Chapter 182
Marcus’s POV
:
54
ចា
45 us
Marcus followed his father into the back office of Elara’s boutique and closed the door. The muffled sounds of the party continued outside but in here it was just the two of them and whatever conversation Richard had been building toward.
“What’s going on?” Marcus asked, leaning against the desk.
Richard stood near the window looking out at the alley behind the building. “I’m retiring. Officially this time, not the half-measures I’ve been doing for the past year. I’m stepping down from the board, selling my remaining shares, walking away completely.”
Marcus hadn’t expected that. “Why? You love that company.”
“I loved what it represented. The legacy your grandfather built, the future I thought I was securing for you. But that future is already here and you don’t need me hovering over your shoulder questioning every decision.”
“I never said you were hovering.”
“You didn’t have to. I see how you tense up whenever I’m at board meetings. How you second-guess yourself when I’m around. I don’t want to be that presence in your life anymore.”
Marcus felt something shift in his chest. His father had always been this larger-than-life figure, someone whose approval Marcus had spent his whole life chasing. Hearing Richard acknowledge the dynamic between them felt strange and vulnerable.
“It’s not that I don’t value your input,” Marcus said carefully.
“I know. But you’re doing an excellent job on your own. Better than I did at your age, honestly. You’ve navigated corporate sabotage and personal crises and family drama that would have destroyed most people. You don’t need my blessing to run Thorne Dynamics.”
“Then why does it feel like you’re about to give it to me anyway?”
Richard smiled slightly and turned away from the window. “Because I want to. Because I should have done it years ago instead of letting Penelope poison my opinion of everything you tried to build.”
There it was. The ghost that lived in every conversation they had, the shadow of Penelope and what she’d done stretching across fifteen years.
“I don’t blame you for marrying her,” Marcus said. “You were grieving and she manipulated that None of us saw what she really was.”
“That’s generous but we both know it’s not entirely true. There were signs. Small things that didn’t add up if I’d been paying attention. But I chose not to look too closely because it was easier to believe the comfortable
lie.”
Dich
17:10 Mon, May 11 M…
4 Chapter 182
Sixty-three years. “Your mother and I had problems before Penelope. We’d been drifting apart for years. fighting about things that don’t even matter now. I let myself believe that maybe the marriage was already over and Penelope was just the catalyst.”
“But it wasn’t over.”
51
“No. Catherine loved me. She was fighting for us even when I’d already checked out. And I’ll spend the rest of my life regretting that I didn’t fight harder too.”
Marcus sat down in the desk chair, the distance between them feeling simultaneously too much and not enough. “She would have forgiven you. Mom was like that.”
“Maybe. But I don’t deserve forgiveness for how I handled her death. I married her killer and let that woman sleep in her bed and raise her son. That’s not something you come back from.”
“You didn’t know Penelope killed her. That’s not the same as choosing her consciously.”
“Isn’t it? I chose not to ask hard questions. I chose to accept Penelope’s story at face value because it was convenient. That’s a choice even if it wasn’t a conscious one.”
They sat in silence for a moment. Marcus had spent so much time being angry at his father, resenting him for the years of distance and the terrible decision to marry Penelope. But sitting here listening to Richard take full accountability for his failures, Marcus felt that anger starting to dissolve.
“I forgive you,” Marcus said quietly. “For all of it. The affair, marrying Penelope, checking out after Mom died. I forgive you.”
Richard’s eyes filled with tears. “You shouldn’t. You should stay angry. God knows I deserve it.”
“Probably. But I’m tired of being angry. I have a wife I love and two beautiful children and a life that’s finally good. I don’t want to carry resentment around anymore.”
“You’re a better man than I am.”
“I’m your son. I learned from your mistakes.”
Richard laughed wetly and wiped at his eyes. “Fair enough.” He reached into his jacket and pulled out an envelope. “This is the paperwork for my shares. I’m transferring them to a trust for Alexander and Catherine. By the time they’re old enough to take board positions the company will be entirely yours and theirs. No outside interference, no old men second-guessing decisions.”
Marcus took the envelope but didn’t open it. “What will you do with yourself if you’re not working?”
“Travel maybe. Your mother always wanted to see Italy. I never made time for it when she was alive but I can go now. See the places she wanted to see and pretend she’s there with me.”
“That sounds lonely.”
“It probably will be. But I think I’ve earned some loneliness for how I’ve lived my life.”
Marcus shook his head. “No. You’re not doing the hermit routine. You’re going to stay involved in your
Mon,
hapter 182
grandchildren’s lives. You’re going to come to family dinners and holiday celebrations. You re going to be present instead of disappearing to punish yourself.”
“Marcus-
“I mean it. I forgave you which means you have to forgive yourself too. That’s how this works.”
Richard looked at his son with an expression Marcus couldn’t quite parse. Pride maybe, mixed with grief and hope and a dozen other emotions.
“When did you get so wise?”
“When I married a woman smarter than me and learned to actually listen.”
They stood simultaneously and Richard pulled Marcus into a hug. It was awkward and tight and probably long overdue. Marcus let himself lean into it, let himself be seventeen again for just a moment, back when his father’s embrace meant safety and certainty.
“I love you,” Richard said roughly. “I don’t say it enough but I do. I’m proud of the man you’ve become.”
“I love you too, Dad.”
When they finally pulled apart both of them were wiping their eyes and trying to pretend they weren’t.
“We should get back out there,” Marcus said. “Before Elara thinks you’re giving me bad news and stages an intervention.”
They returned to the boutique to find the party still going strong. Elara was with a client near the accessories but she caught Marcus’s eye and raised her eyebrows in question. He smiled and nodded to show everything was fine.
She relaxed immediately and returned to her conversation.
Marcus checked his watch. Almost ten PM which meant he had about thirty minutes before his next surprise needed to be executed.
He’d been planning this for two weeks, coordinating with Mimi and Dante and a small army of vendors to pull off something Elara would never expect. The boutique opening had provided perfect cover for all the secret phone calls and mysterious meetings.
At exactly ten-thirty Marcus’s phone buzzed with a text from Dante.
Dante: Everything’s ready. Bring her over whenever you’re set.
Marcus took a deep breath and went to find his wife.
“Hey,” he said, interrupting her conversation with a fashion blogger. “Sorry to steal her but I need Elara for something important.”
“Now? Marcus, I have at least another hour of-”
17.11 Mon, May 11 00
Chapter 182
“It can’t wait Trust me.”
2)
Elara looked torn but something in his expression must have convinced her because she excused herself and followed Marcus toward the door.
“What’s going on? Is something wrong with the twins?”
“The twins are fine. Your mom has them. But we need to go.”
“Go where?”
Marcus just smiled and held open the door. “You’ll see.”
AD
Comment
Send gift
No Ads
