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“What?” my lawyer asked.
“I’m sorry. You’ll be billed accordingly, but I can’t do this to her.”
“Mr. Gunn, wait.”
“Your Honor?” I asked.
“Yes, Mr. Gunn?”
“I can’t do this,” I said.
“You can’t do what, Mr. Gunn?” he asked.
“I can’t take this company from her.”
“You are not taking anything from anyone. I am siding with your argument. That stock is technically allocated properly, save for some paperwork that needs to be processed, so we can execute Charles Harte’s will. The company is yours. I am only waiting to give Miss Harte a chance to say her peace,” he said.
“I am wasting everyone’s time. Stella deserves this company, Your Honor. She has trained her entire life for it. Her education, the jobs she has taken over the years, being a paramedic and sitting at her father’s side as a child watching him do paperwork on his laptop. She breathes this company. She was grooming herself for it.”
“Mr. Gunn, it states right here in the will-”
“I know what it says, Your Honor. But, I’m no longer willing to execute my stepfather’s will. Stella Harte lives and breathes her father’s company, and it’s only fair that she gets it.”
“No.”
Every single one of us whipped our heads around to look at Stella as she stood in the doorway of the courtroom. Her back was tall, her tears were gone, and even though her eyes were dark and sunken in, I could see a flicker of the same determination I’d seen for weeks at the company.
Back when we were a team.
“What was that Miss Harte?” the judge asked.
“I said no.”
Chapter Thirty-Four
Stella
“The company is rightfully Christian’s,” I said.
“Stella, no, it’s not.”
“Mr. Gunn, you had your opportunity to speak. I have heard you and your pleas, regardless of how you’ve changed your mind. Now, sit down and afford Miss Harte the same courtesy she gave you,” the judge said.
Christian looked incredible. Even though my mind was hazy from the whirlwind of emotions I was experiencing, I couldn’t take my eyes off that suit. It hugged him beautifully in all the places I wanted my body to be, and the white shirt against the navy blue suit made his beautiful eyes stunning. He’d grown into a handsome businessman. One I had almost ruined with my selfishness and self-pity. And I was no longer going to allow him to be selfless.
This was his company, and rightfully so.
“This company has always been Christian’s,” I said. “No, he didn’t sit at my father’s side and watch him work. No, he didn’t travel with him to the office when he was a child, but what child wants to do that anyway? I was weird, and I loved my father, but who cares? Just because you get a degree and take a couple jobs in the health and wellness industry doesn’t make you equipped to run a company. But, my mistake was I thought it did. I thought my personal knowledge of the company coupled with the fact that my father’s blood courses through my veins suddenly made me apt to take over his entire legacy. But, it doesn’t.”
“Stella, don’t.”
“Shut up, Christian,” I said, smirking.
“Motion granted,” the judge said as he eyed Christian carefully.
“Was Christian fit to run a company when it was first given to him? No. I was shocked, stunned, and thought that my father handing him the company meant he somehow thought I wasn't fit to run it. Like I had disappointed him in some way. The moment I heard our former company lawyer read out that Harte To Heart Medical Supplies was going to be given to Christian, I had the last of my father ripped from me.”
I felt tears sting the back of my eyes as I steadied my hip against the desk. This wasn’t going to be pretty, but it needed to be said.
