Chapter 3 - The Implosion of Serena’s Empire
Downstairs,
Serena was in the middle of a full-blown tantrum.
She was throwing her $1,200 shoes against the marble floor,
screaming that her life was ruined.
"I already promised my followers a huge announcement today!"
"I told the PR agency we were moving into the high-luxury market!"
"How am I supposed to pay for the influencer retreat in Tulum?"
Julian was sitting at the kitchen island,
his head in his hands,
looking like a man who had just seen his executioner.
He looked up as I descended the stairs,
his eyes bloodshot and desperate.
"Maya,
please,"
"I have employees depending on me."
"If I don't get that capital injection,"
"the firm will fold by Friday."
"We’ll lose the house."
"We’ll lose everything."
I stopped at the bottom of the stairs and adjusted my backpack.
"You should have thought about that before you treated your father’s legacy like a personal ATM,"
I told him.
"You should have been a father to me instead of a predator."
"Maybe then,
I would have considered helping you."
"But I sat at your dinner table for seven years,"
"and you never once asked me about my studies."
"You never once asked me what I missed about my dad."
"You only asked when I was turning eighteen."
"Well,
I’m eighteen now,"
"and my first executive decision is to cut the dead weight."
Serena lunged at me,
her face twisted in a mask of pure jealousy.
"You don't deserve that money!"
"You're just a boring nerd who stays in her room!"
"I'm the one who's going to be famous!"
"I'm the one people actually care about!"
I caught her wrist before she could touch me,
my grip firm and steady from years of internal steel.
"People care about the lifestyle you bought with my money,
Serena."
"Let's see how many of them stay when you're posting from a two-bedroom apartment in the valley."
"Because I’m calling in the lease on your car this afternoon."
"It’s registered to the estate,
and I’m revoking your access."
She let out a high-pitched shriek of pure outrage,
but I didn't wait to hear the rest.
The front door was open,
and a black town car was idling in the circular driveway.
The sunlight of the California coast hit my face,
and for the first time in my life,
it didn't feel cold.
I walked down the steps,
leaving the glass walls and the ocean views behind.
May you like
I was forty-five million dollars richer,
but the greatest inheritance I had was the freedom to never speak to them again.
