Julian’s POV
I sat at the head of the long mahogany conference table, one leg crossed over the other, the Manhattan skyline glittering behind me like a bed of diamonds. The Windsor Empire’s 83rd-floor boardroom rarely saw the weight of silence. Usually, it was filled with noise, strategy updates, global rollouts, and merger debates. But today, it was quiet.
Because today, I was waiting for her. I was waiting for Grandma Celesta.
She didn’t usually get involved in operations. Ever since I took over as CEO, she’d stayed in the background, sipping her tea, sitting in her rose garden, throwing the occasional pointed glance when I brought a date to family brunch. But in business? She trusted me.
That’s why her involvement now made me pause.
Zane, seated beside me and spinning a Montblanc p
