“So you, Dominic, Bennett, and Caleb have all been a group since college?”
I don’t look up from the screen. “Pretty much. Dominic and I met first. Then he just started dragging me around everywherewith him. He took me to some party where I met Caleb and Bennett. And after that we all just kept hanging out.”
“And you stayed close after graduation,” she adds. “You’re all entwined professionally and socially.”
I bounce a shoulder. “Does that make us co-dependent?”
She shakes her head. “Not at all. Layla and I were the same. Serena went off and did her own thing. But I can promise you that if Carmichael Innovations could have given her the kind of career she wanted, she’d have followed us here too. Although…” She pauses, glancing at the monitors for a moment before continuing. “I do sometimes wonder why you didn’t strike out on your own.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well,” she tilts her head, studying me, “Bennett built Mercer Capital. Caleb is a name partner in his law firm. Dominic has Cruz Financial. They all built their own empires. But you stayed workingforthem. Why?”
It’s a fair question. One I’ve asked myself on more than one occasion.
“Because working for Mercer gave me the only thing I needed,” I say slowly. “A place where the way my brain works wasn’t a liability. Where I could be useful without having to perform normalcy.” I stare at the simulation data scrolling across the screen. “Most workplaces, not being good with people is a deal breaker. But Bennett just... workedwithit. He found ways to let me contribute without forcing me into shapes I don’t fit. And all of them trust me enough to just let me be me.”
She doesn’t reply right away, but the silence between us is less brittle than it was yesterday. I don’t know how to explain that even when I was making terrible decisions, every system I ever built was about creating a world I could exist in. I never needed to be a boss. I just wanted to matter. And Mercer let me do that without making me feel like a burden. Even after she ranto Sweden, even after everything else that’s happened, the only thing I really miss is... this. Collaborating with someone whose brain is as weird and sharp and restless as mine.
“I get it,” she says at last, voice very soft. “Everyone thinks the goal is to run the whole show, but sometimes you just want to build things and not have to be in charge of all the stuff that doesn’t matter to you.” She gives me a small smile, and I feel like I’ve won something precious. “Besides, who needs to be a billionaire like those other guys when you’re rich in friendship.”
“What are you talking about?” I snort before I can stop myself. “I am a billionaire.”
Audrey blinks at me.
I replay what I just said and wince. “That came out wrong.”
“Did it? Because it sounded like you just casually dropped that you’re a billionaire.” She turns to face me fully. “I thought you were Bennett’s tech guy.”
“I am.” I push curry around the container, buying time. This is what I get for feeling comfortable enough around her to let my guard down. “I don’t really think about the money. It’s just... there.”
“Justthere.” She stares at me as if I’ve grown a second head. “OK. I’m going to need you to explain.”
“My family is old money. Trust fund that wasn’t small. When Dominic started investing my earnings from the questionable business, he didn’t just invest that—he invested everything I had access to.”
“That’s… you must have really trusted him.”
“I figured it was only money. Worst case, I’d make more.”
She gapes at me. “That’s the most Logan thing I’ve ever heard. Only you could treat a fortune like a jar of peanut butter in the communal fridge.Oh, I’ll get another one if it runs out.”
“I’ve never not had money,” I say. The words feel fragile and ridiculous, but they’re true. “So I work because I want to. Notbecause I have to. By the time we all graduated, the returns alone were enough that I could put up the seed money for Mercer Capital and offer the last of what Dominic needed for Cruz Financial. Caleb already had a path laid out for him. So he didn’t need me to?—”
I stop because she’s staring at me, her expression shifting from confusion to calculation to something that might be disbelief.
“Logan.” She says my name slowly, like she’s doing math in her head. “Are you telling me you’re richer than Bennett?”
“On paper? Probably. Richer than Bennett and Caleb combined, if we’re being technical. Not Dominic, though. His wealth is?—”
She just stares at me.
“But that’s never been the point,” I add. “The money is just a fact. It doesn’t mean anything to me.”
“Then what does?”
The question lands heavy. I look at my hands, swallow hard.
“Family,” I say quietly. “These guys. They’re the only family I’ve ever really had.”
