for the whole day, I’m unsure. Lifting my hand, I rap my knuckle against the closed door. It’s an odd sensation, knocking on a door that just a mere six months ago was my own.
“Come in,” a deep voice calls on the other side.
Slipping into the room, I close the door behind me with a grin and lift my gaze up to meet the man behind the desk.
“Why are you smiling?”
I can’t shake the smile. Since finding out about the baby, I haven’t been able to stop smiling. Then there’s this moment too, it’s all too much. My son, sitting behind my old desk. Running Astor Investments, the way it always should have been.
“A couple of reasons, but right now I’m looking at the position my son should have always been in. I wish I would have been able to hand it down to you,” I murmur as I walk over to the chair and sink down.
He smirks. “You act like you would were just going to let me take over whenever. We both know that isn’t the case,” he points out, arching his brow.
“I would have,” I grumble, though I’m not exactly sure.
I’m a bit over the top when it comes to controlling my business sometimes. It’s a downfall, and yet, it’s also served me well in life, at least in business and up until this point. Clearing my throat, I shift in my seat, causing him to chuckle.
“I’m sure you would have, Dad… you know, after you died.”
Rolling my eyes, my lips twitch into a small smile. He’s probably right, but I’m not about to tell him that. Instead, I shrug a shoulder. Lifting my eyes, I smirk at him.
“You called me here, said you had something big?” I ask.
I’m chomping at the bit to tell him my news, but I won’t, not today. I don’t want to rain on him and whatever it is he’s excited to tell me. My news can wait, this is his golden hour.
“I do,” he offers with a grin and a nod.
I wait for a moment, but he doesn’t say anything right away. “Are you going to tell me?”
He stands to his feet, straightening as he takes a step back from his desk, I watch him walk around to the front, then he leans back against it, his chin dipped slightly as he watches me, his lips slowly curving up into a grin.
“I didn’t want to jinx it, so I didn’t say anything when it was all happening,” he begins. “But it’s all been notarized, it’s all final, it’s really real,” he breathes.
“Laurent,” I snap.
He chuckles. “She signed it all over to me. The building and the business, it’s mine. She’s selling the house to have income for whatever she needs in there. But she’s liquidating everything.”
“What did she charge you for this gift?” I ask on a growl.
Knowing Susan, she would fuck over her own child. She would not be above it at all. Not in the slightest. He laughs softly, shaking his head.
“Maybe finally getting caught has done something to her cold, dead heart. Whatever the reason, I didn’t question it. She gave it all to me. Just one stipulation, you can’t run it, ever.”
Letting out a guffaw, I can’t hold in the laughter, a true belly laugh takes over. I have to give Susan something, she has been bitter until the end. Laurent laughs as well, then his eyes focus on mine and his face loses all laughter.
“I don’t know what I’m doing, Dad,” he admits on a whisper.
My lips twitch into a grin. Standing to my feet, I reach out and wrap my hand around the back of his neck and touch my forehead to his. I forget sometimes that he’s only thirty. He’s at the age where he is ready to take control of his life and yet, he hasn’t had to really.
Laurent has worked for me for years, but he hasn’t had to truly lead. I’ve always been at his back, guiding him to the right path, a path that I think he would excel in. He’s never really broken out and done anything on his own, not like this.
Clearing my throat, I lift my head and look into his eyes. They match mine, though they’re younger and haven’t lived the life that I have, they’re the same shade and right now they’re full of nervous excitement.
“I will be here for you if you need guidance, but Laurent, you can do this without me. I can’t