章 20: Ch.20

(Matt Pov)

Waking up with Alice in my arms, I told her what Charlie told me yesterday about the key. After her sneaking out and me getting ready for the day, I went back to the Cullens to pick up Alice. From there we drove to the bank in town that has the safety deposit box where my key goes.

"What do you think will be in the box?" Alice asks me as we are driving to the bank.

"I'm not sure, though I just hope whatever it is can give me some answers," I say to her sighing.

"If it doesn't have the answers you want, then we'll figure something out," Alice says grabbing my hand reassuringly. Smiling at her I nod, driving the rest of the way in comfortable silence.

Getting to the bank an hour after it opens, we walk inside and see that it is empty except for one person talking to a bank teller, several other bank tellers, and a handful of security guards. Walking over to one of the free tellers who each seemed bored and tired.

"Hello miss, my father gave me a key to a safety deposit box here and I was wondering if you could lead me to it," I say as we walk up to her. The teller gives me a tired look and nods.

"Sure sir, let me see the key and I'll bring you to the box," she says putting her hand out.

Handing the key to her she inspects it quickly, then hands it back to me. Gesturing for us to follow her, she leads us to the left side of the bank past a security guard who just looks at us and then returns to staring at nothing. Going down a set of stairs, we see three rooms, one in front of us and two to either side, each has iron bars in front to lock them closed. The teller walks up to the security guard down here sitting at a small desk with an old computer and filing cabinet.

"Hey Frank, these two need access to the safety deposit box one forty-two (142)," the bank teller says to the security guard gesturing to us.

"Sure thing May," Frank the security guard says getting up and walking over to the right room unlocking it.

"Frank here will help you the rest of the time, if you need anything else, you know where to find me," May the bank teller says in a tired voice walking past us back upstairs. We nod to her as she pasts us and Frank is waiting for us by the now unlocked room.

Alice and I walked into the large room with several dozen safety deposit boxes lining the walls. Frank after looking around quickly, gestures for us to come here as he is standing by the box I need.

"Here is your box sir and mam, once you are done let me know and I'll lock up the room again," Frank says to us returning to the desk outside the room.

Opening the box, I can see there is a small leather book that looks like a journal and some paperwork that is signed in several places. Taking the items and placing them on the table in the room, I put the box back, Alice is looking at the papers confused at them. Opening the journal I can see that it was written by my father.

'Matt if you are reading this then two things either happened, your mother gave you this journal because I died before your eighteenth birthday, so you can read it to better understand the changes you are going through, or we both died and someone else we trusted enough gave you this journal. If I died then know that I love you more than you know and am truly sorry I left you and your mother alone in this world.' I read the beginning and it brings up some pent-up emotions in me, as some tears come out of my eyes.

"Matt, are you ok?" Alice asks me looking at me in concern.

"Yeah, it's just this book was written by my dad," I say to her with heavy sadness in my voice, but I clear my throat trying to regain control of my emotions. Giving me an understanding nod, Alice hugs me as I continue to read it.

'In the worse case that your mother and I died, leaving you truly alone, I'm beyond sorry for us leaving you so early. Though in that case there should be some paperwork with my journal, sign those, and give them to the bank in Forks. This will give you ownership of our accounts to you, and hopefully it will be enough to give you some help with whatever you wish to do with your life.' I read and put down the journal looking at the paperwork on the table and notice they are all signed, only waiting for me to sign them.

"Alice my parents left me their bank account, I just need to sign these and give them to the teller. Let's do that now and then head to your home, I want to finish reading this journal," I say to her and she nods. Putting the journal in my breast pocket on the jacket I was wearing, I walk over to Frank the security guard in the front room.

"Excuse me sir do you have a pen I can borrow?" I ask Frank.

"Sure thing," Frank says handing me a pen.

Going back into the safety deposit box room, I sign all the paperwork. Alice and I leave, returning the pen to frank and telling him we were done in the room. Nodding he locks the room back up after checking to make sure everything is in place. Going back upstairs we walk over to the teller who helped us earlier.

"Excuse me miss, it would seem I now have ownership of an account here. Here is the paperwork for it," I say to May, handing her the signed paperwork. Giving us a tired look she nods and checks the paperwork.

"Can you please wait here sir, I need to get our bank account manager. He will need to go over these papers and be with you shortly," May says leaving to go to the right side of the bank where there are some small office desks, I see after she opens the door to that room.

After waiting for about ten minutes, a middle-aged balding man comes out of the room looking around the room. Seeing we are the only ones in the bank other than the workers, he walks over to us.

"You must be Mr. and Mrs.Strömberg, I'm John. I've read over your paperwork and everything seems to be in order, if you follow me, I'll show you the current assets of your account," John says after seeing us, I didn't bother correcting him for calling us married. Though now Alice has a beyond happy expression on her face, lopping her arm in mine we follow John to his desk in the room on the right side of the bank.

"It would seem your parents left you quite the sum of assets, Mr.Strömberg. This is what we have in our current account here, here is the amount you have in investments with several different companies, and it would seem you now have access to a joint account that's located in Sweden. I'm not sure too much about that, as we don't have access to that information and you would have to contact that bank. I would suggest going in person, due to international accounts being more secure and being difficult over the phone," John says to me after handing a few papers.

'Holy shit! What job did my dad have?! How loaded was he?!' I think to myself seeing the amount in the bank account alone.

Which is just over a 1.5million USD and the sum of advertisements with several different companies is around a 4.2million USD. The companies are, Microsft, Nordea a Swedish bank, and Volvo. The biggest share is in Nordea, I now own just over twenty percent of the company, making me one of the biggest investors in the company. The bank where I have a joint account is Nordea. Seeing my surprised face Alice looks at the papers too and is shocked also.

"Thank you John, that will be all," I say standing up to leave.

"Wait Mr. and Mrs.Strömberg! Your wife will need to sign some papers to get access to your accounts and then we can give you your debit cards," John says seeing me standing up. Alice is now looking at me curiously, to what I will say.

"Sure give her the paperwork," I say to him and he nods starting to print it out. After getting up to get the paperwork Alice turns to me.

"You didn't have to do that, I mean we aren't even married yet," Alice says but I can see how happy she is.

"The key word being 'yet' and nothing but the best for Mrs.Strömberg," I say to her smirking and she gives me a delighted laugh and kisses me. Returning with the paperwork, Alice signs them.

"Oh, you two aren't married yet! Does not matter, since you are getting married soon, just means the soon-to-be Mrs will have access to your funds," John says reading over the paperwork and making sure it's all in order and seeing Alice signing it with her last name 'Cullen'.

"Well let me offer you both an early congratulations on your future marriage and I will return with your debit cards," John says to us after standing up and leaving to get the cards and checkbooks.

Returning with the cards and checkbooks he hands them over and we make our way back to the Cullen's house.

"What to do with all this money? I guess I'll buy all the clothes I'll ever want," Alice says to me with a teasing look as we drive back to her house.

"Like I said only the best for Mrs.Strömberg," I say in a fancy British accent and she laughs.

Getting to her house we walk in and after saying hello to everyone, even Bella who is hanging out in the living room with the others.

" Hey Matt, hey Alice, we are gonna do another tournament of smash, want in?" Edythe says to me after we say hello.

"Alice can join you if she wants, though I'm gonna pass. I have some reading to do," I say showing my leather journal. They shrug, but Jasper seems interested.

"Follow me, I know a quiet place from these loud mouths," Jasper says as Alice joins them in the game.

Following Jasper, he leads me to a small room filled with four sets of bookshelves filled with books and two sets of armchairs on either side of the room.

"This is where I come to read and get some quiet time from the others. What book is that?" Jasper says taking a seat on one of the chairs.

"We went to the bank where my father left me a key to a safety deposit box and this was inside. It is his journal and hopefully has some answers about what I am," I say to him taking a seat in another armchair. Nodding Jasper takes out a book and starts reading, then I open to where I left off.

'First things first, don't be afraid of the changes you are going through. Most of our family members turn at eighteen, I did when I turned eighteen. The first time can be crazy and you might not remember it, though each time after changing it gets easier. Though I'm sure by the time you've read this, you have figured out that last part. Since I'm dead this journal can only give you my insight into how I controlled the beast inside of me. Though I had a strained relationship with my family, if you go and visit them in Sweden they will welcome you. My father, your grandfather, should still be the chief of our clan, his name is Ivar Strömberg. He can be a bit of a hardass, though should help you if you visit them. If you choose to visit them, they are in a very small and far north town called Kiruna in Sweden.' I read and then think to myself.

'Looks like when this school year ends I'm going on vacation to Sweden,' I think to myself sighing at how complicated this is becoming.