CHAPTER 1
HARRISON
“God, you love yourself.” Sterling leaned against the doorway to my brand new corner office and folded his arms over his chest. “Narcissism incarnate.”
I smirked at my view that overlooked the San Francisco skyline- just like I’d always dreamed it would. Christmas lights hung from half the skyscrapers in sight, adding festive cheer to the glass and steel of the urban jungle I would soon own.
Okay, maybe that’s a little bit too cocky.Even for me, but shit.
“I’m not a narcissist.” I tugged at the cuffs of my shirt with deliberate precision. “I just love being me. It’s not my fault I do it so well.”
In this office, I was the Westwood in residence, and I’d had it arranged precisely like I’d been planning to since I’d learned how to sayacquisitions. Dark wood shelves lined the wall, interspersed with framed photographs of places I’d traveled. The leather furniture smelled expensive. Black and white images of my favorite haunts in the city hung on the walls.
It was masculine. Refined. Old money.
Mine.
I turned to find my eldest brother still leaning against the doorframe like he owned the place, which technically, I supposed he kind of did. Dad barked a laugh from behind Sterling, crossing the floor and clapping me on the back hard enough to make me jolt forward. “That’s my baby boy. Corner office before he’s even thirty.”
I arched an eyebrow at him. “Before twenty-five, actually. Don’t age me up.”
He shook his head and for one terrifying second as he looked around, I thought he might tear up. “Our last one. All grown up.”
His voice was gruff, his gaze roaming across the office like this was a rite of passage. I pointed a finger at him. “Don’t you dare. If you cry in this office, that’s bad luck. I’m sure of it. It’s probably some old Wall Street superstition. Tears kill future deals.”
Sterling chuckled. “You’re unbelievable.”
“No,” I countered smoothly, feeling like the king of the world. “I’m unstoppable. There’s a difference.”
Dad slid his hands into his pockets, staring out the window with a weirdly soft smile on his lips. “One day, this will all be yours to pass down to your own children. You’ll understand, then. Tears don’t kill dreams. They build them.”
Sterling scoffed. “As if you’ve ever shed a single tear in this building.”
A steely grin spread across Dad’s lips. “No, I haven’t, but it’s different now. I’m thinking about my legacy. What I’m leaving behind.”
For just a second, I thought that this was it. I thought he was finally going to tell me that it was my turn now. That he expected me to settle down, get married, and produce a couple heirs of my own.
My brothers had gotten the whole spiel this year. Dad had hounded them about it, not giving up until they’d all beenmarried and he now had three grand-kids on the way. Somehow, he’d skipped right by me.
At Thanksgiving, he’d asked about my plans for marriage. I’d thought he was about to launch intothe speech. He hadn’t.
Now it was almost Christmas, and hestillhadn’t said anything more about it. In fact, he was circling the office like he was dropping me off at kindergarten for the first time. After getting all misty-eyed over the view, he tapped on my desk, straightened the frame of the Westwood crest on the wall, and kept letting out these little sighs.
I half expected him to pull out a juice box and tuck it into my drawer when he finally lowered himself into a chair across from my desk. “Are you really ready for this, son? Ready to grow up and move into this role?”
“Ready?” I gave him a confident grin. “I was born ready. I’ve got the office. I’ve got the position in the company. All I need now is a wife, right?”
That should’ve baited him, but instead of the legendary Westwood it’s-time-to-settle downLecture, my father chuckled and shook his head. “A wife? Why? You’ve got time, Harrison. Slow down. Live a little.”
I blinked hard. “I’m sorry, what? What happened to twenty-four not being a kid anymore and how Sterling was already on his way by the time you were my age?”
“Settling down can wait in your case, Harry. I didn’t have a choice, but you do. It’s like you said, Sterling is taking over when I retire, so you don’t have to worry about the same things I did. Enjoy your youth while you’ve still got it.”
With that, he stood up and left my office. No lecture. No warnings about what would happen to my inheritance if I didn’t fall in line. No guilt trip.
Sterling’s eyebrows were raised, but he chuckled once Dad was gone. “Do you think he’s having a stroke?”
“I don’t know, but that was definitely weird.”
