Chapter 9 - WHY WYATT MATTERED
Wyatt and I stayed at a hotel that night.
I could not look at the mansion.
The next morning Marian brought us coffee and three years of documents.
That was when the stranger part became clear.
Dad’s obsession with Wyatt was not romantic.
Not primarily.
Wyatt ran the engineering division responsible for almost forty percent of Bennett Development’s current project value.
Arthur trusted him.
Several senior executives trusted him.
If I became controlling beneficiary while engaged to Wyatt, Dad feared we could challenge his leadership together.
“So he wanted me with Madison,” Wyatt said.
Marian nodded.
“If you remained emotionally aligned with Richard’s preferred daughter, Richard probably assumed he could keep your support.”
I stared at Wyatt.
My father had not merely tried to choose my husband.
He had tried to arrange the company around people he believed he could control.
“What happens now?”
Marian looked at me.
“That depends on you.”
“I don’t want to run Bennett Development.”
“You don’t have to.”
“Then why did Grandpa give me control?”
She opened another folder.
“There’s a letter.”
I nearly laughed.
“Apparently my grandfather communicated exclusively through delayed emotional explosives.”
Marian smiled faintly.
“This one is less dramatic.”
Arthur’s letter was six paragraphs.
The sentence that mattered was near the middle.
Claire does not want my company.
That is precisely why I trust her with it.
I read it twice.
Then continued.
Richard believes ownership gives him permission.
Claire understands ownership creates obligation.
May you like
I closed my eyes.
Grandpa had seen both of us clearly.
