Page 214 of Secret Heir For The Billionaire Twin

Marcus smiles as he shakes my hand.

“Welcome. We’ve been warned you ask difficult questions.”

“That sounds dramatic.”

“It came from Legal.”

“That sounds more accurate.”

Julian’s mouth almost moves.

Almost.

Marcus gestures toward the main building. “We’re starting in systems integration. Priya’s waiting upstairs.”

We follow him inside.

The campus is quieter than I expected. There are no open-plan rows of engineers under fluorescent lights, no performative startup energy. Everything feels deliberate. Restricted glass corridors. Secure labs. Small teams gathered around prototypes and wall-sized displays.

Julian knows where he is going without waiting for Marcus.

He knows which elevators require additional clearance, which corridor leads toward robotics, which laboratory was expanded last year, and which engineer recently transferred from Boston. By the time we reach the second floor, three different people have stopped to speak to him. Not because he is the Executive Chairman. Because he knows their work.

A woman in a white lab jacket meets us near one of the secured doors.

“Priya,” Julian says.

“Julian.”

He gestures toward me.

“Sophie Callahan.”

Priya smiles.

“Priya Shah. Director of Systems Integration.”

We shake hands.

Julian immediately turns toward the prototype visible through the glass behind her.

“You changed the actuator housing?”

Priya looks pleased.

“Last month.”

“You finally stopped fighting me on the weight distribution.”

“I stopped fighting you because you were right once.”

“Once?”

Priya laughs. “Don’t ruin it.”

I watch him as they walk toward the lab. The difference is immediate. His shoulders are looser. His voice is lighter. He asks questions because he actually wants the answers, not because someone has put them on a briefing sheet. When Priya explains the newest system, he steps closer, studying the mechanism with an intensity that feels almost boyish beneath all that control.

Then he points toward one of the housings.