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“So maybe they weren’t meeting about the company,” I suggest.
“Then what?”
“I don’t know.” I shrug helplessly. “Jack helps Marnie with all kinds of stuff. She likes working with him because my dad trusted him. That’s hard to come by in the business world. People are always looking for ways to take you down and claim your spot. Jack isn’t like that. He was perfectly content being the small fish because my dad made him billions. He didn’t want the headache that came with being the majority stakeholder.”
“What do you think about him?” Rhys leans back against the door, the picture of casual indifference even though the question is anything but. “You trust him?”
“I guess so. He’s been kind of like an uncle to me for the last half of my life. We’ve never been super close or anything, but he’s always been nice to me,” I say. “I’m glad he’s helping Marnie oversee the company. I know I’ll have to deal with it sooner or later, but I guess I’m kind of relieved it’s not my responsibility yet.”
“You don’t want it?” Rhys seems surprised.
“It’s not that. It’s just…I don’t know the first thing about running a company.” I glance down at my lap, plucking at the tassels on the pillow. “My dream was always music. Maybe that sounds naïve or makes me foolish or whatever, but I never wanted to be a billionaire. I never wanted to inherit my dad’s fortune or his company or any of it. I just wanted to sing.”
“Chase your dream, songbird.”
I glance up at him.
“Life is too fucking short to spend it doing something you hate,” he says, his eyes locked on mine. “If you don’t want to run the company, don’t. Let Jack run it or hire someone to run it for you. Sell it. Set it aside for the baby. You have options and plenty of time to figure it out. Brant wouldn’t want you to give up your dream to babysit his.”
“What if I want to run it?” I whisper.
“Do you?”
“I don’t know. Part of me feels like I need to do it,” I admit. “I know you don’t agree with what Marnie did, but she wasn’t entirely wrong. My dad did coddle me. I like to think I’m not a spoiled little rich girl, but the truth is that I am. Everything has always been handed to me. Sure, I’ve worked hard to make sure I earned my spot, but that doesn’t change the fact that I had opportunities others didn’t. I have no real-world skills. What happens if I fail at singing?”
“You won’t fail.”
“People fail every day, Rhys. Incredibly talented, deserving people.”
“So you’re just going to give up?” His eyes narrow, his voice dropping to a growl.
“No, of course not.” I shake my head emphatically. “I’m just saying…oh, I don’t know what I’m saying!” I groan, tipping my head forward into my hands.
“You’re confused.”
“No, I’m tired of being poor little Raven,” I correct. That’s the heart of the problem, isn’t it? No one takes me seriously, and why should they? When have I ever given them a reason to take me seriously? “Everyone else makes decisions for me or decides what’s best for me because they don’t think I’m capable of doing it myself. I’m tired of being infantilized and treated like a child. And that’s my fault for allowing it to happen. I let my dad coddle me. I let myself be the spoiled little rich girl. I let myself get to a place where I’m almost twenty-two and have no real-world experience. I put my dream before everything, and this is the result.”
Rhys pushes away from the door and strolls toward me. “You aren’t a child, songbird. You aren’t a spoiled little rich girl. You’re allowed to have dreams and throw your heart into them. Your dad didn’t spoil you because he thought you weren’t strong or capable, he spoiled you because he loved you.”
“I know that.”
“Do you?” He sits on the ottoman in front of me, putting us at eye level. He’s so close that I can see the flecks of gold in his eyes. “Your dad didn’t leave you the company to force you into running it. He left the company to you because, out of everyone, he trusted you to make the best decision for the company. He knew you wouldn’t be blinded by greed or driven by your own self-interests. When the time comes, you’ll make the decision that’s best for the company.”
He’s right, I know he is.
“I feel like I know nothing,” I sigh. “I’m tired of being protected from everything.”
Tell me what you’re keeping from me. Please.
“Brant kept you close because it’s so goddamn easy to keep you close,” he says, watching me intently. “God, princess. You light up every room you walk into. There’s just this innocence about you that people want to protect. We’re drawn to your light because it shines like a fucking beacon in the dark.”
“Rhys,” I whisper, my heart thudding against my ribcage so loudly I’m sure he can hear it.
“We want to preserve it because we need it. Because this world needs it. But you don’t owe the world anything more than you want to give it. You do enough just by existing. You don’t have to prove anything to anyone or be enough for anyone but yourself,“ he says.
“I want…” I start to utter the confession, swallow it back, and then start again. Once. Twice. I’m like a music track that keeps skipping, caught in the same cycle. I repeat the same snippet, unable to move past it. I want… I want… I want…
“Tell me,” Rhys says, freeing me from the loop.
