“Hmm?”
“About the company. What are you going to do?”
I stood and buttoned my coat while my eyes continued to gaze out the window. In no way did I feel my mother saw me as a disappointment, but she sure as hell made it clear she didn’t think her job with me was done. She thought she sacrificed making me successful for making me decent, which meant I needed to work on the job she thought she didn’t do.
I needed to make sure her wishes for my life were completed.
“I’m going to run it,” I said, connecting my stare with the lawyer. “I’m going to run Harte to Heart.”
Chapter Four
Stella
I slammed my fists down onto the hood of my car before I sighed in frustration. How in the world could my father leave his entire company, his empire that he built, to an overgrown man-child who wasn’t even capable of pulling a regular paycheck? When I declared my major in college, he tried to steer me away from it, feeling like I was following too closely in his tracks. He wanted me to find my own thing, something that rang true inside me and wasn’t a reflection of his interests.
I guess that should’ve been my first hint that my father felt me incapable of running his damn company.
But, how the hell could he leave it to my stepbrother? He was the most incompetent person I’d ever met! He was intelligent, yes, but he was lazy as hell. He couldn’t ever stick to his education; he’d roll his eyes and mouth off to the professors in class, and he couldn’t ever just fall in line and do what needed to be done. He thought the rules had to change just because he didn’t like them, and his entitled little attitude got him kicked out of numerous colleges.
He was a waste, and my father had handed his entire legacy over to him.
I turned around and sat on the hood of my car while my body trembled. I could feel my skin flushed with anger, and rightfully so. Companies stayed in families. It’s just what they did. Parents built empires and handed them over to their children on a daily basis, and Christian wasn’t his damn child! Not by a long shot!
What the fuck had just happened?
“Stella?”
I stood to my feet and whipped around as I saw Christian approach. His dirty blond hair blew in the wind while his dark blue eyes mocked me from afar, and I could feel my blood boiling underneath my skin. He was a brat when we were growing up, and he was a brat now.
“What?” I asked.
“I was hoping you’d let me take you to lunch. I really think we should talk,” he said.
“Yes, we do. We need to fill out the paperwork that transfers the company over to me since you don’t want it,” I said.
“Let me take you to lunch,” he said again.
“I’m perfectly capable of buying my own lunch,” I said.
“Then accompany me to a meal we will mutually pay for,” he said.
“Did you get the paperwork?” I asked.
“What paperwork?”
“I’m sure the lawyer has paperwork in his office to transfer the company over. Did you get it?” she asked.
“Would you just get in your damn car and follow me to lunch?” he said.
“Why the hell do I have to follow you? I’ve got a perfectly good place in mind,” I said.
“Then all you had to do was say so, Stella.”
“Fine! Get in your car and follow me!” I exclaimed.
I ripped my door open, got in my car, and slammed it shut. I was in control of this situation whether he liked it or not, and he was going to have to get used to that. I didn’t want to do this over lunch, but it would probably be the easiest way. If we could get all the paperwork filled out over food, we could find a notary and have this entire debacle settled before dinner.
Before dinner: that sounded good to me.