Like no one does

Iron Man's sister

Ronnie’s POV age 21

Seated in her new spacious corner office looking out at the city of Paris Ronnie bit back a grin of satisfaction for everything she's accomplished to get to this moment. She'd graduated early from Ermitage International School of France at fifteen. At sixteen, with Obadiah's help, she became emancipated with special circumstances. He had still been her guardian, but Tony wasn't anymore. That had been the final nail in the coffin of their relationship as far as Ronnie was concerned. If he wanted his freedom of his responsibility of taking care of her then she would make it official in the eyes of the law. With Obadiah and Grace’s help she had all of the adult supervision she needed. 

Once Ronnie had been given control over her finances she had Obadiah help her wisely invest her money. Although she made sure to set aside the bulk of her inheritance so she couldn't touch it until she reached thirty. She wanted to earn her own way in the world as much as she could while still having something to fall back on just incase she needed it. For example she took the whole year of 2003 as a gap year to be as much of a teenager as she could before going to England to London's school of Economics. 

There she majored in business and management, economics and finance as well as marketing. Specifically digital and social media marketing and international business administration. Ronnie did use her money to pay for school and a small flat that she eventually shared with Jackie when she had graduated two years later. Other than that, the girls had gotten jobs to pay for everything else they needed. During this time she wanted to be treated like anyone else who was going to college. It gave her a sense of independence particularly when she no longer needed to have Grace shadow her anymore. She was still close with the older woman who had officially moved to France to be with her girlfriend, Amelie that she’d met five years before, once Ronnie was seventeen at her insistence. Her reasoning was that Grace had sacrificed so much of her own life for her that it was time for Ronnie to stand on her own for once.

Ronnie graduated at twenty and got her IAR (Investment Advisory Representative) certification. She was officially a financial advisor for the rich and famous as well as for the little guy. She took on big clients so that she could help low income families invest their money to help support their families pro-bono. Her business partner and one of her best friends Jaquelin Lavigne had started Jarvis International Finance with her along with the help of their silent partner Obadiah Stane. 

Initially she hadn't wanted to trade on the Stark name to promote their business, but Obadiah and Jackie had convinced her to become the face of the company so they could make their dream a reality. Ronnie had worked hard to get away from her brother's image. She was the good Stark sibling. The level headed one who didn't drink to excess and had slept their way through most of the world's female population. No. Ronnie had taken her schooling seriously and now her hard work had paid off. 

She was now also the co-CEO of Stark Industries along with Tony. That lovely little title had been thrust on her last year on her twentieth birthday. Tony had shown up, surprisingly sober for once, to the penthouse she'd just moved into and told her the great news while she was in the middle of a small dinner party. Ronnie’s reaction? She’d simply slammed the door in his face and refused to let him in or answer his phone calls. He had no right to just show up to her home and expect that every bit of the last fifteen years hadn’t happened. Expecting that now that he’d grown up the tiniest bit that they could be family again. Too little too late. She no longer needed or wanted him in her life.

Not one to shirk her responsibilities, unlike her brother, she went back to California every couple of months for the board of directors meetings. But she avoided Tony like the plague. Ronnie knew he had done it just so he could see her since she'd refused to see him willingly. The last time other than when he’d shown up at her apartment had been in court when he signed off on her emancipation in 2003. She made sure to always arrive early so that Obadiah and one of the other board members were on either side of her. Then she'd be out the door as soon as the meeting was over. Ignoring Tony's pleas for her to join him for lunch or dinner to catch up as she got into her car to take her back to the airport. Shaking her head to get the annoying thoughts of Tony out of it, Ronnie turned back to her desk. It was time to put aside the past and back into working for her future.