“Who are you?” Thomas asked with a scowl as he stepped into the lawyer’s office.
Mr. Goldberg was about to read the will of Teresa Finkle, and her two sons, Thomas and Walter, had arrived expecting their inheritance. The Finkle family had lived comfortably thanks to their late father’s wealth — perhaps too comfortably, considering the entitled attitudes of the boys.
At eighteen, both sons left home and never looked back. When their father passed, they distanced themselves even further from their mother.
They claimed to be busy with their own lives, but in truth, they simply didn’t care. Teresa, left behind and lonely, had only longed for occasional visits or invitations to family gatherings — neither of which came.
In time, Teresa welcomed a single mother, Grace, and her teenage daughter, Katherine, into her home as tenants.
She never told her sons about them, and they never inquired. Even when she fell ill, they remained absent. She died having never seen her sons again — but she wasn’t alone. Grace and Katherine, who had grown to love her deeply, stayed by her side.
When Thomas and Walter entered the lawyer’s office and saw Grace and Katherine seated there, confusion and irritation showed on their faces.
“Settle down, Thomas,” Mr. Goldberg said sternly. “Grace and Katherine are included in the will, and you’ll show them respect — your mother held them dear.”
The brothers’ smug expressions vanished as Mr. Goldberg read the will. Teresa had left each of them just one dollar — a legal strategy to prevent them from contesting her final wishes. The rest of her estate went entirely to Grace and Katherine.
Mr. Goldberg also revealed that Teresa had secretly saved every penny Grace paid in rent, intending the sum to fund Katherine’s college education.
Enraged, Walter shouted, “You’ll be hearing from our lawyer! We’re not letting this go!” Thomas glared at everyone in the room and followed his brother out.
Afterward, Mr. Goldberg reassured Grace. “If those two bother you, don’t hesitate to call me or the police.”
Grace felt a surge of relief.
Not only would she not be evicted, but she and Katherine were now financially secure. Teresa had made sure her adopted family would be safe. But the calm didn’t last long — one day, the brothers showed up at her door.
Thomas took a deep breath. “We’re not here to fight. We just want to grab a few things from our old rooms. I heard Mom never changed them.”
Inside Thomas’s old room, Walter closed the door and asked, “What now?”
“We need to find something — anything — that shows Grace tricked Mom into changing her will. We’ll get her to talk and secretly record it,” Thomas said, scanning the room.
That’s when he spotted an envelope on the bed, addressed to both of them.
Walter opened it and read aloud:
“Dear Sons,
Don’t you dare try to take anything from Grace and Katherine! You don’t deserve a penny of my money since you were too good to spend time with me in the past decades. You already have your father’s inheritance. That’s more than enough.
That woman and her daughter were my only family. They cared for me when I was ill. They celebrated Christmas with me. They had dinner with me every night, and they loved me just as I loved them.
Now, you two are my sons. I’m your mother. I love you dearly, and I always will. But I hope you never have to live with the pain I did. I hope my grandkids never treat you like you treated me. And finally, I hope you learn from this. Be better.
All my love,
Mom.”
After a long silence, Thomas looked at his brother. “Let’s go.”
They quietly left and gave Grace a parting wave. From that day on, they never tried to contact her again. The only time Grace ever saw them was once a year — on Teresa’s death anniversary — when they’d visit her grave. She never knew exactly what changed in them, but perhaps the letter had done what years of absence never could: it taught them something.
