Chapter 29 - grant’s accident proved rosemmere did not need one hero
I fell off a ladder when Maisie was sixteen.
Embarrassing.
Not dramatic.
I fractured my ankle and two ribs while insisting I could inspect a damaged gutter myself.
Nolan showed no sympathy.
“You employ maintenance staff.”
“I was already there.”
“You’re an idiot.”
Fair.
For six weeks I could not move around Rosemere normally.
For two weeks strong pain medication made me useless after dinner.
My first fear?
Rosemere.
Who would make decisions?
Apparently everyone I had spent years paying to make decisions.
Nolan ran operations.
Finance handled finance.
Brooke handled legal matters.
The trust did nothing because no trust action was needed.
Audrey did not seize control.
Maisie did not become teenage CEO.
Nothing collapsed.
One afternoon Maisie sat beside my hospital-style recliner.
“Thought castle needed you.”
“So did I.”
“It doesn’t.”
Rude.
Correct.
Then she became serious.
“Is that bad?”
No.
Actually—
it was exactly what I wanted.
If Rosemere could not function without me, I had not built a company.
I had built dependency.
Derek had once exploited concentrated access and authority.
Years of reforms had done their job.
Maisie smiled.
“Then when I’m eighteen, nothing explodes.”
My chest tightened.
“No.”
May you like
“Good.”
That was the first time she said eighteen without fear.
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