Trials and Tiaras (Untouchable #7) - Heather Long Page 0,45
your Wittaker has that well in hand. She’ll be emancipated soon, and even if she wasn’t, she’s almost eighteen. We’ll look after your girl and we’ll protect her.”
“Edward? Maddy? We just let them get away with this?”
“No,” Grandpa said slowly. “No, we do not. I promised you my help in dealing with Junior at the quarterly meeting next month, and there will be a vote. I’d like your proxy. But we’ll be removing him as CEO.”
“Okay. You’re going back in?”
“Interim,” Grandpa said slowly, eyeing me. “Contingent on your graduation from college in the next five years. At which point, I’d like you to take over the majority of the day to day. I have a couple of candidates in mind who can help me with the workload and also be in a position to shepherd if anything happens to me in the meanwhile, but I’ve all but secured the votes we need to make this a reality.”
If something were to happen… “You’re fine, right?” The bottom of my stomach dropped out. “I don’t want you stressing yourself…”
“Sprout, I’m healthy as a horse, as much as my physician hates to admit it. I’m hardly a decrepit old man. I can more than handle getting back into the swing of things. I retired more because your nana wanted me around more often and Junior needed a kick in the ass to be more responsible.”
Fuck. Me. “Great, but if that changes, I better be the first call and not the one who gets the call after.”
I didn’t even want to contemplate what losing him would be like.
“I’m good, Sprout,” he promised me and gripped my shoulder. “Look at me.”
I met his gaze and blew out a breath that shook more than I wanted to admit.
“We’re going to take care of all this, but that company, I built it for the future on what my father left me. You’re that future. If you don’t want it, you tell me now and I’ll make other arrangements so that you are secure. But I’m not forcing you into anything. I’ve learned my lesson…” He frowned. “Maybe if I’d done that sooner, you wouldn’t have been trapped between them for so long.”
“Grandpa, I’m fine.” Weirdly enough, that was true. Sure, it sucked back then, but… “Everything that happened, their wars and arguing, it’s what brought me here and what let me meet her. Meet my friends. Fall for Frankie. I don’t want to be anywhere else. We’re lining up school for next year, and we’re going to get a place together, all of us. And I’m going to take care of her.”
He gave me a small smile. “Are you planning on marrying Frankie?”
“If I was?” I dared him to tell me I had to wait until after college. Not that I was in a raging hurry. I didn’t need some piece of paper to tell me what I already knew. Hell, I’d told Muriel just to test her.
“I’d ask you to wait until both of you were settled and sure, but I won’t forbid it. She’s a good girl. Smart. Capable. I’ve heard about her work at Standish. I’ve seen her grades. I even had a talk with Harvard about her.”
I blinked.
“If she wants that school still, I think we can secure her a spot.”
Fuck me.
“Grandpa.”
“No, what good are connections and nepotism if you can’t use it to make someone you love happy?”
I laughed. It sounded like the same kind of argument I would use. Had used. “I do love spoiling her.”
“Then you let me know what she wants, Sprout. We’ll take care of it.”
A half-laugh escaped me, and I sagged in the seat as he gripped my shoulder tighter. He didn’t say anything. He didn’t have to. Somehow, Grandpa got it. It took me a few minutes and the steak was cold when I got back to it, but I managed to finish the whole thing. When we were done, we walked out together. He had a car waiting for him, and the valet went to fetch my Ferrari.
“Next time, bring your girl. I think we should look at having family meals, maybe once a month? I know you kids are going to be busy.”
“I’d like that, and I did promise to take her golfing with us one day.”
“You said she liked that mini-golf.” Humor flared in his eyes. “Your nana was pretty good at it too.”
Yeah, she was. “She loves it. A lot like Nana did.”
He nodded. “Then we’ll see how she likes the greens.