“I have to find a place to live,” I blurt. “And get a job. And buy things. So many things. Do you know how much stuff babies need?”
“What you need to do is tell Sebastian.” Sybil yanks out her phone, and I watch as she types his name into the Google search bar. Something I haven’t dared to do since I found out about his father. A flood of articles comes up, and when Sybil clicks on the photos, her face scrunches up in anger.
“What is it?” I try to see what she’s looking at, but she pulls the phone out of my reach and hides it behind her back.
“Nothing. You don’t need to see.”
“Sybil.” I reach around her and pry the phone from her fingers. “Quit hiding shit from me. If there’s something I need to see…”
I choke on my words as an image of Sebastian and Megan pops up next to a news article.
Sebastian Carter of Carter Holdings pictured with Megan Hill at a dinner to honor his late father’s memory.
Unable to stop myself, I read on about the hotel tycoon’s unexpected return to New York City, and how he has taken his rightful seat in the business upon his father’s death.
“Stella.” Sybil’s voice cracks as the phone falls from my hand. “I’m so sorry.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
SEBASTIAN
“HAVE YOU MADE A DECISION?”My father’s advisor, Edward Hanson, stares down his nose over his wire-rimmed glasses as he studies the paperwork on my desk.
I barely spare a second glance at the empty signature field before I turn my attention to the New York City Skyline. From up here, the whole world still looks like it’s wide-awake, even though it’s well after midnight. I’d forgotten in my time at Loyola just how noisy living in the city can be. But now, the constant noise is all I hear.
“This was your father’s legacy,” Edward says. “He wanted you here, Sebastian.”
“He wanted to control me,” I reply coldly. “And this company was just another way to do that. It was never his legacy. My mother was the true Carter, and my father was just along for the ride.”
In the reflection of the glass, Edward scratches at his beard, obviously at a loss with this truth bomb. He’s only worked for my father for the past three years, so he wouldn’t have any knowledge on the subject.
“Elena Carter was the heiress to the Carter fortune,” I explain. “This company, the hotels, everything belonged to her. They were never my father’s. After they married, he changed his name. He wanted everyone to believe he built this empire, but he inherited it, same as me.”
“I’m sorry,” Edward replies. “I wasn’t aware.”
I don’t answer him because there’s nothing left to say. I already made my decision, but I know Edward will try to talk me out of it. He’s a business minded man, and I can’t fault him for that.
“You could let the board run the company,” he suggests. “There’s very little you’d have to do. But that way, the legacy will remain intact.”
“I don’t want the legacy to remain intact, Edward,” I answer dryly. “That’s the problem.”
For this, he has no rebuttal. He probably assumes that I’ve lost my goddamned mind. And who wouldn’t? Why would anyone give up a sure thing?
Walking back to the desk, I reach for a pen and scribble my signature across the paperwork while Edward watches with certain disappointment.
“How long will it take?” I ask.
“As it stands in the current market?” He shrugs. “Not long at all. As soon as knowledge goes public, you’ll have offers rolling in.”
I nod and leave the pen, and the memories of this place, on the desk.
“Let’s get the process started then.”
MEGAN MEETS me at my father’s penthouse in Manhattan, efficient as ever as she greets me with a glass of my favorite whisky.
“How did it go?” she asks.
“About how I expected it.” I drain the whisky from my glass and study the woman I dated for three years in college. She looks the same. In fact, her face hasn’t seemed to age a day at all. She’s still the tall, gorgeous brunette who caught my eye in my soccer playing days. But we’re both different people now, and I don’t know if she realizes that.