbert money."
"Though, speaking of money—now that the child is born, shouldn't the trust the family set aside for the eldest grandson be transferred into my personal account?"
"After all, I have to plan for my child's future. I can't let him be poisoned by this family's obsession with sons over daughters."
The words landed, and the whole room broke into murmurs.
Some nerve. She was working an angle so hard I could practically feel it aimed at my face.
No need for the money—but she'd take the trust all the same.
I sat in the corner and laughed softly.
"That's an interesting thing for you to say."
"If you have no need for Gilbert money, then why does your family's gallery skim tens of millions in 'consulting fees' out of Gilbert Auction House every single month?"
Sharon whipped around to glare at me.
"Daisy Pruitt, what nonsense are you spouting now?"
"You're a nobody who gave birth to a girl. What right do you have to open your mouth at a family meeting?"
I pulled an audit report out of my bag and handed it to Winston.
"Grandfather, these are the auction house's accounts for the past six months."
"Of the three hundred million Clement approved, two hundred fifty million ended up in an overseas shell company that the Foxes actually control."
Winston opened the report, and the further he read, the worse his hands shook.
Clement panicked and rushed to his side.
"Grandfather, let me explain, that was an art investment, long-term, high returns—"
"Bullshit!"
Winston snatched up a teacup and smashed it at Clement's feet.
"You used my money to plug the holes in your wife's family, and you thought I was dead and buried?"
Seeing which way this was going, Sharon immediately flipped it around.
"Grandfather, don't listen to Daisy sowing discord."
"She's just jealous that I had a son. She wants a piece of the family fortune."
She jabbed a finger in my face, screaming herself hoarse.
"Daisy Pruitt, a clingy little wife who lives off her man—you make me sick. You think a few worthless sheets of paper are enough to take me down?"
Clement tugged at her sleeve, trying to calm things.
"Sharon, keep it down, Grandfather's already furious."
Sharon flung his hand off.
"Why should I keep it down? I gave the Gilbert family its eldest grandson. I'm the one this family owes everything to!"
"And who is Daisy Pruitt? She popped out a worthless girl, and she has the nerve to come auditing my accounts?"
The moment those words left her mouth, the whole back courtyard went dead silent.
第4章
Worthless girl.
Those three words, coming from a woman who never stopped preaching female independence, were an insult beyond measure.
Before I could say anything, Robert was already on his feet.
"Watch your mouth."
"My daughter is the treasure of the Gilbert family. An outsider like you has no business telling us anything."
Sharon's eyes went wide.
"Outsider? I'm your elder brother's wife! My son is the eldest grandson of the Gilberts!"
She turned to Winston, tears coming on cue.
"Grandfather, look at Robert. He's staging a revolt!"
"He's conspiring with that slut Daisy, faking the accounts to frame our branch, all so they can seize the family fortune!"
"Faking the accounts?"
Winston beckoned, and the butler behind him immediately handed over a tablet.
"This is the fund-flow chart the Swiss bank sent over."
"That two hundred fifty million was laundered through six overseas accounts and ended up in your brother Zachery Fox's personal account."
"Did you really think everyone in the Gilbert family was blind?"
The color drained from Sharon's face.
Clement's legs gave out and he dropped straight to his knees in front of Winston.
"Grandfather, I didn't know! Sharon told me it was a guaranteed investment with a top gallery, a sure thing, no risk..."
"Shut up!"
Winston kicked him in the shoulder.
"A man in his thirties who can't even keep his own wife in line, sold out and still helping count the money!"
"How did the Gilbert family ever produce a fool like you!"
Seeing that it was all out in the open, Sharon just gave up any pretense.
"Fine, I moved the money. So what?"
She stuck out her neck.
"I gave your Gilbert family a son. If I get no credit, I at least deserve some for the trouble!"
"Call that money the emotional compensation your Gilberts owe me!"
"Besides, Clement is the eldest son. The Gilbert holdings will be his sooner or later, so what's wrong with me taking a little in advance?"
That kind of thief's logic had the relatives in the room shaking their heads.
I smoothed the mockery from the corner of my mouth.
"Sharon, maybe you've misunderstood the rules of this family."
"The Gilbert holdings have never been handed down by order of birth."
"Whoever has the ability, whoever can hold this business together, that person runs the family."
Sharon sneered.
"You? A woman who can't even give birth to a son?"
"You think a fake set of books is enough to bring down our branch?"
"Keep dreaming! Even if Grandfather is angry today, in the end the fortune still goes to my son!"
Winston drew a deep breath and waved a tired hand.
Lawyer Chavez, who had been waiting to the side, stepped forward and produced an official document.
"Since everyone is here, let me formally announce Mr. Gilbert's decision."
"Effective immediately, Clement Gilbert is removed from his post at Gilbert Group and all its subsidiaries."
"All of the eldest branch's credit cards and family trust accounts are frozen, in full."
Clement slumped to the floor, ashen.
But Sharon still wore that defiant look.
"Freeze them, then! I don't want them anyway!"
"My son is the eldest grandson. There's a share of the trust with his name on it sooner or later. Let's see how long you can keep it frozen!"
Lawyer Chavez read on.
"Furthermore, by unanimous vote of the family council."
"Gilbert Auction House, along with seventy percent of the core holdings under the Gilbert name."
"As of today, are placed under the full control of the second son's wife, Daisy Pruitt."
"Ms. Daisy Pruitt will also serve as chief executor of the family trust fund."
The moment Lawyer Chavez finished, Sharon froze where she stood.
Her mouth hung open, and for a long moment no sound came out.
It took a while before she whipped her head around to look at me, her eyes nearly bulging out.
"What did you say?"
"The Gilbert fortune... all of it, to her?"