Here’s a shortened version of the story that keeps the core meaning intact:
“Who are you?” Thomas asked with a frown as he entered the lawyer’s office. He and his brother, Walter, were there for the reading of their late mother Teresa’s will. Their father had left them wealthy, and they’d left home at 18, never looking back—even when Teresa grew lonely and ill.
In her final years, Teresa took in Grace, a single mother, and her daughter Katherine as tenants and companions. She never mentioned them to her sons, and they never asked. When she died, Grace and Katherine were by her side.
At the reading, Thomas and Walter were shocked to see Grace and Katherine. “They rented from your mother for years,” the lawyer, Mr. Goldberg, explained. The brothers were dismissive, eager to sell the house and claim the inheritance.
But then came the bombshell: Teresa had left each son one dollar—and everything else to Grace and Katherine. She’d even saved every cent Grace paid in rent to help Katherine go to college. The brothers exploded with rage, but the lawyer defended Teresa’s wishes.
Later, Thomas and Walter showed up at the house, pretending they just wanted to collect old belongings. Once inside, they plotted to find evidence Grace manipulated their mother. But in Thomas’s room, they found a letter from Teresa.
In it, she made her feelings clear: they had abandoned her, while Grace and Katherine had loved her. She still loved her sons, but hoped they would learn from the pain they caused.
After reading the letter, Thomas quietly said, “Let’s go.”
Would you like this in a more formal tone or even shorter?
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