Fates Pawn

Ava's POV

"Just give me an extension please." I pleaded with Mr Walker.

"Have I not been linient enough with you Ava? Your rent has been due for the past three months. I'm sorry, but that's just as far as my kindness goes." Mr Walker declares, still standing in front of my apartment door, with an eviction notice in his hands.

My shoulders deflated and I exhaled heavily, he was right.

I had lost my job some months ago and I've barely been surviving since then.

My rent was due since three months ago but I had been begging Mr Walker for an extension and he had been kind enough to me but I think he had just been pushed to his limits now.

I would be too, if I was him.

"I'm sorry Ava, but you have twenty four hours." He said before handing me the eviction notice and leaving.

He was very clear with his warning, I either had to pay up by tomorrow or find somewhere else to live, but with no money in my bank account and no stable job in sight, how was I going to make it happen?

I better start packing up my things then, I had nowhere to go but I would figure something out. I just had to pack first.

The buzzing of my phone woke me up a few hours later, looking around my apartment, I saw it laying on the countertop in the kitchen.

Glancing at my phone, I saw it was an unknown number, hesitantly, I answered the call and placed it by my ear, "Hello?"

"Am I speaking to miss Ava Rivers please?" I heard a male voice ask from the other end of the call.

"Yes, this is Ava."

"My name is Barry Anderson, I'm a lawyer representing the estate of Edward Langston." He announced like I was supposed to understand what or who he was talking about

"I'm not sure I follow." I told him, voicing my confusion.

"I need you to come to New York immediately. Mr. Langston has passed away and you've been named in his will."

I blinked, "I think you have the wrong person sir."

"Your mother's name is Amelia Langston, it was after she married your father she changed it to Rivers, and her father is now desceased too." He informed me.

I knew I had heard the name before, that was mum's maiden name from her family which she never spoke about, so how does a stranger know this?

"Who are you and how do you know that?"I asked him accusingly.

"I know you have a lot of questions but if you come to my office, you'll find out."

That was all he said and I had to admit, I was really curious to find out what was going on here.

"I don't have money for a flight." I muttered.

"It's already taken care of. A first-class ticket has been sent to your email, with details of where you'll go once you land and I expect you in my office by noon tomorrow." And with that, the call ended.

I continued to stare at my phone and my heart was racing wildly. This had to be a mistake, who was Edward Langston?

I found myself in New York the next morning and my nerves were a tangled mess.

The structure and view of the city was a lot to take on, it wasn't like what I was used to, back in the little town of Smallville where I lived.

I was still standing in front of the airport, trying to hail a cab when a sleek black car pulled up in front of me.

"Ava Rivers?" The driver asked as he rolled the window down.

"Yes?"

"Get in. Mr Anderson instructed me to bring you." He told me, I remembered that was the man I spoke with yesterday.

Hesitantly, I entered the car and it sped off immediately. I wished the car ride lasted longer but it was over just as quickly as it started.

I stood at the entrance of the glass office building, I wasn't sure why I was here but something told me whatever happened next would change my life forever.

Entering into the towering building felt like I had stepped into a different world. The receptionist led me to a grand conference room where a tall, silver-haired man in an expensive suit waited.

"Miss Rivers." He started, greeting me with a polite nod.

"I am Barry Anderson, please take a seat."

I did as he had told me to do, choosing the seat that was opposite him, my pulse pounding as he slid a thick envelope across the table.

"This is your inheritance."

I wanted to reach out and pick it up, but I caught myself, hesitating before picking it up, "You haven't explained to me what's going on here."

"Your mother's name before she got married to your father was Amelia Langston and she was the daughter of Edward Langston, the richest and most successful business mogul in all of New York."

He started but I cut him off, "My mother never mentioned any of this to me."

And I spent all night surfing through the Internet and sure enough, there was no link between my mum and this man, not one, so I was having a hard time believing what this man, seated in my front, was saying.

"Your mother never mentioned any of this because she had disobeyed her father and married your dad and so Mr Langston disowned her."

"So if this Mr Langston disowned my mum, that means I'm not his granddaughter and I have no business being here." I reasoned out.

"Even though your mother and her father never got to fix their relationship before she passed, Mr Langston still considered you as his bloodline. The only heir to his fortune."

I breathed heavily, this was a lot to handle at once.

"But what's the catch?" I asked him, things like these never came without a price.