My chance to finally be seen as an equal at the table full of moguls and legends I was born orbiting like some well-groomed moon.
Yeah, I’m family.
But don’t get it twisted—Volkovs and Furys don’t do nepotism.
Everyone works.
Or they’re out.
Simple.
I earned my spot.
I worked my ass off for that spot.
But I’m not blind—I know it’s different for me.
I’m the only child at home.
The only daughter of Luc Batiste, the Council, the man who has more enemies than the CIA and more secrets than the Vatican.
My parents would’ve wrapped me in silk and locked me inside a sanitized ivory tower if they thought they could get away with it.
Safe.
Sheltered.
Smiling for the right pictures.
Not happening.
Not in this lifetime.
So yes—I have a tendency to rebel.
Call it survival.
Call it wanting to breathe.
Call it inherited stubbornness.
But this?
This isn’t rebellion.
This is work.
This is purpose.
I am the lead attorney on the Hephaestus United and Viper Enterprises deal, with Volkov Industries and Sigma International as silent partners.
Me.
Cecilia Batiste.
And I will see this through to the end—even if it kills me or permanently freezes my ass to this dock.
So if that means standing out here every day in the middle of winter, wind slicing through my coat like I’m wearing tissue paper, then I’ll do it.
