King's Guard

Chapter Thirty Six

Kingsley sighed as he looked at the clock, it was already quarter to nine, and he was running late.

After quitting his job at Salazar Tech, Kingsley spent the two weeks of his notice period working from home. It didn't come with complications, H.R. was hesitant, but Lorenzo signed off on it. Kingsley was glad that even though Lorenzo didn't want him to resign, he was still respecting his decision.

This was around a month ago. Kingsley wasn't in the mood to start looking for a job once again, but when he went to grab dinner with his father and updated him about his work life— Gianni suggested Kingsley work at the subsidiary that he had started for Kingsley.

He was unsure at first, the last thing he wanted was to work for his father. But Gianni reassured that he wouldn't be interrupting or stepping into Kingsley's work at all. That it was different from what he did, and Kingsley would definitely not be working for anyone. He left the choice to Kingsley, who took a couple of days to make up his mind before officially joining the company.

The father and son had a long discussion about what it would mean for them and their public image, especially if Gianni was to introduce him as the C.E.O. In the end, they figured it was probably best if Gianni himself called a press conference and announced that Kingsley was his son, and would now be a part of the family business. Instead of the news eventually coming out from an outside source, which would lead to a greater scandal. At least this way they could control the narrative.

This, of course, came with its fair share of trouble. Kingsley was constantly hounded by the media, something he expected. But after a couple of weeks, the hype finally died down. Now he only had a few reporters occasionally coming up to him and asking for exclusive interviews and what not. Kingsley denied them all.

He deactivated all of his social media too when the articles started to dig into finding out who his mother was. Kingsley was disgusted that his personal life was being used as spice and gossip, but a part of him also felt... accepted.

That his father had finally owned up to having a son. That he wasn't a secret anymore and no longer had to hide.

Once Kingsley started working as the boss, he finally realised why Lorenzo spent most nights in the office. There was always too much to do, and too little time. He was wishing for the day to have extra hours just so he could be done with his work before the deadlines. He hadn't even been there a month, but he was already drowning in work.

Kingsley's old colleagues obviously had a lot of questions. He quit without telling them, and the next thing they knew, he was the boss of his own company and the son of a billionaire. Kingsley did care about them and considered them friends, which was why he was supposed to meet them at a bar tonight. That is, of course, if work would let him.

"You should head home now, you stayed until midnight yesterday too," said Zeke, Kingsley's new personal assistant.

"I still need to go over—"

"The Peterson data? I'll give it a look and email you my notes. You can finish it tomorrow, then," Zeke said.

"Are you sure?" Kingsley frowned. "You've been working overtime a lot too."

"It's fine," Zeke waved his hand dismissively. "I really don't mind."

"Thank you," Kingsley said. "You're a lifesaver."

"Just doing what I get paid for, boss," Zeke flashed his signature cheeky grin.

"I told you not to call me that," Kingsley sighed as he got up from his chair. "I'll see you on Monday, Zeke."

"Have a good night."

"You too."

Kingsley put on a tech podcast as he started driving. He didn't even realise when he turned from a top 100 rock songs to a podcast sort of guy. But he had to keep up with all the latest news in the industry. Despite his reservations in the beginning, especially with taking on such a massive responsibility— he was really enjoying his work. And he wanted to do well too. Sure, he got the job through nepotism, but he wasn't going to half-ass it. He felt he had more to prove. To show that he was deserving of his title.