Chapter 65 - The Client Who Recognized Our Last Name
The problem came unexpectedly.
Leo's firm took on a major client.
A family-owned investment group.
During the first meeting, the client's attorney looked at Leo's credentials.
Then he looked at his surname.
“Are you related to Julian?”
Leo froze for half a second.
“Yes.”
The man smiled.
“I remember that scandal.”
Leo didn't respond.
The attorney continued.
“Your father nearly destroyed his own reputation.”
Leo looked directly at him.
“He made serious mistakes.”
The attorney raised an eyebrow.
“You're defending him?”
“No.”
Leo's voice remained calm.
“I'm describing what happened.”
The room became quiet.
Then Leo opened the file.
“Now let's talk about your financial structure.”
The meeting continued.
But afterward, Leo called me.
“I hated hearing his name like that.”
I understood.
“Did you feel ashamed?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because part of me still thinks people are going to look at me and see him.”
I thought about the years when I had feared the same thing.
Then I said, “They don't get to decide who you are because they know his name.”
“What if they never stop?”
“Then you keep becoming someone they can't confuse with him.”
Leo was quiet.
Then he said, “That's what Grandpa used to say.”
“Yes.”
“I'm starting to understand him too.”
That night, Leo opened an old box.
Inside was the phone.
The same phone from the gala.
He hadn't touched it in years.
He turned it over in his hand.
Then he put it back.
He didn't delete it.
He didn't destroy it.
He simply closed the box.
For the first time, the phone wasn't a weapon.
It was history.
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And history didn't have to be carried everywhere.
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