Page 9 of Merry with a Tycoon

I reach for my phone, ready to dial Teddy’s number and demand an explanation. But as my finger hovers over the call button, I pause. No, this requires more than just a phone call. This is Teddy we’re dealing with here, and I should have known better than to let her do whatever she wanted in the name of increasing profits.

Javi joins me in the parking garage, a concerned expression on his face. I’ve long ago stopped wondering how he knows my movements; after all, it’s his job. “Where are you going?”

“Teddy’s townhouse.”

He arches an eyebrow. “What did she do now?”

I exhale. “I don’t even know where to begin.”

He nods. It’s not the first time we’ve had to pay Teddy a visit at her townhouse, the one piece of property my mother allowed her to use after her parents temporarily cut her off from the family funds.

She needs a place to stay if she’s to work for us, Preston, Mother had told me two months ago.I can’t let my niece live on the streets, can I?

I doubt she’ll get to that point, not with her friends,I said.I’m sure they’d let her stay with them.

But that’s the problem, Preston, Mother said.Her friends were only her friends because she was paying for everything. And for what? So she can be like Vivian with her millions of followers.

She doesn’t have millions, Mother.Okay, she has 1.5 million as of two months ago, but that’s not the point.

Mother sighed. I don’t get young people today.

I’m young, I said.

But you’re different, Preston, Mother said.You’re… responsible.

Maybe that’s the problem, I muse as Javi opens the passenger door for me and I get in. I’mtooresponsible.

I need to let loose some of the time.

But it’s not like I have a choice. With Brogan enlisting in the Navy after graduating from college—he majored in business, for crying out loud, since the plan was for him to join me in running the company alongside our father—there was no one else to run the company after Father died of a heart attack.

A widow maker, they called it.

As Javi navigates the evening traffic, I lean back in the leather seat, my mind a whirlwind of thoughts. Stress led to my father’s untimely death, and I’m sure this latest development isn’t helping my stress any as well.

In fact, Teddy’s latest stunt with the rent increases is just the tip of the iceberg.How did we get here? How did I let things spiral so far out of control?

I think back to Mother’s decision to give Teddy a job. At the time, it seemed like a reasonable solution. Give the wayward socialite a chance to prove herself, to learn the value of real work. But I should have known better. Teddy’s always been more interested in appearances than substance, more concerned with her follower count than actual business acumen.

And she’d downright refused to start at the bottom, not even to learn the basics about how Hollister Properties is run.

My fingers absently trace the outline of a small, carved wooden box in my pocket. It’s one of the trinkets I bought from Crystal’s shop, ostensibly as a gift for Vivian, or so I told her then. Only I kept it. Women like Vivian prefer Berkins and Cartier to handcrafted trinkets from small-town shops. They value brand names over artistry, price tags over sentiment. It’s a world where everything is measured in carats and commas, where a gift’s worth is determined by its ability to impress rather than its capacity to touch the heart.

I never realized how much I longed for something genuine until I started frequenting Crystal’s shop. At first, it was just a novelty—a quaint local business that sold unique gifts. But over time, without me even noticing, it became something more.

Crystal. The thought of her sends a pang through my chest. The hurt in her eyes when she confronted me about the rent increase... it’s an image I can’t shake. For the past couple of years, her shop has been a sanctuary of sorts. A place where Icould shed the weight of the Hollister name, if only for a few minutes. Where a smile and a “How can I help you today, Mr. Hollister?” felt genuine, not calculated.

“You okay, boss?” Javi’s voice breaks through my reverie.

I straighten in my seat, my professional mask sliding back into place. “Fine, Javi. Just thinking about how to handle this mess.”

But as we pull up to Teddy’s townhouse, my mind wanders again to Crystal. To the chess game, to the way her eyes lit up when she checkmated me. I let her win, of course, but not without a fight. I couldn’t bear to see the evening end, to leave the warmth of her tiny apartment and return to my cold, empty mansion.

For years, I’ve done what was expected of me. Took over the company when Father died, stepped up when Brogan chose a different path. I’ve been the responsible one, the steady hand at the helm of the Hollister empire. But sitting there in Crystal’s mismatched living room, laughing over beef stew and bad jokes, I felt something I haven’t in years: a connection. A spark of something real.

And now, because of Teddy’s recklessness, I might have lost that before it even had a chance to truly begin.

I know why Teddy picked Seaside Square as her first pet project. It’s the only commercial property we’ve never raised rents on—and with good reason.

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