Keifer POV
The tension in the Hanamitchi building was thick enough to suffocate. Everyone—Section E, the girls, the parents, and the rest of the inner circle—stood in the grand foyer, their eyes darting toward the ornate entrance.
We were waiting. The air felt heavy, charged with the kind of electricity that precedes a massive storm. Jay's parents looked pale, standing near the front of the group as the heavy oak doors finally swung open.
In walked the "Grandparents." They looked every bit the part of old-money royalty: cold, stiff, and radiating a sense of entitlement that made my skin crawl.
Her grandfather, August ,leaned on a silver-topped cane, his eyes scanning the room like he owned the souls within it.
Beside him, her grandmother, Luna, adjusted her pearls with a pinched expression of disapproval.
"Welcome," Jay's father said, his voice strained.
One by one, the group offered their greetings. Cin, Percy, Felix,Keigan, Aion—everyone bowed or nodded, maintaining a level of respect that felt forced. But there was one person missing. The person they were actually here for.
Suddenly, the elevator at the far end of the hall dinged. The sound was sharp, cutting through the low murmur of forced pleasantries.
I turned, and my breath caught.
This wasn't the Jay who had melted in my arms under the shower spray yesterday. This wasn't the girl who had whimpered for "Hubby."
She stepped out in a sharp, white dress that fit her like armor. Her hair was falling free , showering confidence as she moved, her heels clicked against the marble with the precision of a ticking time bomb.
Her gaze was fixed straight ahead, cold and unyielding as flint.
She didn't look at her parents. She didn't look at me. And she most certainly didn't look at the two elderly people standing in the center of the room.
She walked right past them—a ghost passing through a graveyard—and took her seat at the head of the long mahogany conference table, crossing her legs with a slow, deliberate grace.
The silence that followed was deafening.
"How are you Jay ?", her grandmother asked in sweet voice . She didn't replied.
"You have grown now",her grandfather said in firm voice.
"Drop the act", Jay said in cold voices .
"Well," Her grandmother voice shrilled through the room, sharp and brittle. "I see some things never change. Mannerless. Utterly mannerless."
Her grandfather stepped forward, his cane thumping heavily. "Is this how you greet your elders, Jay? Is this what you've become? A girl who forgets her place the moment she gets a little power?"
Jay didn't even look up from the tablet in front of her. She just swiped a finger across the screen, her face a mask of indifference.
"We have heard enough of this nonsense,"her grandfather continued, his voice rising. "This 'company' of yours. It is far too much for a woman to handle. It is high time you hand the reins of the JJM holdings over to Lucas.
He is a man; he understands the weight of a legacy. You should be at home, focusing on your husband and preparing for a family. A girl's place is in the home, not the boardroom."
My blood boiled. I felt my hands curl into fists, the heat from my anger radiating through my chest. Who did this old man think he was?
I stepped forward, my boots echoing against the floor as I stood directly between Jay and that old man.
"You've got a lot of nerve talking about 'legacy' to the woman who built this empire while you were busy being a relic," I growled, my eyes narrowing. "If you think for one second I'm going to stand here and let you belittle my fiancée in front of me, you're even more delusional than you look. Jay isn't 'handing over' anything. She owns this room, she owns this company, and quite frankly, she owns you."
My dad, standing right behind me, placed a firm hand on my shoulder, his gaze just as lethal. "The Watson family stands with Jay, Mr.Mariano . If you insult her, you're declaring war on us, too."
"Keifer ?? right , you lack manners . You don't know how to respect your elders",Her grandmother said to me.
Beside me, Mom's face was red. She stepped forward, her mouth opening to deliver a scathing defense.
"Now listen here,Mrs.Mariano," My mom, Serina, stepped forward, her voice shaking with rage. " My kids don't lack manner.They know the difference between who deserve respect or not."
"You walk in here after years of silence and try to strip her of her hard work? Jay has done more for this name than Lucas ever could!",Jay mother continued.
Jay's father, stood tall, surprising us all. "Father, I've spent my life being afraid of you. But I won't let you do this to my daughter. She is the CEO. This is her legacy."
"He's right," Jane added, stepping to Jay's side, her eyes watery but fierce. "Jay is ten times the person Lucas is. We aren't children you can just boss around anymore."
Percy and the rest of Section E moved like a wall of leather and muscle behind Jay. "Yeah, Gramps," Percy smirked. "The 'legacy' you're talking about is created by the girl you're insulting."
"You don't have a right to speak here," her grandmother snapped.
Jay's maternal grandmother, Lola Elena, stepped out from the shadows of the hallway. "Luna you always were a fool," she said calmly. "You think you can break a girl who built a kingdom out of the scraps? Sit down."
Jay's POV
I listened to them. My parents, Jane, Keifer's family—they were all defending me. They thought this was about the company. They thought I hated August and Luna because they were "strict" or "traditional" or because they favored Lucas.
They had no idea.
They didn't know about the cold nights in the annex years ago. They didn't know about the "lessons" August forced me to learn through pain while they were away on business. They didn't know the true reason my soul felt like it had been carved out of ice.
I finally looked up. I didn't look angry;
Keifer PoV
"Lucas?" Jay asked, her voice tilting upward in a mocking lilt. "You want me to hand over a billion-dollar empire to a man who couldn't even manage his own gambling debts last summer? A man who needs a roadmap to find his own office?"
"How dare you!" Her grandmother gasped.
"No, how dare you," Jay countered, her voice dropping an octave, becoming low and dangerous.
She stood up slowly, leaning her hands on the table and looming over them. "You walk into my building, into my life, and talk to me about 'manners'? You talk to me about a 'girl's behavior'?"
She walked around the table, stopping just inches from her grandfather. She was shorter than him, but in that moment, she looked like a giant.
"Let's be very clear," Jay said, her eyes boring into his. "My fiance, Keifer, is twice the man you ever were, and even he knows better than to suggest I belong in a kitchen. I am not a 'girl' you can play with anymore. I am the CEO of this company, and I am the reason your retirement funds are still intact."
Her grandfather 's face turned a mottled purple. He raised his cane, shaking it at her. "You ungrateful brat. I made you. I can break you."
The room went ice-cold. I saw Jay's parents flinch, their faces turning ghost-white.
Jay didn't blink. She actually smiled—a cold, terrifying curve of her lips. She leaned in closer to her grandfather, her voice a lethal whisper that echoed in the silent room.
"Threaten me again, Mr.Mariano," she whispered. "Go ahead. Do whatever you can. Mention what you did, and what you allowed to happen. Because I promise you, the moment you open your mouth, I release the files I've been keeping in the my vault. I won't just 'break' you. I will ensure that the name 'August Mariano' is erased from every record, every building, and every history book. You'll die in a cell, forgotten and penniless."
She leaned back, her smile widening as her grandfather eyes filled with genuine, shivering fear. He stumbled back, his cane clattering against the floor.
"Now," Jay said, turning back toward her seat as if she were merely discussing the weather. "The hour isn't up, but I believe we're finished. Security will see you out. And if I see your faces on my property again, I won't be so polite."
She sat down and looked at me for the first time since she'd entered. The coldness in her eyes softened just a fraction, a silent plea for grounding hidden behind the steel.
A/n
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