Vasco clenched his fists, staring out over the city skyline from his office.
His pulse raced, muscles tense. Every fiber in him screamed with the weight of his family legacy, a burden as heavy as it was precious.
He inhaled deeply, letting his anger seethe just beneath his composed expression. How dare anyone think they could split apart something as sacred as the MeherjeeRana conglomerate?
"Soft fool," he muttered under his breath, remembering his father’s quiet, almost resigned tone during their last discussion. "After everything this family has sacrificed… You’re ready to divide it all?"
The idea of ITS—International Trade Solutions—being torn apart was an insult he could barely stomach.
He knew its history intimately, as if the lineage of every acquisition, every subsidiary, was stitched into his own blood.
ITS was more than a business; it was the spirit of the MeherjeeRana family itself, a testament to resilience, sacrifice, and tireless ambition.
Vasco remembered the stories told to him growing up, about his ancestors who had toiled under relentless pressure, who’d given up dreams, family time, their health—all to create the behemoth that now stood as a legacy.
He thought of his grandfather, a figure of relentless strength and pragmatism, who had sacrificed nearly everything to expand ITS globally.
And of his great-uncle, whose health declined from the stress of solidifying ITS’s European foothold. Vasco couldn’t forget his own father’s contributions, or even his own, despite the complicated relationship they shared.
It was something they had all paid for, with blood, sweat, and loyalty. This empire was a testament to their shared struggle, and Vasco couldn’t fathom how anyone could consider tearing it apart.
To think that his father—who, of all people, should have known better—would be the one to entertain this notion of dividing the conglomerate, surrendering its heart. Vasco's anger flared. It was unthinkable.
This man, who had once been an embodiment of strength and cunning, was now justifying the very destruction of their inheritance, calling it “necessary” for the future.
But Vasco saw right through it, the weakness that had crept into his father’s demeanor, the concessions he’d started to make.
Was it guilt? A twisted attempt to make amends? Vasco couldn’t say, nor did he care.
What he knew was that he would not stand by and watch their legacy splintered under some misguided pursuit of redemption. That weakness was not welcome here—not from anyone.
No, Vasco thought to himself, his jaw set like steel. No one, not even him, had the right to dismantle what generations had built.
He was young when his mother left. And as he got older, he never searched for answers, never felt the need to unravel her reasons for leaving, or to ask why she had chosen another life over the one she’d started with him and his father.
To him, it was a fact of life, like rain or sunrise.
Some things just happened, and this was one of them.
He learned early not to look for affection. Love, warmth, tenderness—those were all just empty words.
He didn’t miss what he had never truly known.
His father’s presence was not a soft touch or a comforting smile but a figure, distant and imposing, driven by a single purpose: ITS.
The company was the air they breathed, the only constant that mattered. In his father’s world, everything else was secondary.
Vasco understood this language of duty and strength far better than he understood the notion of family as other people did.
They did not share meals or stories; they shared only the relentless march of business, cold, relentless, and calculated.
Vasco leaned back in his chair, his thoughts turning inward, slipping into the cracks of his mind where he rarely allowed anyone—or even himself—to go. He knew his father could sense his indifference toward the younger ones, the half-brothers who circled around the edges of his life, strangers bound to him only by blood.
He knew his father’s intentions too. The old man, in his softened state, had begun making plans to ensure they would have some security, some inheritance. Maybe it was guilt; maybe it was just his father’s attempt at making things right before he grew even weaker.
Vasco scoffed quietly, though he’d made a similar vow to himself.
He would ensure that the boys never felt the sting of financial worry, even if Mr. MeherjeeRana will be no more.
It wasn’t out of affection, certainly not out of familial duty; he simply considered it part of his own responsibility to maintain the honor and strength of the MeherjeeRana name. But he would never say this out loud, never confess that he felt any sense of duty to them.
They were not his family. He had made peace with that long ago, if “peace” was the right word for it.
He’d never been interested in forging bonds with them or weaving them into his life.
As far as he was concerned, they were simply beneficiaries of his own success, of the legacy he would guard at all costs. Nothing more.
There was only one person who was truly family to him—Akira.
Through their marriage, she had become part of the MeherjeeRana clan, and in a way he barely admitted to himself, she was the closest thing he had to a confidante, though their connection was not built on shared secrets or open hearts.
No, with Akira, he shared only his claim, the strength of their bond forged more in silence than in words.
She was his wife, his partner in name and presence, a part of the world he inhabited like no other.
They did not talk much; conversation was never their strong point.
He seldom let himself soften enough to engage in anything beyond the necessities, or the times he wanted her near, needed her under him in bed, the one place where words had no meaning. Still, she was his, the one person he considered bound to him.
In his world, where affection was more foreign than ambition, she had carved out a place beside him without even trying, a quiet, enduring presence.
She didn’t need to understand him, nor did he expect her to.
He knew only that she was part of him—his family, his own. And for Vasco, that was all he ever needed or wanted.
YOU ARE READING
"I Do"
RomanceAs she was about to ask Vasco if he needed anything, he began roaming his hands over her body while asking her to prepare breakfast Akira was surprised because his hands were touching her sensitive parts and though he is her husband and he can do th...
