Bella didn't beat around the bush. She laid it out straight: "I consulted with a lawyer friend. This situation is complicated.
"A lot of the groundwork wasn't done beforehand. Here's the issue we're dealing with... The estate is locked up in probate. There are liens, back taxes, legal fees—the whole mess. Right now, we need to prove Heather's blood relationship to the old lady. Your great-grandmother's documentation only establishes your potential *right* to inherit—it doesn't confirm your genetic connection to her. Without proof of relationship, the probate court will treat this like a disputed claim. That means more delays, more legal challenges, more fees piling up. You'll lose a huge chunk of the estate value just fighting through the process."
What Heather faced was essentially the American version of 'How do you prove you're you? How do you prove that dead person was your great-grandmother?'
Seeing that Heather and Max were still confused, Bella skipped past the technicalities and got to the bottom line: "If we can prove you are who you say you are, and that the deceased was actually your great-grandmother, the probate process moves faster and costs way less. I estimate we could save at least 30% of the estate's value—maybe more."
Heather's large eyes were filled with bewilderment. How exactly was she supposed to prove she was herself? She looked to her boyfriend. Max stood there with his mouth open like an Alzheimer's patient.
Bella gave them time to process, then stepped aside and activated her earpiece. Root's voice came through clearly.
How to prove you're yourself—whether in the East or West, that question was nearly unsolvable. So Bella had thought of a workaround.
She'd previously asked Root to help find Heather's living relatives. Surprisingly, Root had actually found two, and one of them was even someone Bella knew...
Bella listened and nodded along. At first she was stunned, then she couldn't help but laugh. What an incredible coincidence.
She ended the call, walked back to the couple, and held up two fingers. "I have good news and a question. My friend found your living relatives. You've never been in contact with them, but you should share a blood connection."
"That's amazing! Where are they? How old are they?..." Heather asked with a complicated expression.
Bella didn't answer. Instead, she asked, "Here's the question—and you need to think carefully about your answer. Do you have any prejudice against Black people?"
...
Bella and her group didn't enter the Sawyer family estate. Instead, they returned to Dallas. Two days later, Heather's living relatives arrived from opposite sides of the country.
The tall Black man who came from Washington, D.C. was Bella's acquaintance—current President James Sawyer.
From Los Angeles came an extremely tall, extremely muscular bald man who looked like a professional wrestler but had a sunny smile—Hobbs Sawyer.
These two were half-brothers sharing the same father. The Black President had Black parents on both sides—no way around that. Hobbs' mother was Samoan from the Pacific Islands. While he didn't look particularly Black, he did have African American heritage.
The President traveled with a massive security detail, going straight to the Omni Dallas Hotel where Bella's group was staying.
The hotel cost $1,118 per night—a four-star establishment in the city center with a beautiful environment and solid security.
Even so, the President's security team swept the entire building, checking every floor above and below their rooms.
"Mr. President."
"Miss Swan."
"How's Charlie doing?"
"Same as always!"
After the security detail left, Bella and the President chatted like old friends.
Heather had mostly figured out what was happening and felt a bit nervous. Max was just plain terrified.
The wrestler-like Hobbs slapped Max's shoulder. "You're Heather's boyfriend? You look kind of skinny. I'll set up a workout plan for you later!"
The mustachioed Max looked at this man who was nearly two meters tall with pecs more developed than his girlfriend's and smiled awkwardly.
He was terrified that one wrong word and the guy would grab him by the neck and throw him out the window.
Bella ignored their small talk and got down to business with the President.
"The Sawyer surname isn't exactly common, Mr. President. I checked the online records—your father lived in Texas..."
Actually, the President and Heather's blood relationship was fairly distant—they were technically cousins, several times removed.
They shared the same great-grandfather. The President's father was illegitimate—born to his grandfather (who was also Heather's great-grandfather) and a Black servant. A Black illegitimate child couldn't possibly survive in white-dominated Texas, so that branch of the family left the state.
The illegitimate son worked hard, made some money, raised his own son, who went on to study law, become a lawyer, run for office as a representative, and eventually ended up in the White House.
Meanwhile, the Sawyer family branch that stayed in Texas was massacred by enemies. The only survivors from the direct line were an old lady and Heather, who was just a baby at the time.
Bella wasn't sure whether the President would acknowledge Heather as family—the relationship was distant enough that he could easily ignore it. She'd originally worried he might play dumb. But now he'd flown straight to Dallas without a second thought. Maybe there was an element of PR, maybe his own political agenda, but the result was already excellent.
"Child, you've had a hard life all these years!" The President opened his arms.
Heather's face lit up with emotion as they embraced tightly.
Prejudice against Black people? What a joke! If this family connection was some homeless guy picking through trash on the street, sure, he'd face discrimination. But he was the President of the United States! The *current* President! True, the White House incident had tanked his approval ratings, but as long as he still sat in that office, he'd won. She wasn't about to discriminate against *him*!
Heather knew Bella loved being praised, so she laid it on thick with compliments. In that respect, Heather wasn't stupid—she knew exactly who was useful and who wasn't.
Right now, this family connection was a powerful ally. Sure, he was Black, but he had *power*! How could she possibly discriminate? She'd be lucky to have his support.
At this point, she'd acknowledge an alien as family if it helped.
The reunion was touching. Bella stood to the side clapping. Hobbs clapped too. As for the mustachioed Max, he'd completely shut down.
My girlfriend has family connections to the President. Will she even want to stay with me? His mind raced with worries.
If Heather's distant relative was President James Sawyer, then the wrestler-like Hobbs Sawyer was another branch of the family—close enough in age and relationship to potentially help with the legal situation.
After the pleasantries, Bella explained Heather's predicament. She wanted to inherit the surname, but couldn't afford to inherit the property. Without inheriting the property, she couldn't inherit the surname.
The President nodded. This was indeed a difficult problem.
Actually, getting the inheritance for free wouldn't be that hard, but with so much documentation missing and the old lady dead, and with the will already notarized—trying to overturn everything would be genuinely difficult.