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But he holds my gaze now, something simmering in eyes the same color as mine. Crew looks more like our mom. I resemble him.
Surprising me further, he speaks first. “Thompson & Thompson should go through today.”
“I know.” That’s what half the emails I just sorted through were about.
“That deal closed faster than expected.”
“I know,” I repeat, knowing that comment is the closest togood jobI’ll get.
“Crew isn’t coming.”
I hide my surprise. Crew has never missed a Monday meeting.
“I told him I wanted to talk to you alone.”
Automatically, I tense.
“While you were away onvacation…”
I grind my molars at the characterization of aweekendbut don’t otherwise react.
“I met with Leonardo Branson.”
I nod once, familiar with the name. Leonardo Branson founded an investment management fund a couple of decades ago that catapulted his own wealth and made him a lot of powerful friends, including my father.
“His daughter Quinn just moved back to New York. She was living in London, where her mother is from. She works in public relations.” My father waves a dismissive hand. “More of a hobby than a career, based on what Leonardo says. She’s twenty-five. Ready to settle down and start a family.”
My shoulders stiffen. Dread uncoils in my gut.
I can seeexactlywhere this is going.
Years.
I spentyearsexpecting to marry a woman of my father’s choosing. To be used as a bargaining chip that ensured some deal or aided an important merger.
Then my father told me Crew would be marrying Scarlett Ellsworth, not me. That I should focus on the company, while Crew would be the all-important link to the Ellsworth empire.
It took me weeks to adjust to the idea. Not because of any attachment to Scarlett—I barely knew her. But because I knew what other implications it would have.
“She’s amenable to the match,” my father continues. His tone is relaxed. We might as well be discussing the weather. “Recalled you as a perfect gentleman.” He scoffs. “Although we both know that’s hardly the case, that’s the impression Miss Branson will keep. You’ll get married this summer. I’ll leave the proposal to you. Surely, you can manage that much.”
It takes effort to hold in the incredulous laugh that wants to escape.
Yearsof waiting and wondering about how my father will dictate my future, and he chooses to do so right after I drunkenly married a woman my father would never approve of.
There’s no hesitance in his expression. He thinks I’ll do this. He’s expecting me to fall right into line, the way I’ve done every single time he’s asked me to do something.
I’ve always carried that same confidence. I’ve known Iwoulddo exactly what he asked.
But this time is different. That blind allegiance to my father has shifted right along with our frosty relationship.
Do I regret what happened between me and Candace? Yes.
Do I resent my father for how he’s treated me since? Also yes.
And this time is different for another reason.
Ican’tdo what he’s asking.
