Page 157 of My Big, Fat, Hot Billionaire Enemy
Support her without undermining her.
Dropping this bombshell into her lap right now might feel like another intervention, another instance of me riding to the rescue, potentially reinforcing her fears about needing me to succeed.
And besides. There’s one last piece of business I need to attend to first. One final move in the long game against my father.
The game to remove his corrosive influence from my life, and my company, for good.
I drive out to the estate myself this time, leaving Elijah and the team at the gate. Just me.
And the micro-recorder concealed in my cufflink.
Mark is in his study, same bullshit posture of arrogant authority. He looks surprised to see me back so soon.
“Come to your senses?” he sneers.
“Hardly,” I reply, taking a seat opposite him. “I came to understand your motivation.”
“My motivation is clear. Protecting the family name. Protecting my company’s interests. Protectingyoufrom repeating your mother’s mistakes.”
There it is. The opening.
“My mother,” I repeat neutrally. “What mistakes are those, exactly?”
“Her weakness!” he spits out, falling into the trap.His face contorts with old bitterness. “Letting sentiment, emotion, cloud her judgment! Just like you are now! She couldn’t handle the pressure, the realities of our world. So she ran. Abandoned her family. Abandonedyou. Because she was weak. And I see the same weakness in you now, falling for Richard Hammond’s daughter.”
“So this takeover,” I say quietly, wanting the recorder to capture every word. “This attack on Hammond & Co., using Lucy’s appointment as an excuse… it’s not about business opportunity. It’s about punishing Lucy for being a Hammond? About trying to ‘save’ me from repeating my mother’s perceived weakness?”
“Yes!” he admits, practically spitting the words. “Fuck business opportunity! It’s about revenge! Crushing Richard Hammond for what he did to me, finally! And it’s about teaching you a valuable lesson! Your mother’s pattern stops here! Cut out the sentiment before it destroys everything!”
“What Morgan has done for you is illegal, you know that, right?”
“Illegal? It’s called strategy, Christopher! Long-term planning! Seeing the weaknesses and exploiting them! Sure, he might have fudged a few Hammond & Co. property valuations, but that’s par for the course on these sorts of things. You know that. Come on! What happened to the son I know? The one who understands strength lies in control! In ruthlessness! Not in… sentiment, or attachments!” He jabs a finger towards me. “When you come to your sense, you’ll thank me for this.”
“No, Father,” I say, standing up slowly. I have the final piece of leverage I need. “Strengthlies in choosing your own path. In building something real, not just tearing things down out of spite and fear.” I look at him, at the bitter, lonely man trapped in his own gilded cage. And for the first time, I feel… nothing.
Not anger.
Not hurt.
Just a vast, empty distance.
Pity, maybe.
“You taught me ruthlessness. Control. How to win at any cost.” I shake my head. “But you never taught me what any of it was worth. Goodbye, Father.”
I walk out of the study, leaving him sputtering impotently behind me. Shouting at my back, he disowns me yet again, and hurls every curse in the book at me.
But his words don’t effect me anymore.
I walk out of the oppressive house, and the air outside feels cleaner. Lighter.
Victor drives me toward the city.
On the ride back, the weight I’ve carried for decades feels… lifted. Severed. Not just by his choice, but by mine.
I have the leverage I need to finally excise him from my board, from my business life. The recording is damning proof of his personal vendetta.
The path forward is clear. Professionally, I’ll dismantle his influence, and support Lucy’s defense of Hammond without interfering directly, respecting the space she needs.
