Chapter 10 - THE OTHER HEIRJulian arrived at Ellington Holdings before seven.
August was already there.
Of course.
The old man had spent fifty years treating sunrise as evidence everyone else was lazy.
Julian placed a folder on the conference table.
“Port Everglades numbers.”
August did not look up.
“We are not discussing ports.”
“Then?”
“You.”
Julian sat.
August closed his laptop.
“For seven years, people have assumed you will succeed me.”
“Yes.”
“Did I ever promise that?”
“No.”
“Did I encourage it?”
Julian thought.
“Indirectly.”
August nodded.
“Fair.”
Julian looked at him.
“Is Maris taking over?”
August’s expression hardened.
“She has not asked.”
“That isn’t what I asked.”
“No.”
“Do you want her to?”
August looked toward the windows.
“I wanted her to want this life once.”
“And now?”
“I want her to choose.”
Julian laughed bitterly.
“That’s generous after eight years.”
August’s eyes returned to him.
“Careful.”
“You want honesty.”
“I do.”
“Then here.”
Julian leaned forward.
“I stayed.”
August said nothing.
“When she walked out, I stayed.”
“You were twenty-seven.”
“I learned the company.”
“Yes.”
“I moved to Florida.”
“Yes.”
“I gave up starting my own firm because you asked me to work here.”
“Yes.”
“I spent seven years being told I was family enough to carry everything.”
August’s face softened slightly.
“And now she walks into one ballroom and suddenly everybody remembers blood.”
There it was.
August nodded.
“That is a fair grievance.”
Julian looked surprised.
“But it is not Maris’s fault.”
His jaw tightened.
“I know.”
“Do you?”
Julian looked away.
August continued:
“You watched Genevieve humiliate her.”
“I know.”
“Because some part of you wanted proof Maris could not simply return and take your place.”
Julian did not deny it.
August sighed.
“That disappointed me.”
Julian’s face hardened.
“But it did not erase seven years.”
He looked up.
August continued.
“Your work matters.”
“Then what happens?”
“I don’t know.”
Julian laughed.
“You always know.”
“No.”
August looked older suddenly.
“That has been one of my problems.”
He stood.
“I decided Maris’s fiancé was wrong for her.”
“You were right.”
“I was right about him.”
August corrected.
“I was wrong about what being right entitled me to do.”
Julian stared.
August continued:
“I will not make the same mistake with succession.”
Meaning no decree.
No sudden inheritance switch.
No bloodline coronation.
Julian should have felt relief.
Instead he felt worse.
May you like
Because now he had to earn what he once assumed was already decided.
And earning was harder than inheriting expectation.
Related Stories
