Rich Man Changes Will, Disinherits Children, and Leaves Everything to Twins Next Door — Story of the Day

A rich man's two children are shocked to learn that their father has changed his will and is leaving everything to a neighbor's twin babies.

Darius Horton was one of Ohio's leading industrialists and an extremely wealthy man. He had two children, Jenna and Jeremy. The two were twins and equally spoiled and entitled.

The truth was that after their mother's death when they were 18, Jenna and Jeremy had used their loss and their father's grief to manipulate him into giving them everything they wanted. Life was about to throw a spanner in their works...

Darius Horton decided to leave everything to the twins next door. | Source: Shutterstock.com

Unexpectedly, Darius sold his factories and his plants, and announced his immediate retirement to Florida! And he wasn't even going to a fashionable area like Key West!

Their father had bought himself a house in one of Daytona Beach's middle-class suburbs -- an average boring, unglamorous house -- and this after he made a deal from his businesses close to half a billion!

Things got even worse when a legal secretary who worked for Darius' lawyer and had been having an affair with Jeremy dropped the dime on him. Darius had just made a new will.

He was leaving everything he had (with the exception of a paltry 5-thousand-a-month for each of them) to Hannah and Benjamin Salter. Who were these people? And why had their father left them EVERYTHING?

Darius was sadly disappointed in his two children. | Source: Unsplash

Jenna and Jeremy were even more horrified to discover that the allowance would cease after five years. They would be POOR! They hired a detective and discovered that Hannah and Benjamin were just 18 months old, the children of their father's next-door neighbor.

"They're HIS children!" cried Jenna angrily. "That's why he moved to that awful place, to be close to his mistress!"

"Calm down, Jenna," Jeremy said. "All is not lost. I think he's angry with us over that little problem we had in Monaco last summer... We'll go down, look contrite, tell him we've learned our lesson, and get back in the will."

"I think there's more to this than meets the eye," his sister said. "Mark my words, he's found himself a new family and written us off!"

All that Jeremy cared about was partying. | Source: unsplash

A week later, Jenna and Jeremy arrived at Daytona Beach with sweet smiles and apologies for past behavior. Darius was glad to see them. He loved his children, despite their faults, but they no longer fooled them.

That night after dinner, Darius got to the point. "So... What brings you two out to this neck of the woods?" he asked. "I never thought I'd see the day you'd be willing to endure suburbia!"

"Oh, Daddy!" Jenna giggled. "We MISSED you. You know how much we love you..."

"Yes," said Jeremy. "New York and Paris and London are fun, but family is family!"

All that Jenna cared about was shopping. | Source: Unsplash

"Ah!" cried Darius knowingly. "Someone told you I changed my will!"

"What?" cried Jenna theatrically. "What on earth are you talking about? You changed your WILL?"

"Oh give it up, Jenna! The game is up." Jeremy said crossly, then he turned to his father. "Yes, we do know about the will, and we're hurt, Dad. Hurt and upset... We thought you loved us."

"What's bugging you is losing my money not my affection," Darius said quietly. "Don't pretend otherwise."

Jenna and Jeremy learned that Darius had changed his will. | Source: Unsplash

"You cut us off?" screamed Jenna. "How are we supposed to live?"

"You have five years after I die to get an education and a job," Darius noted. "I'm hoping it will inspire you to make something of yourselves."

"Who are these children you're leaving the money to?" demanded Jeremy. "Is their mother your mistress? A married woman? How do you know the kids are yours? Your blood, as we are?"

Darius smiled. "They ARE mine, of that, I have no doubt." He took his phone out and quickly scrolled through several snaps of himself with two chubby toddlers and a sweet-faced woman in her early thirties.

Darius received a letter from an old girlfriend. | Source: Unsplash

"So you've replaced your children!" said Jeremy bitterly.

"No," Darius said quietly. "For the last twenty-five years, you had my love and my money. You've ignored one and squandered the other. I'm now taking care of my daughter and her children. My grandchildren."

"DAUGHTER!" gasped Jenna.

Darius explained. "When I met your mother, I fell in love with her at first sight. At that time, I was in an on-again, off-again relationship with a talented artist. I told her we were over, and she was very gracious about it.

Darius discovered he had a daughter and grandchildren. | Source: Unsplash

"I never saw her again, but six months ago, I received a letter. She was dying, and she wanted me to know that she'd had my child, a girl she'd named Darla. I came to Florida at once.

"I moved in next door to Darla and introduced myself as a friend of her mother's. She's a lovely woman, a wonderful mother. She's happy with her life and her husband. She doesn't need my money.

"You needn't look resentful. While I live you'll still get to live the wasteful life you love and they get my love which you never wanted -- after I die they get the money too. It's only fair, don't you think?"

"You'll still get to live the wasteful life you love and they get my love which you never wanted." | Source: Unsplash

Jenna and Jeremy didn't think it was fair at all, but they were wise enough to hold their tongues. They started thinking about the future, saving up what they could of their extravagant allowance, and became very worried about their father's health!

What can we learn from this story?

• Don't count your chickens before they hatch. Jenna and Jeremy were confident they would be wealthy so they never bothered to go to college or get jobs. But life taught them a hard lesson.
• Love is more valuable than all the money in the world. Darius found himself people who cared for him and cherished him and realized his children only cared about his money.

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If you enjoyed this story, you might like this one about a wealthy man who scornfully refuses to give a poor girl money for flowers, then he sees her later at his deceased wife's grave weeping, realizing who she is.

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