“That sounds like an excellent way to not have a company in a few years,” Cheryl replied primly.

“Easy for you to say. You have almost as much money as Rene,” Marietta shot back. “And you didn’t earn it, either.”

Ashley groaned. “None of us did. Not a one of us truly earned a dime. We all came from money, and it sucks when we don’t take care of it and it goes away. Rene might look like a douchebag in a suit, but he’s a good man. He’s kind and he helps where he can. Gabriel and I are voting our mom’s shares, and we will vote for Rene.”

“No one wants to hear from you,” Charles said. “What would you know about working?”

“She knows what we all do, Charles,” Roberta said with a long-suffering sigh. “Maybe more since she actually tried to follow her dream. She wasn’t very good at it, so now she needs a new dream.”

“Why are you so rude?” Ashley asked, her disgust apparent.

Roberta shrugged her off. “Because I’m old and I can be. You’ll find something very freeing about not having to worry if some man thinks you’re pretty, honey.”

Ashley frowned. “The truth is I don’t actually like men and I’m sick of pretending to.”

“Then you have half the secret of life,” Roberta announced. “Rene, come here.”

Rene chuckled. “Oh, I’ve learned the other half, Roberta, and that’s that I don’t have to do anything I don’t want to.”

A little smile curled up his aunt’s lips. “Good for you, honey. But please come here because it can be hard for me to hear, and you’re not yelling like Charles and our little protestor here.”

Put like that, he couldn’t refuse her. He moved in. “Why did you want me here, Aunt Roberta? I made myself plain last night. I’m not going to beg for this job. And even if you decide to vote me back in, some things are going to change. I’m not going to come to the board for every single decision I have to make, especially when it comes to what’s best for our employees. We owe our employees, too, and we owe the next generation. My father was a good steward, and one of the things he taught me is that we owe it to our children and grandchildren to keep this company strong. I cannot promise that I’ll give the stockholders everything they want, but I’ll do my best to ensure this company is around for whoever runs it after me.”

Roberta nodded. “You don’t have to convince me. You had my vote before I came here, and you have it now. How you treated the little weasel there convinced me.” She pointed to Gabriel. “He did something he shouldn’t have, but you showed him mercy. I know I don’t look like a woman who would appreciate that, but I do. Especially when it comes to family.”