Ethan's fist hit the table. "Enough!"
"Don't you dare speak to me that way," Bettie reprimanded. "Alex is a hundred times fit to run Sterling Corporations and you think bringing him in when things are ugly is only…"
"That's enough, Grandma," It was Alexander's voice that rose. He pulled back his chair and rose to his feet, avoiding Bettie's disappointed face. "I'll be going now. I'll get back to you with my answer next week."
Before Alexander could exit the room, Ethan called his name. Alexander stopped at the threshold of the door, waiting.
"I wasn't asking you," Ethan frowned. "I was telling you. I'll see you in the office in two weeks to officially resume."
●
"Tell him hell no," Robert said, patting the side of the unruly horse. "Tell him to take his company to that immature idiot he calls his…"
"Easy now," Max stopped him. He took some carrots and fed the horse in Robert's grip, and the beast calmed down.
They had arranged to meet up at Max's stables in his estate, and the first sight Alexander had taken notice of when they stepped into the sprawling estate was the several new horses that dotted the place. Max had told them he wanted to expand into a riding center, a plan that was still in motion.
Max looked like his horses. He had a mane of red hair he often tied back with a ponytail, and a beard the same colour that covered most of his mouth. Of the four in the friend group; Alexander, Robert, and Williams, he was the hugest in build, with Alexander next. His skin was tanned from spending most of his days on the fields, and if he wasn't on the fields, he was prepping horses for tournaments somewhere.
"No offense Alex, but I hate your father," Robert said.
"Calm down Rob, that's still his Dad," Max said.
"No, he's just a sperm donor. No father would treat their son the way he does. He needs to…"
"Rob, enough," Alexander stopped his friend. "My mistake was telling you in the first place. I didn't give you the free will to insult my father, so just stop, you're not helping."
Robert rubbed at his eyes, and the horse in his grip neighed restlessly. He sighed, then put a hand on Alexander's shoulder.
"I'm sorry, I got a little carried away," He apologized. "But your answer should still be a hell no."
Alexander looked at Max. "I can't go to Sterling Corporation, it would be too much of a headache combined with my work."
Max watched him in that thoughtful manner he did, and Alexander wondered what was going through his head.
"Don't do it," he finally said. "Tell your father you're willing to help in any way you can, but you've got an independent life now."
Yes, that was the right thing to do, Alexander had known that. Even when Bettie had called him later that night to tell him to focus on his company that he had spent day and night building, he had known the answer then too. But his father needed him, his father wanted him at Sterling Corporation because he knew his son could handle it. He was going to do this for Ethan Sterling, for the entire Sterling line that was going to inherit the company. Wouldn't that be enough of a legacy? A good part of the family?
"I don't like that look on your face," Robert said. He tapped Max a little too violently. "Max, tell him not to do something he'll end up regretting."
"Hey boys!" A girly voice called to them.
Striding toward them was Max's younger sister, twenty-two-year-old Willow was a pretty little thing to behold. She had the same color as Max's hair and a face dotted with freckles and eyes so green they looked like gems.
Alexander watched Robert relax, and his grip on the horse's reins slack. He wondered how Max had yet to notice that his friend had a massive crush on his sister. Maybe he did, but never mentioned it because the unspoken bro law stood like a wall; never go for your friend's sister.
Willow stopped before them and waved enthusiastically like a little girl. "I didn't know you guys would be coming over. Mum's missed you a lot, Robert. Sometimes she laughs to herself remembering your jokes."
"I'll take Zorro back to the stables," Max said, taking the reins from Robert's grip, and he didn't even seem to notice.
"Was she the only one who missed me?" Robert grinned like a lovesick puppy.
Willow laughed. "There you go again. Come over to the house, you too Alex, we've got a lot of catching up to do."
She and Robert fell into step and immediately began to talk. Alexander waited behind for Max, and once his friend returned, he pulled off his gloves and closed the stable doors.
"You're going to answer him, aren't you?" Max asked him. Alexander knew who and what he was talking about, but didn't say anything.
"If you do, I'd understand," Max said, squinting when the sun appeared behind the clouds. He nudged Alexander with his elbow. "Cheer up. My father's dead, we didn't have the best of relationships, but I wanted to make him proud of me too."
Alexander looked back at the stables. "He'll be proud of you regardless."
"Oh, I didn't do this all for him," Max corrected Alexander. "That's where I won. The minute I stopped doing it for him." He smiled at Alexander, his beard moving with that motion. "We should get something to eat, I'm starving."
Alexander slowed in his steps and looked at the barn. He thought of his company and Sterling Corporation, his father's last words to him, and the praise he had gotten for the first time in forever.
That's good, his father had said.
Alexander resumed his walk back to the house. He knew at the end, he'd do what he wanted, and before his next meeting with his father, he believed he already knew the answer he'd give him.