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What the fuck?
SO THAT’S HOW I found out my father was resigning from his role as CEO.
“Stepping back from what?” I asked, even though it was a stupid as fuck question. The smile he gave me makes me feel exactly that.
Stupid.
“Dad...”
“I’ll remain the main shareholder and a director, but in three months, I’m going to vacate the CEO position.”
What?
The very foundation of my life and all my plans began to tremble underneath me as I grasped what was happening.
This wasn’t the plan. I’m not ready.
I twenty fucking four.
Ward is only fifty-seven, and strong and fit. He’s never even mentioned anything like this. I thought I’d have ten, maybe fifteen years.
“You want me to take over in three months?” I asked, bewildered.
As the silence grew, and his fingers clasped on the desk in front of him, an arctic chill spread through my veins.
“No,” he answered.
What the fuck?
I feel the blood drain from my face.
No.
What did he mean no? This is what I was born for. This is what I’ve trained and prepared for my entire life. The circuits in my brain short- circuited and I just stood there staring at him.
No.
No.
No.
It’s like the word does not compute.
There is no way he’s bypassing me and giving the reins to Levis or Atlas. Bella? There’s no way. She has her hands filled with her own multi-billion-dollar company—of which we’re all shareholders thanks to our mother—and has a toddler.
“I—” I started, but I don’t have any words. This reality is not one that ever existed for me, so I can’t grasp what is happening.
I’m sure it sounds ridiculous that some rich kid would expect his father to hand him a billion-dollar organization, but that’s how things work in families like ours.
And I never expected this for decades.
Never in all the time I strutted around in my little child-size black suits with my dump truck filled briefcase did my father tell me that I would not end up with his job.
Heck, I used to hold board meetings with Bella, Atlas, and Levis in my bedroom and make them take minutes.
I was born for this.
“I’m not handing you the reins, Knox,” my father explained as my heart slammed into my chest. “You will need to apply along with the other applicants.”
