_OceanofPDF

the room dims before my babies find their happiness.’ Which isn’t her best
bit of verse—”
“Just get married?” I interrupted. “Should I pick a girl off the street?
Hire someone? What even is this?”
“Dad.” Byron leaned forward with me, holding his arm between Dad
and me as if that would stop me from launching. “Is this even legal? What
did Joe say?”
“The board follows my lead.” Dad sat back in his chair. “And
management is contingent on my approval. I don’t have to put my children
in charge, you know.”
He was threatening me.
He’d take away everything because I was working too hard to earn it.
“What if I’m like this asshole?” I pointed at Byron, who’d only met the
woman he was going to marry at thirty-seven. “I’ll be dead before I’m
married.”
“He has a point,” Byron said. Was he actually on my side? Or was he
playing a game for the sake of a win?
“The fact that Byron’s happy has changed the whole equation for us. So,
you can blame him for what I’m about to offer, but it’s not negotiable.”
“I don’t want to hear it.” I said, listening anyway.
“Effective immediately,” Dad said, “I’m resigning as CEO of Crowne
Industries so I can spend more time with my wife. I’ll maintain a
controlling interest in voting shares, but I’ll otherwise take on an advisory
role from my new home in Bel-Air.”
“Who’s running it, Dad?” I demanded.
“Byron.”
“What?” I must have heard him wrong. I didn’t want to have fun. I
wanted to fulfill my fucking dreams.
“Whoa, whoa!” Byron held up his hands like a traffic cop trying to
understand why Dad was driving on the wrong side of the road.
“Why?” I asked, seeing that my brother wasn’t behind this. There was
no way he was faking surprise at this turn of events.
“Byron,” Dad said, unruffled. “You were raised to do this. You’re more
experienced, and with what’s coming…” He jerked his chin toward Mom
and Olivia at the table outside. “You’ve become a serious, capable, and
thoughtful man.”
“I don’t want it.”