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“Grayson Industries stays with your mother,” he explained.
“What about Saint and Sawyer?” I asked.
“Hisfirst-bornson,” Arthur explained, reading from the will in front of him. “If you do not follow through with his wishes, the fifty-one percent stays with your mother who could do what she sees fit with the company.”
I glared at my mother. “Would you sell it?”
“Well…I don’t know,” she said, which told me she totally would. “If you don’t want it—”
“After all the hard work dad put into building the company from the ground up, you’d be selfish enough to take the money, wouldn’t you? Jesus. Don’t you have enough money?”
She said nothing, nor did anyone else in the room.
“Martine stands to lose just as much as us if you sell.” I glanced to Martine, who averted his gaze. He’d become such a damn puppet to my mother. “Would you fuck him over too?” I asked her.
“Mouth, Seren,” she admonished.
“I’m sure these men have heard worse,” I clipped.
“Do you ever intend to work at Grayson Industries, Mr. Grayson?” Arthur asked, redirecting my attention to him.
“I want to play football. I haven’t given anything after that a thought.” That was a lie. I’d been thinking about what I was gonna do since I’d heard the company was ultimately mine three years ago. Talk about a lot of fucking pressure on a fifteen-year-old who loved football and dreamed of going pro.
“No one faults you for that,” Arthur said. “I just have an obligation to your father to see to it that his wishes are met.”
“If the company’s ultimately mine—”
“Fifty-one percent is yours,” Martine quickly corrected me.
Prick.
“Could I give it to my brothers?”
“Your father made it clear in no uncertain terms that his wishes were foryouto be the principal owner of the company. You knew your father as well as I did. He was stubborn when it came to what he wanted. But underneath all that passionate determination, he always had a huge heart that did the right thing when push came to shove. He knew what he wanted. He wantedyouto have his company. And he asked that I carry out those wishes if God forbid anything happened to him.”
Everyone grew silent because something did happen to him. He lost his life way too soon.
“He wanted this business to remain in the family with you at the helm.”
Nothing like trying to guilt me into accepting something I didn’t want. I glanced around the table taking in the disappointed faces of my brothers. I was a selfish bastard. Everyone knew that. But they didn’t deserve for me to be left the business and act like an unappreciative prick by not accepting it. I glanced to my mother and Martine who were impossible to read before glancing back to Arthur. “It’s mine whenever I want it, right?”
“Yes,” he agreed. “Unless your mother decides to sell it.”
“Seren, you and your brothers will continue to earn money from Grayson Industries whether you accept ownership or not,” my mother added. “And if I did sell it at some point—which I have no plans to do, the money would be dispersed to the three of you.”
Money wasn’t the issue. My father left all three of us more money than we knew what to do with. It was more the idea that I’d lost my father. I didn’t want to lose the one thing he’d put his whole heart into creating. It felt wrong. But so did giving up onmydream.
I glanced at my brothers. I wished I knew what they were thinking. Sawyer was only sixteen. And though he was the smartest of the three of us, there was no telling where his future would take him. He never once said he wanted to work for Grayson Industries. Saint, on the other hand, was a year younger than me, but he barely managed to pass his classes. And, he was a loose cannon who didn’t like being told what to do. Him struggling to hold a job was a legit possibility, but Grayson Industries ensured he’d always be employed.
“Seren?” Martine interrupted my thoughts. “Grayson Industries has been making tremendous strides with our surveillance technology and have prototypes being considered by the military that would prove beyond lucrative for all of us. Selling it now would be absurd and your mother knows this.”
At least there was that buying me time. “Well, then. I don’t have to commit to anything today now do I?” I jumped to my feet. “I’d say we’re done here.”
“Are we?” Arthur asked.
Ignoring his question and the eyes of everyone in that stifling room, I walked out. I didn’t need to stick around to hear anymore. Because I knew the truth. I couldn’t give up my chance at playing football for something that was never my dream.
I was way too selfish for that.
