My eyes flipped open and I willed myself to get out of bed. I moved, ever so slowly, from under the sheets and turned back to tuck Nancy in. I couldn’t help but stop and stare at how calm she looked, nestled in between those huge, white sheets, her cheek resting in her palm, her face relaxed, her lips slightly parted. But I couldn’t linger. I was on a mission.

My heart raced as I tiptoed through the guest bedroom of my uncle’s beach house and straight to the bathroom, where I locked the door behind me and tried to get dressed as quickly as possible. Once done, I went with silent steps back through the bedroom, down the hallway and to the speed-boat my uncle had arranged to be left for me the night before. I told him Nancy’s ring had dropped in the pool and that I needed to get to the mainland to find a jeweler that would service it. In reality, nothing had happened to the ring. In fact, its only flaw was that it was wrong for Nancy. I was on a mission to get the right one, because before this trip was over, I was determined to propose to her, for real.

As I raced across the water to the mainland, I couldn’t help but go back and forth in my mind. I knew that we had only really gotten a little over a month to get to know each other, but I couldn’t deny that I was falling for her. It was like, all of a sudden I woke up one morning and she was my whole world. I couldn’t really explain it, but I just knew that she was the one. Talking about my parents the night before really made it click for me. They had planned and planned and planned for years, and then they just died. But I knew that I couldn’t do that with her. I couldn’t just tell myself that I would have so much time, because who knew what would happen. I was lucky to have this day, this moment, and I was going to take it, and marry Nancy.

Soon enough, I got to the dock. After making arrangements to have my boat taken care of, I started strolling down the streets of Puerto Vallarta, looking for the jeweler my uncle had recommended. As it was still so early in the morning, not a lot of people were out. So, I could really enjoy the cobble-stoned roads, the way that the clay buildings, all different colors, looked in the morning sun, the sounds of kitchens opening and the city waking up, of street-vendors setting up and people heading to their favorite cafe. Eventually, I got to the jewelry store where my uncle told me to go. There was a short man there waiting for me. He had beady eyes that lit up with his wide smile.

I knocked on the window and waited for him to come let me in. “Hello, hello,” he said, his voice impossibly chipper considering the fact that it was barely eight in the morning.

“Uhm… Hector sent me?” I said as I stepped inside.

“Yes, come in.” He locked the door behind me again and flipped a switch. “I’ll just make it easier to see here.” As he said that, the whole store illuminated with the overhead light. I glanced all around the small room, my eyes wide with the sight of it all. The first thing I realized was that he had organized all the rings by cut, and then by band, on one side of the store. Each one glistened with the back-lighting in the chamber, casting light out on everything. I stepped up to the counter which had the most rings.

At first, I was a little apprehensive about doing this here. Since I wasn’t at home, I didn’t actually have every resource at my disposal. I wanted Nancy to have the best that I could give her. Yet, as I stared at the rings in front of me, I conceded that they really were of superior quality. The diamonds were unique, each refracting the light in stereotyped patterns. My heart leapt at the thought of sliding one onto Nancy’s hand. I would have been happy to see her in any one of them. But I had to choose… and it had to be one that would take her breath away.

With that, my eyes fell on something. It didn’t have the biggest stone of the bunch, but there was something about it; the old-fashioned, oval cut, the rose gold band. I pointed at that one. “Could I see this?”

A knowing smile stretched across the man’s face as he said, “Sure.” He unlocked the counter from the back and pulled it out with deft hands, placing it on a cushion. I picked up the ring, holding it as Nancy’s smile came to mind. As I slid it onto my pinky finger, I knew this was the ring for her. I could already hear her surprised laughter in my head, could already imagine what kind of joke she might make for all of this. With a nod, I said, “This is the one.”

The man nodded, his lips folding into an accomplished grin. He produced a small jewelry box from one of the cabinets on the back wall and packaged it up for me. With that done, he handed me the small, black box, wrapped in a red bow. Then his brow furrowed. “Hector said you needed something repaired?”

I almost laughed at the lie I had all but completely forgotten. “No, I’m actually fine. Thank you.” By the time I had paid, I felt my phone vibrating in my pocket. It was my uncle. “Hello?” I answered, assuming that he was checking on how my little mission was going.

“James.”

That sharp voice made my heart stop. “Yes?”

“I need you back at the house as soon as possible. I will be in my study on the second floor.”

Before I had time to wonder any further, he hung up. I headed outside and back to the boat, my footsteps feeling heavy. I couldn’t imagine what could be so urgent that he couldn’t wait for me to finish my errand and come back on my own. But I knew it couldn’t be good. My heart raced as I got back to the house and marched right to his study, a cold sweat on my forehead. As I walked down the long hallway, my wide eyes settling on the clear French doors at the end of the hall, I could see George already sitting there. “Shit.” I muttered as I pushed the door open.

I sat down in the chair next to him. My uncle sat on the other side of the desk. It felt like there was a wall between us. He leaned back in the imposing, leather chair, one leg crossed over the other. His eyes were cold, that frigid stare practically nailing me to my seat. He set his jaw, the sun glinting off of his sharp nose. The dark, stone look on his face contrasted the linen white button down shirt and shorts he wore. But I could tell from the furrow in his brow that he intended to take care of some business, and that business had something to do with me.

“Right.” he said, uncrossing his legs and pulling himself up to the edge of the desk. “Let’s just get right to it.”

I sucked in a breath, listening to the way it mixed in with sound of the ticking grandfather clock on the wall behind him, of the birds singing just outside the window and of the seagulls on the beach.

“Actually, you know what James? Let me give you a moment to gather your thoughts and give you the chance to do the right thing here.”

I returned his cold stare with a blank one of my own, because I didn’t understand what was going on, or maybe part of me did, and I just didn’t want to face the reality of it.

“Do you have something to tell me?” He asked.

I gulped. Deny. Deny. Deny. “Not that I am aware of. What is this about, exactly?”

I could practically hear George smirking next to me.

My uncle ignored him and held a piece of paper up.

A cold sweat sprouted on my forehead, my heart racing. I could hear my pulse in my ears because I was staring at the contract with Nancy and my signatures at the bottom; obvious, incriminating.

“You care to explain this?” He asked.

I couldn’t breathe, move nor speak.

“You know what? I don’t need you to do that. You can save your breath, because it’s all right here.”

“How did you get that?” I turned my head, my eyes landing on George.

He shifted in his seat for the first time. “I hired a private detective. I just knew something was up.”

My uncle sucked in a breath and let it out slowly. The artisanal feather pen at the edge of his desk fluttered with the air. “I should have seen this coming. It was strange that you hid a serious relationship, let alone an engagement, from the family. But I wanted to believe you. You’re James… I could have expected this from a lot of people… but not you.”

My brow furrowed under the weight of his words. The feeling of shame like one wouldn’t believe took over me. Not once had I allowed myself to feel the lie in all of this. I gulped. “I just- …”

“No…” My uncle raised his hand. “I didn’t call you here to have a conversation. I had hoped that you’d be able to deny it, that there was some explanation for this but…” He looked down at the stack of papers again. “It’s all here.” He then shifted his gaze to George, then back to me. “I can imagine how finding out that the company was going to George would have made you feel. I was you once; ambitious, driven, desperate… but even so, I am deeply disappointed that you chose to handle it this way.”

The entire room was spinning. I couldn’t hear my own thoughts over the sound of my racing heart, let alone formulate a response that might save this situation.

“I was so happy to hear about your engagement, and I had high hopes for you. You are, by far, the best candidate to take over this company. But the fact of the matter is that I can’t look past this deceit, this disrespect for the family, and your willingness to lie to me. I think it goes without saying that I have changed my decision about the inheritance of Paris Inc.”

I ducked my head in disbelief. I couldn’t believe this was actually happening. My worst fear. Everything I had worked for, slipping right through my fingers.

“As for Nancy,”

I shot my gaze up at the sound of her name. “What about her?”

“I don’t know what your true relations with her are, but I don’t want a stranger on my private island. I have arranged for her belongings to be packed and for a boat to take her back to the mainland.” He stopped to glance down at his watch. “As we speak, she is being escorted onto the ferry, where she will be driven to the airport and put on a plane back to LAX.”

My eyes widened. My heart sunk at the thought of her being woken up by the staff, told to get out of the room with absolutely no explanation. I stood up and hurried to the door, determined to get to her as soon as possible. The need to catch her before she got back on that boat, to explain what was happening, to tell her that I was sorry; consumed me. I had taken her out of her comfort zone and isolated her here, and now, she was about to be thrown out like trash.

But my hand hovered over the doorknob. Something was holding me to that spot. It kept me there, in that office. It refused to let me leave this room, and my dreams of running the company behind. I had made my decisions, but I wasn’t going to let my parents’ vision slip through my fingers because of a stupid mistake. “Hold on,” I said, letting go of the doorknob. “I don’t think this is fair at all.”

“Excuse me?” My uncle was staring at me, a flicker of confusion in his brow.

“You heard me.” My heart was racing, my fingers shaking, but I couldn’t turn back from this. “If this was any other job, not something passed down between family favorites, then my personal life would never have had anything to do with it.”

“I was very clear as to the reasoning behind my decision.”

I shook my head. “But, with all due respect, your reasoning is flawed.”

My uncle cocked his head to the side. “And how is that?”

“You say that stability is the number one concern for the company. Then, in that case, you should give it to the most able person. Who cares if George has a wife if he can’t run a company to save his life?”

George gave an incredulous shake of his head, and then stood up, squaring up on me.

But I barely gave him a look. He wasn’t my concern. “I can do this. I am the best person for this. My parents, your brother, served that board relentlessly for a decade before they died.” My voice cracked at that. “And I won’t sit here and let you tell me that I don’t deserve this, because I have a true vision for this company… and that’s more than you can say for George and his wife.”

I huffed out my last bit of breath as I finished. My eyes widened in the silence that followed. I was stunned at myself for even daring to do this. This was it. If he didn’t end up giving me the company now, if I had screwed everything beyond repair, then that was the end of my dream. George and I watched, our breath held, as my uncle cast his gaze down. He looked at the fiddling fingers in his lap, and then stood up. He walked to the window, brushing away the sheer curtains so that he could get a clear view of the ocean beyond. “You know, I was like you when I was your age.”

“My brother was the George between the two of us, rigid, by the book.” He then turned back to the both of us, his gaze falling on George. “But utterly uninteresting.”

I narrowed my eyes. This was my father he was talking about.

A slight smile spread across his face before he dropped it. I saw his lips twitch, his eyes glazing over. But then, before the thing I was sure would happened actually happened, he turned back to the window, staring out into the ocean. “And then when he died, we all realized what a perfect board member he was.” His voice cracked. “He was...” He sucked in a breath and turned back around to us.

It was in that moment that I realized, after all of this time, that he mourned his brother like I mourned my father, that he missed his ideas and his vision, and that I was the next best thing.

“George, you will make a great member of the board. James, you have the company… Just as you are, not only because you had the guts to stand up to me, but because you are most capable.”

I blinked and sighed, my shoulders falling. Every muscle in my body had relaxed. Now that I finally got what I had wanted after all these years, I didn’t know what to do with myself.

“But don’t think this is a complete victory. You will be on a very close watch for the next few years. You will report to me personally, with yearly progress reports that will determine your continued time as head of the company. I sincerely hope for your success, but I am far from being able to blindly trust you again anywhere in the near future.”