“Miss Santorini? Did you hear what I said?” asked Ken Rogers, Chairman of the Board. Forced from her reverie, Brielle gave a hesitant head shake. “No. I don’t believe I understood correctly.
Grandfather appointed me as CEO of Santorini before he died?”
“Yes. Even though you are the majority shareholder, owning fifty-one percent of Santorini stock, it was still Mr. Santorini’s wish that you run the company as he did, after he was gone.”
“That’s absurd!” she said. “Didn’t you all have to agree to this before my grandfather put it in his will?”
“Mr. Santorini did propose it to the board, and after a careful review of your qualifications, we agreed.”
“What qualifications? I haven’t the slightest idea what it takes to run a company of this magnitude. Any one of you would be better suited to run Santorini.”
Ken stood up and handed her a file. “We appreciate your vote of confidence. However, Mr. Santorini made the decision. He felt certain you could handle the position and so do we.”
Brielle reviewed the will. Grandfather had actually done this monumental thing. He had appointed her, frivolous Brielle Santorini, CEO of the largest and most distinguished jeweler in the country. Since she graduated from Harvard Business School with an MBA at the age of twenty-one, he had been pestering her to utilize her knowledge at Santorini. Yet each time he asked, she had declined his offer. Why? To be more like the mother she hadn’t seen since the age of three? To finally gain her approval by visiting the very places Gabriella frequented? How pathetic did that sound now, to have traveled the world in an unconscious search for the mother who didn’t want her? What a waste. Yet not once did Grandfather chide her for the way she had chosen to live the last few years. She did sit on the board of three charities, but that never felt like work. It was enjoyable. With a laptop and Wi-Fi, she could fulfill her duties from just about anywhere.
Brielle looked at them defiantly. “What if I refuse to do it?”
