THIRTEEN
Levi
My mind wouldn’t stop racing.
On one hand, I’d kind of suspected this. But hearing it confirmed? That was a different ballgame entirely.
The Presidential Takeover Clause was pitched to me as a generational rite of passage, something all heirs went through. A tradition. A formality. Now, it feels like a con.
I never questioned it. I wasn’t even planning to worry about it until the last year of my five-year probation. But then I met Cece.
It was only the end of my second year as the president, and something shifted. Suddenly, I didn’t want to wait two more years. She was everything I wasn’t expecting, and everything I couldn’t stop wanting.
Witty. Unafraid. Graceful and bold in equal measure. She met pressure with poise, and still held on to her softness.
Christ.
And now my parents—
“…they’re doing it again…” taking someone away because she doesn’t fit their agenda.
Even with Cece gone—not that I ever want to lose her—I technically still have two years left to find someone else who meets the clause. But let’s be real. I know they’ll keep interfering until I fail.
“…shit… they don’t want me to take over…” they want to keep operating in the shadows, running their dirty little schemes under the Astor name.
They couldn’t stop my ascension to the presidency—but they’re clawing for control in every insidious way they can. The clause wasn’t even a tradition. It was the perfect trap. A slow sabotage. Something they planned to exploit.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
“…then why…” Why let me propose to Cece at all? Why pretend to support it—only to backtrack now?
I know the fucking answer. But I don’t want to believe it. Even though I have to. Because I do. Even without the proof Sebastian is currently gathering. And if they’re capable of this, capable of blatantly threatening me, and even physically hurting Cece—
“Levi,” comes a soft whisper.
It yanks me back to the present. I blink hard, dragging myself out of the mental spiral I’ve been caught in. My jaw tenses as the reality in front of me sharpens into view.
Iris.
Staring up at me with something akin to concern. She’s close. Too close.
It takes me another second to register the feel of her hands gently resting on my shoulders. And I snap.
My hands shoot up, wrapping around her wrists as I take a massive step back. Untangling myself from something that seemed too much like an embrace I didn’t invite.
My pulse spikes. My mind’s still racing, but I need to get a grip. Need to deal with this first—one thing at a time.
“What—what are you doing?” I ask, my voice low but firm.
“I… you were…” she stammers, blinking rapidly like she’s just coming out of a trance too. “I just thought you were spiraling like you used to and—”
“Christ.” I pinch the bridge of my nose. “Yeah. Technically I was but… Iris,” I say her name more firmly than I expected, pulling her gaze back to mine. “I’m in love with Cece.”
My tone leaves no room for doubt. I’m just hoping she hears the conviction there.
She frowns, mumbling almost to herself. “But… but the clause…”
Is she thinking I’m with her just because of the clause?
“Has nothing to do with that,” I say. “I had three more years to fulfill it but I chose Cece. The merger with Wentworths came at a time, well…”
Shit. Have I somehow invited this? I never accidentally sent any signals, did I? Taewon’s words come back to me—calling me an idiot. I sure am.
And why am I even explaining all this to her?
I sigh, continuing cautiously. “Listen. What happened between us was ten years ago, Iris. Are you saying you still have feelings for me?”
I watch her carefully straightening her shoulders, tucking her hair behind her ear, her face gaining some confidence.
“No, but…” She clears her throat. “I—I’m sorry.
I thought—with the clause and your parents’ blackmail.
I misunderstood. I thought we once shared something and…
” She gives a tight, abrupt shake of her head.
Christ. I need to nip this in the bud. Before it comes back to bite me.
I shake my head, dropping my chin to my chest. My voice is gentle yet firm.
“I know I once loved you, Iris. This is hard to say but I did. And you left me with just a letter. And with a realization that you… you didn’t trust me.
You didn’t trust me with your career and now that I know—with the threats either.
You could’ve told me but chose not to. And I moved on. ”
She nods, her expression a tangle of sorrow and reluctant understanding. “You’re right. I should’ve… we’d have somehow.” She looks up again, a soft, sad smile tugging at her lips. “I’m sorry.”
I nod, accepting the closure dawning on her face.
Then suddenly her smile turns almost prideful. “You really are in love, huh? You found it again. You found the right woman.”
I match her smile. “I did.”
“I’m happy for you, Levi.”
I let out a long breath, nodding as if to seal the moment shut. That chapter had closed for me years ago—but maybe Iris had been waiting for this ending all along. Now that it’s done, all I feel is relief.
My phone buzzes in my pocket. I pull it out, and the second I see the text notification, a grin creeps onto my face.
“I’ll… I’ll head back.” She shoves her things into her bag, gives me a brisk nod that I absently return, and leaves.
The dread I’d shelved a few minutes ago returns all at once, wrapping around my chest. My heart is pounding rapidly. I close my eyes for a second and picture Cece’s hands on me, grounding me. Her voice soft, whispering, ‘Calm.’ It’s not the real thing—not yet—but it helps.
I fire off a text to her as I head to the parking lot.
Me: There’s some development. I’m heading to my parents’ house. But we need to talk. Be at their place in an hour if you can.
??????
“I’ll ask again, father,” I grit out. “When? When did you have the clause drawn in?”
I’m struggling to refrain myself from pacing in my parents’ sitting room, all my masks ripped cleanly off. But I need to study every single reaction on their faces. The low light streaming through the massive arch windows lights up their frustrated, panicked faces perfectly.
But my father doesn’t answer while my mother shifts uncomfortably on her chair.
“When?” I almost yell, when neither of them answers.
My mother sighs, defeated. “Fine. It was when you were dating that—that model. What was her name?”
She looks over at my father who’s glaring at me. But he never answers my mother’s question.
“Ah,” she says softly. “Madeleine something…”
I laugh bitterly. I dated Madeleine Forester—the up and coming model and actress—about a year after Iris left me. The dots connect further.
“Right.” I nod, my chuckle still edging on rage. “So you saw me dating a model and thought… great. She wouldn’t interfere with the business. Her skills don’t transfer over. But when I started dating the brilliant economist, Cece, you only reluctantly agreed, huh?”
They both blanch at my thought process. And I know I’ve hit the right nerve. Because when Cece really started working through the merger, possibly exposing their dirty secrets—that’s when their machinations started again. They really just hoped I’d marry a brainless woman.
God!
Gareth even hurt her. It’s a miracle he isn’t here. Otherwise I don’t think I would’ve been able to control my fist ramming into his face. The vision of him attacking my Cece is still vivid.
“You never really gave a shit about me, did you?” I say, my voice low, almost sorrowful.
“You’ve been interfering with my life for more than ten years.
Hell, all my fucking life. I’ve given everything to this empire—my time, my identity, my damn peace of mind.
I’ve played the part you needed me to play, walked every fucking line you drew, and still—still—I am nothing more than an asset to you.
I’m not your son, am I?” I laugh bitterly, disbelieving.
The kind of laugh that scrapes something raw on its way out.
Thankfully, it also drowns their meek attempts to claim their nonexistent love for me.
Decades too late.
Because the truth is, I remember every way they molded me into the version of their perfect son.
A palatable heir. A curated legacy. And I let them.
I let them sculpt me into someone I barely recognized, just so I could prove I was worthy of a presidency that they’re now trying to take away from me.
Because they know I won’t follow their tainted legacy.
All while they never even wanted to be parents. Even flawed ones.
“I loved Iris,” I bite out, my eyes boring into theirs.
“And you took her away from me. You used your influence, your threats, and you dismantled the one thing in my life that was mine back then. So then I did everything you asked after that. I played the part. But it’s still not fucking good enough, is it? ”
They’re still interfering with my Cece. But I can’t say that. I don’t want to give them any more ammunition than they already have. Because I know they will never stop. Now that they suspect I know about the why of their machinations—they can’t afford to.
My father’s silence isn’t just guilt, it’s calculation. It’s merciless redirection. It’s contingency planning. And now, I know he’s neck-deep in whatever shady shit he’s trying to keep buried under the Astor name.
He wants me out. This clause was their way of doing it without blood.
My mother’s voice cuts in, soft and uncertain. “Do you really think it would have lasted with that girl? Do you really believe something real could’ve come out of that relationship? She wasn’t one of us. She wasn’t… she…”
I blink at her, shocked at her audacity to still be clinging to this inanity. “I would’ve wanted to figure that out for myself,” I say, my voice tight. “I didn’t need your approval. I didn’t want a goddamn clause like a noose around my neck. I wanted to find love… myself.”
And I did. But it still isn’t going the way they wanted, is it?
I feel the press of my phone in my pocket, of the message that confirmed it all. Sebastian’s text flashing in my mind.
Sebastian Blackthorn: File sent to your email. CSIS should be on it within a week. Expect arrests.
They’re going to burn for this. For everything.
“I’ll get that damn clause eradicated,” I say slowly, with conviction. “So no one—ever—has to suffer from this stupidity again.”
I won’t let this clause hover over anyone’s head. Not mine. Not Cece’s. And certainly not our children’s. She wouldn’t want this for us and I know it.
But first, I need to uncover every fucking way they weaved it into the system. How they sold it as generational. How they conned me.
I storm out of the room, chest heaving, blood pounding. I don’t look back.
And then I stop the second I push the doors open.
Cece is standing right here, her eyes lock on mine. My breath leaves me in a whoosh. Relief flooding every vein.
“God. Cece…” I take a step forward, instinctively reaching for her. Needing her. Anchored only by her right now. But she flinches and I freeze.
My frown deepens. “Baby?”
She’s shaking—subtly, but not with fear. With something that feels heavier. And my stomach sinks to the marble floor.
“I… I’ll help,” she whispers.
“What?” My voice is laced with confusion and dread.
She looks at me. No, she looks straight through me, and says the words that unravel me from the inside out.
“I’ll help you get rid of the clause. Then… you can marry whoever.”