Rory is the golden child.

It’s not an opinion. It’s a fact.

Everyone in her family knew it. She knew it. Her parents were even aware of their favoritism.

It is with good reason too. As everyone says, Rory does everything and does it well. She excelled in school. In every club and sport. Volunteered everywhere. She knows some martial arts. Lifeguard certified. Anything you can think of, she can do. She’s worked at nonprofits and hospitals until she found her passion. Creating programs to help youths that don’t have the proper resources get somewhere in life.

Her three siblings are another story. Harry is the oldest, only 11 months older than her. He was a highschool dropout with no job and mooching off their parents.

Morgan is next, two years younger than Rory. With their parents’ wealth, she grew up pretentious and privileged. She abused their power and influence to get ahead in life. Basically she does nothing but somehow makes money and never faces consequences. She’s made some tasteless comments but people are too afraid to speak against a Cors. Vapid in every sense of the word.

Then there is Nate. As the youngest, he is most careless, rude person you’ll ever encounter. Rory swears he never thinks about anything but getting his adrenaline up. He’ll put his own and others’ lives in danger just for the thrill. The only reason he isn’t in jail is because of their parents.

Their parents, Jillian and Jonathan Cors, are both highly successful in their own rights. Rory’s mom is a cardiologist and her dad owns a business that helps small start up businesses. They are well connected within their community. Everyone loves their parents.

Which makes no sense when they die in the midst of an attempted robbery.

OoOoO

Rory can’t believe that she’s wearing a black itchy dress, sitting on this uncomfortable chair as her parents’ will is being read out. This week has been the worst of her life. It can’t get worse.

But it does.

Names and items are being said, but none of them Aurora Cors. While money never mattered to her, she will admit that she expected something.

“And for the inheritance, under the set conditions, will be split between Harold, Morgan, and Nathaniel Cors.”

Gasps ripple through the room of family and close friends. Rory can’t tell who is more shocked. Her or her siblings. All of their jaws hit the floor as they all look at her.

For some unknown reason, she offended her parents, enough that even in their death, they had to make sure she knew.

“Wow, so much for the favorite child,” Nate says, grinning a toothy smile at her.

“I guess Mom and Dad finally saw that I am deserving of their legacy,” Morgan rubs in her face, though she knows that it isn’t personal. Morgan is like that with everyone, acting like she’s better than them all. Even their parents when they were alive.

Harry bumps her shoulder with his. “Well too bad, so sad, Rory. Better luck next time.”

His response somehow is the least rude.

“What are the set conditions?” Rory questions. “They get the inheritance under set conditions. What are those restrictions?”

“That is something to be discussed with the heirs,” Mrs. Linda, the woman reading the will, the family lawyer, answers calmly. She’s always so calm. Rory guesses she has to be with all the legal representation her brother has needed in the past.

“Which isn’t you,” Nate reminds her. She practically growls at him.

His laugh echoes in her brain as she is kicked out of the room.

OoOoO

How could her parents leave all the money to them? They trained her and built her up to be the heir to her father’s business. To be their legacy.

And they left her nothing to do that.

Harry would use his share to pay off his debts which compared to the other two is actually sort of responsible. Only sort of. Because who knows how much debt and payments he wracked up.

Morgan would blow all the money on fancy designer clothes and high end parties for the publicity.

Nate would possibly get himself killed by buying his own plane to just out of or some seriously concerning thing like that.

Rory takes a breath. She has been pacing outside the room that her siblings are in for the past hour. She needs to calm down and figure out what she wants.

What does she really want to know?

She wants to know why her parents left her out of the will. Probably not probable knowledge since they’re dead.

Maybe she should settle on what the set terms are for her siblings to get their part of the inheritance. That seems more reasonable.

The heavy door creaks open. Her head whips to the side, and she watches as her siblings file out. The last one out being Mrs. Linda. She can’t catch any of their eyes, except for Harry.

While Rory doesn’t think very highly of any of her siblings, Harry was the one she was closest to. Many people assume they are twins because for one month of the year, they are the same age.

Morgan and Nate look excited, having a bounce to their steps. In the other hand, Mrs. Linda didn’t appear to share their enthusiasm. Her face is all tense. Actually her whole body is. She stiffly walks past Rory. And as she does that, Rory barely hears her words.

“You don’t want to dig into this, Aurora,” she whispers.

But before she can ask more, Mrs. Linda continues to walk away like she never said anything.

What kind of cryptic message is that?

Turns out she didn’t have to approach Harry. He came to her. Gripping her arm, he hisses, “Don’t say a word. Follow me.”

Rory shuts her mouth immediately, her teeth clanking.

She lets him drag her to his room. It’s been a while since she’s witnessed the chaotic mess that is Harry’s bedroom. Clothes piled high in the one corner. He never does the laundry but tells the maids to not touch his stuff. Posters of bands she’s never heard cover his walls, practically wallpaper covering the hand painted mural that their parents had done for all their rooms. Random objects just tossed around.

Finding the one space that isn’t messy, his desk, she hops up and sits on it. “So what happened? What were the terms?”

Flopping on his bed that had clothes and books, he sighed. Like it took a lot of effort to answer. “It isn’t as clear cut as you would think, Rory. I thought it would just be setting some of it aside for the future or some shit like that,” he begins.

“You mean responsible shit?” She can’t help but chastise. It’s kind of in her nature to do so. She still remembers being in the same grade and reminding him of his homework and tests. He would normally flip her off and not do what she advised.

A dry chuckle leaves his lips. “Don’t be a smartass. You want to know, don’t you?” There is no malice in his words. Rory may not always like her siblings, but they are her brothers and sister. They are family. Whether they like it or not.

She nods.

“Good. Ok. So Mrs. Linda tells us that if we want the inheritance, we have to play a game,” Harry says.

The reveal almost has her flinching. That was not what she had expected, and from his furrowed eyebrows, he had not either.

“A game? Like chess?” She questions.

He stays quiet. This time, it isn’t because of the effort it took to recount it. Rory can tell the reason for hesitancy is confusion. And maybe pity?

But that doesn’t make sense because why would he feel bad for her not knowing?

Maybe it’s to protect her. But from what?

“It’s a bit darker than that. Our parents apparently knew of these dangerous games that rich people threw in participants and watched.”

She does flinch this time. Her parents knew of it? They were rich but that kind of wealthy?

“So they want you to watch the games? Or worse, pick someone to throw in?” She asks in confusion, still unsure of the conditions. Crossing her fingers, she hopes it was the first option.

That expression of pity grew even more. Like she was a child that didn’t know any better. It deepens the pit in her stomach that threatened to consume all her internal organs.

“No, Rors. Our lovely parents, post mortem, threw _us_ in the game.”

Oh god. Her parents didn’t include her in the inheritance. She couldn’t even conceive of any other reason other than unknown resentment towards her, but they did it to save her.

It still doesn’t make sense. While her siblings aren’t amazing all the time, they don’t deserve to potentially get hurt. Her parents wouldn’t really put them in a seriously malicious situation. Right?

Rory thought she knew her parents. But they got themselves involved in something really bad.

And dragged her siblings into it.

———

So I recently read The Inheritance Games, but I began this story draft before I read it. I also watched The Inheritance (really only because Peyton List is in it). Both entities involve an family inheritances which did inspire me to finish this draft!