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Dad doesn’t look as humored. In fact, there is a sadness in his eyes, corners slightly fallen. “Please tell me you’re not trying to become me.”
I pause for a moment. “Of course, that’s what I’m trying to do.”
Dad looks away. “That’s what I was afraid of.”
“What’s the whole point of handing the company over to me if you don’t want me to continue running it the way you have?”
My father takes a deep breath. “This is why it’s good if I stay on.”
I blink and shake my head. “What? Why?”
“Because I’ve made mistakes, Orlie. I made a lot trying to dedicate my life to this company. I missed out on so much. And I’ve always been afraid that you might miss out on your own life too.”
I stare at my father. There is a tremoring fear behind his eyes I can’t just wish away or ignore.
“You’re being dramatic, Dad,” I say with a light chuckle, though there’s nothing to laugh at. “This is what I went to school for. I was literally born to do it.” I cross the room and pat him on the chest. “You’ve got nothing to worry about, I promise.”
I’m clearly not convincing. But he doesn’t say another word. Thank goodness for that. Instead, he follows behind me quietly as we head to the conference room. My brain is buzzing. Not with thoughts of my presentation, but with questions about what my father just said.
How can he say all of that to me when I’ve spent my whole life admiring him and working to be like him for the exact purpose of filling his shoes one day?
More than ever, I’m livid over how he’s keeping me from my birthright. The very thing I’ve been told I’d do since I was a child. If he didn’t want me to be like him, he should have acted differently. Or not loved me. Or something, anything that could have changed my trajectory.
Now, it’s too late. I’m a machine. I clock in at work and I do my best to make this company better than it was before.
It’s what I’ve always wanted to do.
In the back of my mind, though, is a beautiful brunette I wish would disappear. Kira and her big brown eyes magnified by the lenses of her glasses.
It truly pained me to leave her at the cabin. I just didn’t see another way, though. I could stay there and suffer, waiting for her to wake up and see me again the way I thought she did. Or I could throw myself back into work and forget.
Joke’s on me, though. There’s no way I can forget her after everything we did together. After how close we became.
I don’t know how she was able to throw that all away like she did.
If anything, her rebuff proved to me further that I’m made for one thing and one thing only. And that’s to be the CEO of Wynters Group.
My father will have to see that. He just has to.
“Over the next three years,I’d like to expand the education sector,” I explain, the light of the projector beaming into my eyes. “After our project with Leon Prep, we’ll be at the forefront of some big advancements regarding STEM in our school systems. The faster we go, the harder we do it, the more accessible it can become.”
I hear a cough among the executives. Accessibility has never been one of their foremost concerns. But it is mine.
“With the parasocial relationship our consumers have with corporations, it’s imperative we try and make Wynters likable and worth supporting, especially to Gen Z.”
A quiet grumble. These guys hate Gen Z.
“Who would be helming this project, Orlie?” my dad asks.
My mouth grows dry. “Kira, of course.” Just saying her name sends rockets through my bloodstream, right to my crotch. How can a four-letter name wreck me like that?
“Kira needs to be on our top projects,” my father says, tightening his arms over his chest.
“This isgoingto be one of our top projects.”
He glances at the executives beside him. “I mean, money-making projects.”
“If we can develop programming that ends up at the university level, we can get involved with state-funded institutions. Those would be huge contracts.”
