Inheritance

Chapter 8

The Milton Co. skyscraper was an expansive building located right in the heart of New York City. From the outside, it appeared a translucent opaque color that enigmatically reflected the sheer blue skies. The building seemed to soar endlessly into the clouds, with its highest floors hardly visible when standing directly under the harrowing structure.

Most of the higher floors were equipped with masonry terraces, which employees often made use of during their coffee breaks, informal briefings, or lunch rendezvous. No matter the time of day, workers from all of the various departments could be seen hurriedly entering or exiting the building, while frantically moving about to complete their individual sets of tasks. 

It was always a nostalgic feeling to observe the commotion.

 "You're late." Frank said curtly, just as I reached him.

"By five minutes, relax. We still have ten minutes left before the meeting starts." Although we had agreed to meet fifteen minutes prior, it had taken me some time to find parking.

"Whatever, Sasha. I just hope you're prepared. Here's the plan, we're going to march in there and let the board members know why we believe selling the company is an impractical decision. I hate to play the race card, but that may be our best bet if our report fails to get the message across. Milton Co. is a Black-owned business and much of our enticement comes from that factor." Frank began to ramble.

"Frank, stop. Let's just stick to the hard truths first. Like, the fact that we've been doing progressively well in the news and media division, as well as throughout our hotel chains. There is a huge risk that being bought out by a tech corporation may undermine many of our current investments. These are the main points our report outlines, so let's just follow what we practiced."

"Okay, you're right. Come on. We'll do it just like we rehearsed. We have five minutes." Frank stressed, as he pushed the double doors open.

Upon entering the world-renowned headquarters, we were greeted by several friendly faces. After navigating past the crowded plaza, we took one of the private elevators up to the 29th floor. Most employees referred to it as the Executive Corridor because it was where all of the company's top executives resided, including Frank.

When we finally made it to the conference room, all of the board members were already gathered inside, including Kendall. He had been leaning against the slanted wall, with his toned arms folded crisply against one another. 

The framed reading glasses perched along his nose added a refreshingly innocent touch to his stoic expression. It was a startling contrast to his normally intimidating aura. Although he still held his usual frown, the glasses helped soften his typical ruggedness. The sexy but dorky look was a side to him I hadn't seen before, but I wasn't in the slightest opposed to. 

"Ah, there you both are! Sasha. Frank. How are you?" My Uncle Darrell announced from the center of the table. 

At the sound of my name, Kendall turned from the man he was chatting to and threw me a short look that said nothing about our recent encounter. I wondered if he had also heard the ridiculous rumors going around about us.

"Um, I'm good. Though, I haven't seen you in a while. I thought you might have been avoiding me." I joked, but it seemed the comment had caught my uncle off guard when he let out an awkward laugh.

Uncle Darrell had always been a good-looking man, but today something appeared off about him. His usually round face was hollow and pale. His deeply vibrant skin was dulled and he seemed to have lost some weight. Brushing off the intrusively negative thoughts, I chose to disregard any of my unconfirmed worries, which may have been clouded by my nerves. Since he had been traveling for weeks, his diminished appearance was likely due to jet lag and stress.