2 Chapter 2

The professor put his hands behind his back and began to pace in front of the table at which the boy was sitting.

- Your somewhat "great" grandfather, the first Duke of Westminster, along with the title received a huge plot of land. Like all aristocrats of this level, he lived off land rent, but unlike other dukes, he began to invest in the purchase of new land and the construction of buildings that he rented out. His children took up the tradition.

Richie listened intently, catching every word of the lecturer. The professor continued to pace up and down and say:

- Further, the next generations of Grosvenors continued the tradition of investing in the purchase of land and construction. Your grandfather Karl was especially active in this regard. He began to buy land not only in Great Britain, but also in Canada, USA, Australia and other countries. Perhaps he made the greatest contribution to the growth of the financial condition of the Grosvenors. In the fifties and sixties, your family was richer than the royal.

The professor changed the trajectory of movement and began to walk in circles from the desk to the blackboard. He continued the story:

- In the fifties, numerous children of the fifth Duke of Westminster, that is, your grandfather Karl, began to lead a riotous lifestyle. They spent crazy money on all sorts of nonsense. This threatened the family with ruin.

Richie held his breath. There was genuine curiosity in the boy's eyes.

- Karl Grosvenor during his lifetime still restrained the impulses of children to squander their fortune. But he understood perfectly well that after his death everything that his ancestors and himself earned would be wasted. Therefore, he decided, following the example of the Rothschilds, to create a trust fund.

Richie tried to remember what a trust fund was, but nothing came to mind. So he decided to ask directly:

- Sir, the trust fund ... How's that?

- Oh, I was only glad that you, Richard, took up your mind, - the professor stopped and shook his head in displeasure, looking reproachfully at the boy. - A trust fund is a system in which the property originally held by the founder is transferred to the disposal of the trustee, but the beneficiaries receive income from it.

- It turns out that grandfather transferred our property to the trust fund? Richie asked.

"Yes," the professor nodded. - In the late fifties, the Grosvenors placed their assets in several trust funds so that the property was not squandered by heirs, ex-wives and other black sheep.

The professor stepped away from the blackboard and approached his desk. He put his hands on the countertop and continued:

- The Grosvenor strategy allows you to make a profit, but if, for example, you, Richard, receive an inheritance and suddenly want to sell at least some small thing, for example, a shopping center in the heart of London, then you will not be able to do it without the approval of the board of trustees. Now there are seven of them, including the sixth Duke of Westminster - your father. The head of the board of trustees is Mark Preston, an excellent economist, nobleman, honest man and a strong business executive.

- Wait, what happens - I can't spend my money without the consent of the board of trustees? Richie's eyes widened.

- No, you can spend your money. You will be charged a substantial amount from the income of the trust fund on a quarterly basis. It's millions of pounds. But you won't be able to sell the property. And, for example, if suddenly you unsuccessfully marry a money hunter, after which you get divorced, and your spouse sues you for part of the property, she will not be able to sell it. Although, as far as I am aware, the Grosvenors always entered into marriage contracts, according to which the spouse, in the event of a divorce, cannot claim her husband's property. At most, as in the case of your father's ex-wife, children will be able to receive annual payments from the trust fund.

- Does my father have an ex-wife and other children? Richie was surprised.

- Hmm ... - drawled the professor. He did not know what was going on inside the duke's family, so he did not find the boy's question strange. - As far as I know from publicly available sources, Richard, you have two older sisters from your father's first marriage. The youngest of them is about twenty years old. Both girls receive support, the amount of which is not made public, and payments will continue until their death. These payments will be inherited by their children, probably in equal shares, unless your father decides otherwise, because by law he is obliged to support children only up to eighteen years old. I do not know what exactly your father wrote in the will. In addition to your sisters, other Grosvenors, such as your father's siblings and their children, receive payments from the trust fund. Perhaps more distant relatives, for example, the children of the brothers and sisters of Karl Grosvenor, also have some kind of payments. You, as the future seventh Duke of Westminster, will inherit the entire fortune of the Grosvenors and receive most of the payments from the fund.

- How big is this fortune? Richie asked. - You spoke about the land and the shopping center in London.

"As far as I am aware, there are more than a thousand real estate objects in sixty countries of the world," the professor answered. - Richard, you understand that I cannot answer for sure, only someone from the board of trustees of the Grosvenor Group, for example, your father, can tell about it. But I know for sure that almost all real estate in central London and Liverpool belongs to you. For example, the Mayfair area, including the US Embassy, ​​the Beaumond Hotel, art galleries and museums. Your family owns about forty thousand hectares of land in Scotland, almost the entire Silicon Valley, thirty thousand hectares in Spain and much more.

Richie whistled in amazement and exclaimed:

- Wow! I'm fucking rich! And some country, well, purely by chance, does not belong to our family ?!

"If it does, I don't know," the professor laughed quietly, watching the boy's reaction.

Then the professor read a lecture on economics and gave the ward homework.

Richie's head was puffy after school. Okay school subjects, they were not difficult, but university-level economics is something with something.

"I wonder how the eight-year-old boy coped with all this? Richie thought. - I, an adult who graduated from the institute, with difficulty assimilate information of this level. Maybe he could not withstand the high load on the child's body and escaped from this body? "

There was no time to indulge in reflections, there was still a lot to do.

First of all, Richie decided to investigate the house. This proved to be a daunting task due to the size of the structure. I had to go around dozens of rooms for various purposes. On the second floor there were mainly bedrooms and offices, on the third floor there was a huge library and father's office. The ground floor was occupied by the dining room, kitchen, giant living room, gymnasium and servants' quarters. There was also a basement in the house. There is a wine cellar, food storage, a large industrial refrigerator (such as are usually installed in restaurants) and the cherry on the cake turned out to be a home theater. Moreover, a holographic projector of high power that is not familiar to the visitor, and even a flat TV with a large diagonal that is not outdated by its standards. It was a real cinema with a projector, a projection booth and a white canvas on which the film was broadcast. True, the seats were much more comfortable than in conventional cinemas. They could accommodate two dozen people.

At first, the boy was followed by a valet. More precisely, initially John was not going to do this, but followed the child only when Richie decided to go down to the ground floor. But when Richie left the basement, John breathed a sigh of relief. He realized that the child was just having fun playing "house explorer". Realizing that the ward is busy with his game and is not going to get involved, John left Richie to have fun. As they say, no matter what the child is amusing himself, as long as he does not crawl deep into the basement, where an explosion has recently thundered.

The most interesting room for the boy seemed to be the master's bedroom. Apparently my father lived there. The bedroom itself was larger than Richie's. It had a spacious dressing room, a boudoir and a bathroom with a Jacuzzi.

In the boudoir, the boy found a closet with cardboard boxes, which were covered with dust. There, in one of the boxes, he dug up a family photo album.

Richie looked at the photographs curiously.

In the beginning, the photographs showed the boy's father, about forty years old. A tall young girl with light brown hair in her twenties was often by his side. Then a small child was added, who soon turned into a girl of about five years old. The baby in the photographs was growing, the father and the brown-haired woman were getting old. When the man looked fifty, the woman thirty, and the girl ten, another baby appeared.

Thus, Richie leafed through the album until the second girl in the photographs was ten years old, the first (already a girl) disappeared from the pictures. Apparently, she left her parental home. At this point, the album ended.

After rummaging around in the box with things in which the album was found, Richie found another one. Naturally, he began to look at new photographs.

The father in the photo looked only slightly younger than he is now. Next to him was a young blonde of about twenty. She was charming and blue-eyed, very much like Richie. One could take this couple for a grandfather and a granddaughter, but the boy understood that this was completely wrong. And his confidence was strengthened after he turned the sheet over and found a photograph with a father, a blonde and a baby who, on the next cards, was getting older and acquiring familiar features - they have been seen in the mirror for a couple of days.

But then the girl disappeared from the photographs. For some time, only the sixth Duke of Westminster and his five-year-old son Richard flickered on them. Suddenly, the photographs were cut off in the middle of the album.

After examining the finds, Richie had the impression that his mother (the same blonde from the photographs) had married a rich lord. She probably hoped to get the Duke's fortune. Otherwise, what is the point of a young beautiful girl marrying an elderly man who has turned about sixty years old? But when Richard was around five years old, something happened and his mother disappeared. But where she disappeared is in question. Either she died, or the father divorced and kicked his ex-wife in the ass, leaving the child for himself. In any case, the unambiguous fact is that Richie lives with his father.

At first, dad spent a lot of time with his son, but his enthusiasm lasted for about six months. And then the father moved away from his son, pushing his upbringing to the nanny, valet, tutors. Even during meals, he sits down from the child as far as possible, deliberately distancing himself.

Richie put the photo albums back and returned to his office. There he began to rummage through all the drawers and cupboards in search of diaries. But I found only a bunch of toys and written school notebooks.

The most useful finds were notebooks with notes of lectures by tutors on economics and etiquette. The guy studied them pretty quickly. As he finished reading his etiquette lecture book, John dropped in after knocking and permission to enter.

- Mr. Richie, it's time to go to dinner.

- Good.

The boy put down his notebooks and went after the valet.

The sixth Duke of Westminster was already seated at the table in the dining room. Richie took his place across from his father. He was bursting with curiosity. The boy did not hold back and asked:

- Dad, may I ask?

- Yes son? The man put aside the cutlery.

- Dad, where did mom go?

"Hmm…" The Duke frowned. "Son, we've been through this before," he answered dryly. - Don't you remember the conversation we had two years ago?

"Sorry, father, but I was little then," Richie smiled embarrassedly and shrugged.

- Eh ... - the man sighed sadly. "Richie, your mom… she left us.

- I mean, died?

- No, - the man slightly shook his head to the sides. - Let's just say that we had misunderstandings that were not easy to resolve.

- Dad, I'm already an adult. You can tell the whole truth.

- Even if it is unsightly ?! The duke raised his eyebrows inquiringly.

- Yes, father, - the boy nodded with a serious look.

"Well, perhaps you've grown enough to know the truth," the man thoughtfully rubbed his chin with his right hand. "You see, your mom wasn't the best person. She was one of the girls who hunt rich men. In one not very pleasant moment, I managed to find out what she was using ... hmm ... how can I explain this to you?

- Dad, speak straight! I'm smart enough and quick-witted. Don't you think that a stupid person would be able to learn ahead of the school curriculum?

"Richie, I'm proud of your success, but don't be arrogant. So be it, I will tell you how everything was in reality. Your mom used pheromone-based drugs to make me fall in love with her. Do you know what pheromones are?

- Yes, father, - nodded with a serious look. - Animals secrete pheromones to attract the opposite sex. I even heard that there are perfumes with pheromones. But how did you know about it? In the sense that mom used such drugs?

"She admitted it herself once," the duke replied in a sad tone. - She hoped that I would understand everything, and stopped giving me these ... hmm ... drugs. And it turned out that I saw the light and realized that we never loved each other.

- And I?

He was frightened that since his father got rid of his mother, he might give him a ride with the inheritance.

- What about me? He continued. - You don't love me either ?!

- What you! What are you, Richie! - objected the duke. - I love you with all my heart. You are my son, heir to Grosvenor, future seventh Duke of Westminster. The fact that your mom and I broke up did not affect my love for you in any way.

- But then why do my sisters live with their mother, and I with you, and not with my mother?

- This is a difficult question ... - the man closed his eyes and rubbed the bridge of his nose with the index and thumb of his right hand. Adjusting his glasses, he continued: - With Monica, we just happened ... She started an affair with the gardener out of boredom, and I could not bear such an insult. As a result, we divorced, and Jessica and Lisa stayed with Monica. I have completely provided for your sisters' wealth. And your mother ... She's a wealth hunter ...

The man got up from the table and walked over to the child. He gently hugged his son and patted him on the top of his head.

"Richie, just don't be upset with what I say.

- I will not, dad, - said the boy, glancing sideways at his father.

"You see, Laurie was interested in you as a tool for getting the Grosvenor money. No rich person is immune from such a fate. When my brains were cleared and her deception was revealed, we had a big fight. I said Laurie won't get a penny. As a result, she collected all her belongings, grabbed jewelry and quite a lot of valuable antiques, after which she disappeared into obscurity.

- Didn't she pick me up? Richie asked in surprise. - I'm better than antiques!

The man laughed good-naturedly and hugged his son warmly. He said:

- Definitely better! Laurie took the trinkets and left the best for me. So I didn't even bother going to Scotland Yard.

- And what was your mother's last name? What did she do before your wedding?

- Good question.

The man sat down on a chair next to his son on his right hand and continued:

"You see, Richie, while I was taking Laurie's drugs, which she added to my drinks, I didn't ask this question at all. It was enough for me that she was next to me. But then I asked myself exactly the same question. Then he hired detectives to find at least some information about your mother.

- So what?

- Everything turned out to be very difficult, son. All I knew was your mother's maiden name, Cabot. Laurie Cabot. The detective found out that such a person does not exist. More precisely, it did not exist until one thousand nine hundred and seventy-nine. Then, all of a sudden, the records of Miss Cabot appeared in the archives. It felt like she had bought the documents. But the investigation showed that none of the officials with access to the issuance of such papers took bribes and even had no idea about Lori.

- That is, it turns out that your mother is an emigrant who bought documents and seduced you with the help of special drugs?

"I'm afraid it's much worse, Richie," the duke shook his head. "Such drugs cannot be found in the public domain. A serious chemical laboratory is needed to create them. In addition, an ordinary person cannot make documents without leaving traces. The detective came to the conclusion that Laurie Cabot is an employee of foreign intelligence services. Perhaps the CIA or the KGB. After all, we Grosvenors are not just some of the richest men in Britain. We are still part of the royal family and have considerable political weight due to the fact that we have a seat in the House of Lords.

Richie widened his eyes and exclaimed:

- Wow! Just like a detective story. I hope this trick won't work with me.

"I hope so too, Richie.

- Dad, couldn't the detectives find Mom?

- Couldn't, although they are the best in their field. And this indirectly confirms the involvement of the special services. Otherwise Laurie would have left at least some clues to find her. She disappeared without a trace, as if evaporated. The stolen valuables did not appear anywhere either. To be on the safe side, I have increased the security of the estate.

- Why? - Richard was surprised.

- There are fears that your mother might kidnap you in order to blackmail me. So, Richie, be careful. If you suddenly meet your mother, do not rush to rejoice and do not go anywhere with her. Call John and Stephen right away.

- Who is Stephen? Richie asked.

"Kid, it's very bad to forget the names of the servants," the Duke's voice showed a note of displeasure. - Stephen is your driver and security guard.

"He doesn't look like a guard," the boy said. - Well ... He's so ... Invisible, or something. Normal.

- Exactly! The duke raised his index finger. - It's because Stephen is a top-level specialist. He should be invisible and look normal. But in fact, he served in a special unit of the British special forces and at one time worked in the Queen's security service. So do not be dismissive of people of similar qualifications, they are extremely rare. If you insult Steven, it will be very difficult to find another such guard.

- Understood, I will be polite to him.

"Son, you have to be polite with everyone," the duke said in an instructive tone. - You are an aristocrat, which means that you must be impeccable and equally polite to both people of your circle and to ordinary workers and servants. But you shouldn't be too familiar. Keep your distance between yourself and the servants.

Richie thought it was a good moment, so he turned to his father with a request:

- Dad, I would like to finish school as an external student. Can this be organized?

- Richie, how do you imagine it?

- Well ... - the boy scratched his head. - I know the elementary school curriculum quite well. I only need to improve my English and computer science. I suppose I can pass the high school curriculum too if I cash in on it.

- Well, I don't see any obstacles.

The father was delighted with the child's desire for knowledge. Like any parent, he considered his child smarter than he is. The Duke had no doubt that Richie was a genius and would be able to finish school much earlier than other children. He was ready to spend any money on his son. In fact, the boy may have been a genius, but it was difficult to call him as such. All his genius lay in the fact that once he had already studied at school and knew a lot. Plus a more organized adult mind.

What is the difference between an adult and a child? For the most part, only the presence of life experience and toys in adults others. In addition, they can manage their time in a more organized manner.

Children spend a lot of time on nonsense, they are often distracted, they get bumps, they do not understand the meaning of study. They want to play, not learn. An adult understands that he needs knowledge for the future. Or, as in his case, he does not need knowledge, but a document confirming his graduation from school.

Richie wanted to get rid of the required part as soon as possible. He understood perfectly well that one way or another he would have to get at least a secondary education. Instead of spending years going to school, he decided to spend a few years in order to have in the future the best youths, which he can dispose of as he sees fit. After all, he is insanely rich and can afford everything: to travel the world, to have fun in every possible way, to have easy romances with young girls when he grows up to that.

- I will tell John to take up this issue: I agreed with the school and hired tutors for you. But Richie, if you don't handle it, you'll go back to school. In addition, this does not negate the practice of fencing and economics.

"Okay," Richie said. - Thank you, father!

After dinner was over, Richie was glad he didn't have to go to school again. And he was mentally prepared for additional studies.

But in the end, the next day he still had to go to school.

Only a day later, a tutor appeared in the house for the elementary school curriculum. She turned out to be an elderly and strict woman, Jane Stevenson. She was at least fifty years old. She was thin as a pole, dressed in strict closed dresses of dark tones, and she gathered her dark hair powdered with gray in a bun at the back of her head. Large horn-rimmed glasses and always pursed lips gave the lady an external severity.

On the first day, a junior high school tutor gave Richie a knowledge test for all lessons. At first, she was skeptical of the rich student, but when she checked the tests, she was amazed to the core. She could not believe that an eight-year-old child possessed such broad knowledge, because the test was designed to test the knowledge of first-grade high school students, that is, for twelve-year-olds.

After the new tutor left, Richie had a trip to the fencing section.

Upon returning home, the boy began to explore the house. A strange situation developed - the names of the grandfather, sisters, mother and ex-wife of the sixth Duke of Westminster were already known, but the name of the one to whom Richie referred to as "father" or "daddy" was not. It was this information that he was trying to find.

Richie sat in his father's office, waited for the valet to leave him alone, and then began to examine the documents. This tactic proved to be effective almost immediately. In the very first letter, the boy found an appeal to the addressee:

Mr. Gerald Cavendish Grosvenor

So Gerald, Richie thought. - Well, now I at least know the name of my father. I think I'm doing pretty well so far in Richard Grosvenor's shoes. At least no one has yet noticed that the boy has changed a lot. On the other hand, how often do people around you pay attention to changes in children's behavior? Perhaps loving parents would quickly discover the substitution, but Gerald has moved away from his son, he does not know what Richie should be, because he sees the child at breakfast and dinner. And for John, raising a child is just a job. Even at the moment of being hit, he mistook the strange behavior for pretending in order not to go to school. The only important thing for the kamerdiner is that I be healthy, washed, dressed, attended classes on time and did my homework, otherwise he could get a painful blow to the prize. "