Page 101 of Yours, For Now

His words dropped a bucket of cold water on my shoulders, his implications dripping down my back and chilling me to the bone.

"Take over?" I managed to ask. I crossed my arms. "He can take over accounting and start where I did, if he changed his mind. The stadium project is mine."

Tío Miguel barely moved, only his eyes whipped to me. He frowned. "Relax. It's not like he will steal your boyfriend. He's just going to do the work part of it."

Air rushed in and out of my lungs. "This has nothing to do with Gabe. Enrique doesn't know anything about this project. He hasn't been around for ages! I made this deal happen, I know it inside and out. It's mine. If you want Enrique to come back don't use my baby to tempt him."

"Baby?" His voice rose. "If you want babies, marry Gabriel and make some. This is work! And my son needs to get his hands involved, if he's going to take over one day."

I didn't even glance at my dad, but I didn't need to. He was doing what he usually did: nothing. He watched his brother and his daughter get into a fight, again, and he waited to see when he needed to intervene and pacify. Again.

"Enrique can't take over," I said. "I have more experience than him! I like this. I want it. Enrique doesn't."

"Don't tell me what my son wants. He's my son!"

"He's told you he doesn't want this." I matched the volume of my voice to mi tío. "What will it take for you to believe him? To take my ambitions seriously? How can you be so adamant to give him my job?!"

Tío Miguel stood and put both hands on the boardroom table. "We gave you this job. We let you run this project. We can change our minds and give it to someone else! It's always been Enrique, and you're silly if you didn't get that from the beginning."

His voice boomed in the space. If anyone was still around, they could certainly hear him. I responded in kind.

"Silly?! When are you going to stop treating me like this?" I stole a glance at my dad for the first time. Like I expected, he watched us fight but did nothing. I faced him. "When are you going to stop him from treating me like this?"

"Hija," he said, his voice gravelly. He stood as well. "C'mon. Let it go."

"Let it go?!" My voice turned shrill. I dropped my hands and fisted them at my side, my shoulders tight. "Seriously? I've given my life to this company, and you tell me to let it go? Let a cousin who doesn't care take over and ruin everything I'm trying to build?"

"Insolente!" Tío Miguel yelled. "You'rebuilding? Your dad and I built this company!"

"I helped! And I'm pushing this company forward, crafting its future right alongside you."

Tío Miguel scowled. "You were a summer hire who stayed for a while. That's all."

The pain of his words cut me. Blood left my face; my hands got cold. One thing was to suspect he felt this way about me, another was to have it thrown at my face.

I turned to my dad. "Is this what you think, too?"

My dad's eyes looked sad, and he opened his mouth to speak, but his brother interrupted him.

"You've been waiting. That's clear. You've been telling yourself a lie, thinking you were waiting to take over and hoping my son wouldn't return. Don't think I don't know that! But it's a lie. You're going to outgrow this. You found a good man, but even if you don't marry the young Sotomayor, it'll be someone else, and then your family will take all of your attention— as it should. And this company will disappear."

When I spoke, my voice came out thin. I hated it but, at this point, all I could do was use what little voice I had to not back down. To speak my mind, in front of these men who didn't care that I wanted to focus on the company. "You don't get it, do you? Enrique doesn't care. He's not coming back. Is it so hard to believe that I would want this? Really want this?"

"He's coming back!"

"He's not." I grumbled through my clenched teeth.

"Don't you want a family?" My dad asked.

My heart broke. The only reason I looked to the floor was so they couldn't see it shatter in my eyes.

"There's no point in trying to explain if you won't understand." I lifted my eyes at my dad. "If you made an effort to get to know me for who I am and not for who you think I should be, you could make my dreams come true. But you won't, because it means standing up to your older brother. This company will die, if no one shows up to take over. I'm the only one who wants to, but I don't have a dick, so I guess we all lose."

"How dare you!" Tío Miguel exclaimed, but I turned on my heels and ran to my office. I grabbed my bag and ran across the floor towards the stairs.

"Lina!" Dad called, but I ignored him.

I stomped down the stairs, my heart in my throat.