I braced myself. What could he possibly want to say? Probably his final wishes—things to take care of after he was gone.

"Uncle Joe, stop. You don’t have to talk about this. You’re going to be okay," I said, trying to shut the conversation down.

But he didn’t listen. He continued, carefully outlining everything—his assets, properties, even the people I should keep an eye on.

It felt like he was reading his will aloud. And yeah, we weren’t ...