Page 19 of Beautiful Beast

Uncle Dennis closes his eyes and speaks without looking at me. “Why do you choose to subject yourself to such violence, and when are you going to stop chasing danger? When are you going to stop taking stupid risks and trying to get yourself killed?”

“That isn’t why I do it,” I say without further explanation, “though I do think retirement is in order.”

“So, it’s an ideal time for you to take over Townsend Enterprises.”

The hot coffee in my mouth buys me some time to avoid answering the question he didn’t overtly ask.

How the hell am I supposed to refuse a dying man?

“You know how I feel about my father’s business.”

Uncle Dennis shakes his head. “It’s not his business. It was your grandfather’s, then it was your dad’s for a while, and now it’s mine. It’s changed so much since his time as President and CEO, and I know that you can do even more with it. Running the company was never my intention either, but it’s been a good run and I don’t regret it.”

It’s a subtle dig because the only reason he was stuck at the helm is that I refused to step up and enlisted instead.

“You could have sold it,” I point out, the option I suggested as soon as the old man died. “We’d still be rich.”

“It’s your legacy and your future kids’ legacy, even if you’re too stubborn to see it,” Uncle Dennis insists. “I wasn’t going to take the option away from you.”

He’s been his usual self until right now, but I catch the emotion in his eyes before he blinks it away.

Shit.

Why do I have to lose this man?

“I really wish I’d be around to meet those kids, Adam,” he whispers. “But at least Townsend Enterprises will secure their futures. And yours.”

“You don’t have to worry about missing out. There won’t be any kids,” I reply.

Even before my face turned into a war zone, I didn’t intend on impregnating anyone. And now? I won’t get close enough to anyone to even practice.

“I just… I don’t want to do what the old man wanted me to. I want to find my own path in life,” I explain.

I have no problem taking my dad’s fortune because I earned it from living under his fists until I got old enough to raise my own and defend myself.

But I don’t want to be his little poster boy of family heirs.

“It’s misguided to let spite and bitterness rule your decisions. Don’t worry about your father. He’s dead, and soon I will be, too. What doyouactually want to do? You have an MBA, and surely that degree wasn’t just for decoration given you attended Harvard.”

“I’ll start my own company.”

“Use Townsend Enterprises as the springboard. You can do whatever you want with it. It’s morphed so much since your grandfather started it. Why work from ground zero when you have an empire at your fingertips?”

“Grandfather wouldn’t want me to run it anyway. He hated me.”

“No, he didn’t. He was a hard, cold, and stoic man, but he’s the one who ensured you have everything that you do now in trust so your father couldn’t blow it. He loved you in his own way. Your father… Well, he was a different story.”

“What will happen to the company if I don’t take over? Do you have another successor?”

“I’d be forced to sell it. And, of course, you would get all the proceeds. But it’s short-sighted and never what I intended. You can make a lot more money and change a lot more lives if you run the company long-term.”

Selling would be another sacrifice for me at a time when he should be selfish.

Fuck.

“It’s not about me,” Uncle Dennis says as though reading my mind. “I won’t be here. But someone else is going to get your legacy if you don’t take this opportunity. You’re letting anger control you, and it’s a waste of time.”

He has a point, though I still don’t like it.

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