Chapter 10 - The Boy Who Owned the Manor
Six months later.
The Sterling-Hayes Corporation (the board had swiftly approved the name change to appease their new, terrifyingly competent CEO) was thriving. The Tokyo project was a massive success, praised globally for its revolutionary eco-friendly design—a design built purely on Arthur Hayes’s original, untainted patents.
Julian sat behind the massive mahogany desk in the corner office. He was looking over architectural blueprints, a pencil tucked behind his ear. He still preferred drafting to board meetings, though he had learned to navigate the corporate sharks with a ruthless, unyielding grace.
There was a soft knock on the glass door.
Julian looked up. Victoria was standing there. She was wearing a simple floral dress, holding two paper cups of coffee.
"Am I interrupting the master of the universe?" she asked, a tentative, shy smile on her lips.
Julian dropped his pencil, a massive grin breaking across his face. "For you? The universe can wait."
She walked in and set a coffee on his desk. Over the past six months, they had slowly, carefully begun to rebuild. No grand declarations. No instant forgiveness. Just long walks, honest conversations, and learning who they were without the shadow of Beatrice Sterling darkening their lives. Beatrice had moved to a small condo in Florida, effectively exiled from Chicago high society, living off a modest, legally mandated pension Julian had allowed her out of pity.
"Grandpa Arthur told me you were working late again," Victoria said, leaning against the edge of his desk. "He says if you don't take a break, he's going to fire you."
Julian laughed. Arthur had taken an advisory role in the company, spending his days terrifying the junior engineers with his encyclopedic knowledge of structural physics, and loving every minute of it.
"I'm just finishing up the designs for the new children's hospital wing," Julian said, pulling her gently by the waist so she stood between his knees. He looked up at her, his eyes full of warmth. "The one we're naming after Arthur."
Victoria smiled, brushing a stray lock of hair from Julian’s forehead. "He’s going to hate the attention, you know."
"He'll complain about it endlessly, and then he'll secretly frame the newspaper clippings," Julian agreed.
May you like
He pulled her down for a soft, lingering kiss. The boy they claimed didn't belong had taken their empire, their manor, and their legacy. But as Julian held the girl he loved, looking out over the glittering skyline he now controlled, he realized he hadn't just taken their world.
He had built a better one.
