Dreading the rest of my life, I wondered how many situations I would find myself in. The CEO of my mother’s company was a large task she left, and I was horrified to know what would happen to me if I didn’t follow her footsteps closely.

I barely knew the footsteps she laid out for me to follow.

The creepy texts seemed to be on a pause. Kelly started looking into it and promised to keep me updated on what she found out. Everything was moving quickly, and the paranoia was starting to creep in again. I needed to know where the closest garbage can was in case I was going to throw up.

What if people found out I slept with Brent? What would that do to our companies?

What would Alexander do? He sent me a strange text this morning asking to take me on a date, but I hadn’t replied to him. He freaked me out too much. His family was full of powerful, brutal people that held sway over law enforcement. Not comforting.

I felt like I was in the eye of the storm for a brief reprieve, but the winds were going to start picking up again soon.

With the building in view, a pit formed in my stomach. I wanted to jump out of the car and die.

All right, let’s put on our big girl pants and do this shit. I already shed my virginity to the bad boy on campus. I can do whatever at this point.

The room was filled with those on a need-to-know basis only.

I sighed defeatedly and plopped in my seat. “Alright boys, let’s get this over with.”

The chatter stopped at the sound of my voice.

“Just like her mom,” one of them mused.

I could only dream of her footsteps being that easy to follow, but she did this at my age. I could figure out how to get it done with a little help. All of this was going to be my new normal no matter how much I kicked, screamed, or cried about it.

I took a deep breath, firming myself to speak. “Evans, I need you to brief me quickly on the decisions that my mom made. I need to make decisions like her. I don’t have her experience, but I need to make sure things run smoothly and that no one can catch me off guard. I’m going to tell you all, I am completely scared shitless, and I need your help. I am all in because I have been drowning with the sharks at play.”

Mr. Caldwell smiled. “Don’t worry, Miss Montgomery. You’re more like her than you know. We all have the company to worry about, and we will be with you every step of the way.”