ssion be wary and it hurt his heart to do it but he continued. “Ben, she wasn’t getting treatment for her disease. The clinic informed me that she requested them to assist her suicide. She… passed awayst night.”


    Tina gasped and took Ben’s hand in hers as a tear rolled down her cheek. Inside she was raging that this woman’s final act had hurt Ben onest time. She was d Wendy was dead.Content is ? by N?velDrama.Org.


    Ben nodded to Walter who was watching him closely. “Thank you for telling me personally, Walter. You’re right. This would have been much worse to hear through the news.”


    “I’m so sorry-” Walter began but Ben held his hand up.


    “No, you are a true friend and I really appreciate yourpassionate delivery of this… information,” Ben said.


    “Are you ok?” Walter asked as Ben seemed… a little numb.


    “Yeah… I think so. I suppose I should have expected it. I knew she wouldn’t have wanted to endure what her mother went through.” He smiled weakly at Walter.


    With his news delivered Walter rose to his feet and Ben walked him to the door. After he left Tina crushed herself up against Ben’s chest and they held each other for a long time.


    Walter was right about how the story would get out. Ben’s paying for his ex-wife’s assisted suicide was just what tabloid television ordered and the spin was vicious and brutal. It went on for days dredging up the debate over the morality of assisted suicide and linking Ben’s name to it. He was both vilified for his cruelty and praised for hispassion depending on the side of the argument.


    Ben remained silent and refused all requests for interviews orment on this topic.


    With the permission of the Sheriff’s department Ben hired off duty officers to set up a checkpoint on the entrance to Ashburn Court to ensure only residents and legitimate traffic gained entry. The noise andmotion proved to be too much for the upants of 1, 2, and 4 Ashburn Court. Ben bought their homes at a generous premium allowing them to move to quieter locations.


    Living in 1 Ashburn Court, Kevin and Wanda Baker, both retirees in their 70’s found themselves able to afford to purchase a beautiful condo in Florida to spend the rest of their lives infort and, most importantly, warmth.


    Dwayne and Mnie Robinson from 2 Ashburn Court demanded twice the going rate for their ce but Ben paid it. The owners of a Logisticspany they invested the extra cash in upgrading their fleet of trucks with improved GPS trackers and moved… south. They didn’t want any contact with Ben or his mess.


    Wally and Carolyn Green, upants of 4 Ashburn Court and owners of the ‘Yogurt, Now!’ frozen yogurt chain moved to California to get away from the other cold stuff.


    Dominic Sellini asked Ben if he could buy the Green’s home from him so he could fix it up for his son’s family. Ben dly gave him a deal on the price and was happy to know another good neighbor was moving into the neighborhood.


    Luis and Jaclyn Hernandez in 3 Ashburn Court had no intentions of selling or moving now that their family had moved into the neighborhood. They just stayed in their son’s guest suite while the press were making a nuisance of themselves.


    Ben’s financial advisor didn’t bat an eysh when Ben told him he was purchasing the additional properties. Not since the royalties from his filter began pouring in. The orders were exceeding the capacity of Sturn Manufacturing so thepany bought out the neighboring property and expanded once more. Bill and his team were happy indeed.


    The people on the list Ben had sent to Jerry started seeing statements indicating ieing into their ounts. There had been delighted responses when the initial notices went out indicating a trust had been created by Ben for them. It only truly sunk in what that meant when the monthly statements started showing up. Ben’s phone line was busy with happy people thanking him enthusiastically.


    Along with this windfall, Ashley Beaumont was suddenly presented with another fortune. She was contacted by awyer in Austin, Texas who informed her of the passing of Jacob Sturn, the father of herte husband. Ben heard the news the same day from Bill Freeny. Thewyer notified Ashley that she was the sole inheritor of Jacob’s entire estate as the man had no other family. Thewsuit thepany had been under was settled after the dissolution of Sturn Enterprises and there was still a considerable amount of money left in the estate for her and her children. The first thing she did was buy her home back from Ben though he insisted she pay no more than what he had.


    Rain, Karen, and Penny got their family van after a fierce tournament of video game racing to determine the color. Penny was the overall victor so the van was deep blue. The girls wanted to begin driving lessons immediately so Ben signed them up for sses in defensive driving. In the meantime, Rain was their chief driver and got to use the van when she didte shifts at the clinic.


    Months after his brief conversation with the woman, a couriered envelope arrived for Ben from Margaret Dawson in Australia. Inside was a letter and a key. Reading the letter he learned that during her interview with Gretchen when Ben had been on his way to Margaux’s condo, Gretchen had signed over her inheritance to him. Every investment, every property, every piece of furniture in those properties, right down to the contents of the safe deposit box in Germany, which was still an unknown, now belonged to Ben. The key in the courier pack was for the safe deposit box. The contents of Rainor’s condo in Sydney had been shipped to the states and were waiting in a storage container in San Francisco for him to deal with it. He also learned he now owned a penthouse condo in Berlin, the keys for which he would get from thendlord as Rainor’s set was probably at the bottom of Sydney Harbour.


    While the storm of attention raged outside the little pocket universe Ben had made of Ashburn Court, life simplified for him as he worked on projects for the engineering boards, both the public and military ones. In the tranquility of his office he set his mind on the projects and produced a steady stream of solutions for his ‘clients’. Captain Kendricks was thrilled and Ben’s status as a significant contributor soon spread to other branches of the government. He was offered other projects but he insisted if they wanted his help they’d have to submit the requests through an engineering forum board as he had no time to deal with alternate systems.


    As he was spending so much time in his basement office he finally got around to recing the panic room door. He was pleased with the faster closing rate of the new, stronger door. He ran drills with his family to ensure they knew how to use it. Tina already knew and helped Lucy getfortable with it. The front door had been reced with a much stronger one so Tina felt very secure in the home.


    When the winter finally showed signs of passing Ben went ahead with the renovations on his home, extending the building back and upwards. The huge room he built on the back was going to be a yroom for the kids with a five level, padded jungle gym,plete with slides, tunnels, a ball pit, and cushioned floors for tumbling and running around.


    During all this crazy renovation work in mid-March Tina went intobor in the wee hours of the morning. Ben and Lucy rushed her to the hospital while Ashley came over to watch over Christopher. After four hours ofbour Tina gave birth to an eight pound baby boy. To Ben’s great relief both mother and baby were healthy.