[ON GOING] All Of Me 18+ Only (Book 3 of Lastor series) #Wattys2020

Chapter 1: Jude

Quietly, I listened to Erik Lastor, the President of Lastor Pharmaceuticals, a subsidiary of Lastor International. Erik had flown in from Switzerland, the main office of Lastor Pharma, just for this meeting. He's spent the past hour ranting about my alleged meddling and underestimation of his competence. He was in his 50s and was the son of the late Sebastian Lastor, my great-grandfather's fourth child. Erik has been working for the family since his late twenties and when he was given his own company to serve as President to by my father twelve years ago, he had practically bent the knee and swore loyalty to him like a disciple to his lord. Now, his nostrils were flaring and veins were popping on the side of his neck and his face was red with rage because I had forced him into an early retirement and placed a new President, my distant cousin Geoffrey Turner, who was eager to put his mark on our family's history books. It helped that he wasn't one of my father's loyal dogs that did all his dirty work with no hesitation. Geoffrey may be grateful of what I had given him but he had plainly said he owed me nothing but his honesty and hard work. And that was enough for me. Erik couldn't be any less pleased.

"That boy has never even stepped foot in my company and you're letting him rule it?" he fumed, looking like he was a few breaths away from a seizure. "He doesn't have the right nor the experience to take my position! It's my son who should be taking over!"

The son of his in question was sitting across from me, looking so shameful and obviously wanted to be anywhere else but here. He hasn't said a word since they came in, not that his father even gave him a chance.

I was getting tired of listening to Erik and decided to cut him off from his tirade.

"That's enough," I said in a calm tone, piercing him with a firm glare. "Lastor Pharma was only assigned to you to manage, not own. Just because you own a small percentage of this company doesn't mean it gives you any authority to demand things from me. So please, Uncle, don't forget yourself."

"My son should be my successor. He's my heir," he said more calmly but still, the words were said through gritted teeth. "This Turner boy is an outsider. Born from the lower end of this family and only has a drop of our blood. He doesn't even bear our name. That's worse than a bastard!"

My jaw ticked at the last word. Bastard. I hated that word with a passion. It's the one word that has caused me and the people I loved so much pain.

I glanced at Erik Jr. but the man couldn't even meet my eyes. I scoffed, looking at his father. "Your son was expelled from Oxford for failing half of his classes on his first semester and the only reason why he was accepted in the first place was because he was a Lastor. How you came up with the notion that he'd be fit to run a company is beyond me. My bastard sister was a drug addicted insomniac for the entirety of her academic career and slept through most of her classes but even her worst was better than his best," I spat, noticing how Erik Jr. was hanging his head in shame. "And that lowborn Geoffrey Turner was fostered by my own grandfather when his parents died and has been serving the company for ten years. He also graduated at the top of his class, in Yale, Harvard, and Oxford. Accomplishments that your so called heir is nowhere near achieving." I shifted, rubbing the pad of my index finger against my jaw. "It seems to me that the lowborn and the bastards of this family are more worthy of the status and opportunities we give the spoiled heirs who are used to having everything handed to them on a silver platter. Tell me again, Uncle, what has junior here done to earn the right to even be in this room other than being the first born son of an heir?"

"He's worked for half of his life in Lastor Pharma," he countered. "I'm molding him to be fit to succeed me. You cannot rob him of what is rightfully his!"

"I'm not robbing him of anything," I said placidly, opening and closing my fist around the stress ball I was holding. I was itching to hit him in the face. "He is your heir, that is true. He has the right to take his seat in the board after you retire and I will not object but that is all that I can agree to and that is where his duties end. If I see where his strengths lies and what skills he has to offer the company, then I will gladly give him a position where he might flourish. But Lastor Pharma is Geoffrey's to manage, not own, but manage and that is the end of it."