In private, however, he never let Clarke forget the boy he’d been. The teen who’d sworn up and down he wanted no part in the family business. The frat boy who’d ignored his mother’s wishes that he go into law and his father’s wishes that he get his degree in business.

Clarke had instead gone into computer science, partially, yes, to dodge his parents’ expectations, but also because he’d found the classes to be enjoyable. And Clarke had always figured, even from a young age, that life was supposed to be enjoyed, even if his parents had never seemed to get the message.

The biggest irony was, it was probably the computer science degree his father had been so damn set against that had saved his precious company in the first place. Without that degree, Clarke wouldn’t have had nearly enough know-how to push York in the right direction. And because fate was a tricky beast, what had started as Clarke wanting to prove his father wrong—or maybe just prove himself—had turned into a genuine love for the company. Growing up, he’d never understood how his father could be so consumed with a company. And while he still vowed never to let a job matter more than people, a part of him understood. When you poured your energy into something, it became a part of you. Like it or not—and most of the time he didn’t like it—this company had become a part of Clarke. Something worth fighting for.

Clarke winced as he checked his email, noting that the number of unread messages was nearing triple digits, just in the couple hours since he’d left the office.

A handful of them were from Maria, who hadn’t wasted any time in taking advantage of Clarke’s distraction with his upcoming “wedding” over the past couple weeks. He had no doubt she was making sure Alton knew she was still in the office while Clarke was off sipping wine with his fiancée.

Clarke had no idea how much his father knew about the fake nature of his and Audrey’s arrangement. He certainly hadn’t given the old man the details, and as far as he could tell, Linda rarely told her husband anything about her master plan for the family. Clarke did know, though, that even if Alton thought the engagement was real and that Audrey was about to become his daughter-in-law, it wouldn’t have mattered. Clarke would have been penalized for choosing anything over the company. Including his own wedding.

Most of Clarke’s incoming emails were merely FYIs, and he made quick work of archiving them. A few necessitated easy responses, which he fired off, and a handful more required more mental energy than he had at the moment. He flagged those to deal with first thing in the morning.