Chapter 27: Public Sympathy

The atmosphere inside the executive office remained noticeably colder than usual.

Andrei Sebastian stood near the windows with a tablet in his hand.

Without turning around, he asked,

"Did you authorize these interviews?"

Dominic leaned casually against the conference table.

"I approved them."

"And the social media campaign?"

"Also mine."

Andrei finally looked at him.

"The opinion pieces implying Mercer Group manipulated the situation?"

Dominic shrugged.

"People were already asking questions."

"So you made sure they kept asking."

Dominic said nothing.

Andrei placed the tablet on the table.

"Do you honestly believe this helps Sebastian Group?"

"It helps our image."

"It helps your image."

Dominic’s expression tightened.

"We need public sympathy."

"No. You need public sympathy."

Andrei pulled out a chair but didn’t sit.

"The company needs investor confidence."

Silence settled between the brothers.

"Shareholders don’t care who won the breakup, Dominic. They care whether this company remains profitable and whether the people running it are capable of making sound decisions."

He pushed the tablet across the table.

"And every time you turn this into another public argument with Alexander Vance or Giovanni Mercer, you make my job harder."

Dominic folded his arms.

"I was defending myself."

"No."

Andrei’s voice remained level.

"You were defending your pride."

That landed harder.

Dominic straightened.

"Easy for you to say."

"Is it?"

"You weren’t the one publicly humiliated."

Andrei stared at him for a moment.

"No. Alexander was."

Dominic’s jaw tightened.

"You embarrassed him publicly, avoided speaking to him privately, and announced your relationship to everyone else before having the decency to tell the man you were supposed to marry."

"What was I supposed to do?"

"Tell him."

"And lose everything?"

Andrei’s expression barely changed.

"You lost everything anyway."

The room went quiet.

Dominic looked away first.

Andrei reached for the folder beside his tablet.

"I’ve reviewed your performance during your tenure as Chief Executive Officer."

That immediately brought Dominic’s attention back.

"And?"

Andrei opened the folder.

"Your performance wasn’t disastrous."

Dominic hadn’t expected that.

"But it wasn’t particularly good either."

There it was.

"You delayed decisions whenever they became uncomfortable, delegated inconsistently, and allowed personal preferences to influence matters that required objective judgment."

He turned another page.

"Several opportunities were lost because you waited too long to commit."

"I was being cautious."

"Sometimes."

Andrei closed the folder.

"Other times, you simply didn’t want to make the decision."

Dominic laughed bitterly.

"You sound just like Alexander."

"No."

Andrei met his eyes.

"Alexander made an unpleasant decision almost immediately and accepted the consequences."

A beat passed.

"You’re still trying to convince the public that your consequences belong to someone else."

Dominic pushed himself away from the table.

"So everything is my fault now."

"I didn’t say that."

"You didn’t have to."

Andrei removed his glasses and cleaned one lens with a handkerchief.

"Your problem isn’t that you make mistakes, Dominic. Everyone sitting in that office makes mistakes."

He put his glasses back on.

"Your problem is what you do after making one."

Dominic stared at him.

Andrei returned the folder to the table.

"Your mother spent years making sure you would inherit this company."

Dominic’s face changed immediately.

"Don’t."

"I’m going to."

"Andrei."

"When she learned Father already had an older son, she became afraid."

"Leave my mother out of this."

"She’s already part of it."

Andrei’s tone remained maddeningly calm.

"She worried about your position in the family and what my existence might eventually mean for your inheritance. So she did what she believed would protect you."

Dominic said nothing.

"She strengthened relationships with powerful families, secured support where she could, and eventually pushed for an alliance with the Vances."

"It wasn’t that simple."

"No."

Andrei nodded.

"Family rarely is."

That answer stole some of Dominic’s argument before he could make it.

"But whatever her reasons were, the result was the same. You had Vance Holdings beside you."

Andrei paused.

"You had Alexander."

Dominic’s fingers curled against his palms.

"And you didn’t even have to love him."

His eyes snapped toward his brother.

"You only had to respect him enough to tell him the truth."

That one hurt.

Dominic covered it with anger.

"And what does any of that have to do with Giovanni?"

"Nothing."

Dominic frowned.

Andrei picked up his tablet.

"That’s the part you don’t seem to understand."

"Mercer Group is taking advantage of this."

"Then prove it."

"I don’t need to prove what’s obvious."

"You’re the former CEO of a major corporation. You should know better than to say that."

Dominic’s face darkened.

Andrei continued before he could interrupt.

"If Mercer Group’s proposals are commercially unreasonable, we’ll demonstrate it. If they’re interfering with existing Sebastian contracts, Legal will deal with it, and if they’re engaging in anti-competitive conduct, we’ll respond through the appropriate channels."

He held Dominic’s gaze.

"But if Giovanni Mercer submitted legitimate proposals to fill gaps that you created, I’m not going to accuse him of wrongdoing because you dislike the man."

Dominic let out a humorless laugh.

"You don’t know him."

"Neither do you."

"I’ve known him since childhood."

"Then perhaps you should’ve stopped competing with him long enough to notice whether he was competing with you."

Dominic went still.

Andrei walked toward the door.

"I don’t dislike you, Dominic."

His hand settled on the handle.

"But I’m beginning to understand why you’ve spent so much of your life angry at Giovanni Mercer."

Dominic scoffed.

"Please. Enlighten me."

Andrei glanced back.

"Because he never needed to lose for you to succeed."

A beat passed.

"And somehow, you always needed him to."

The door closed.

Dominic stared after him.

Then his phone vibrated.

Another article had been published.

He opened it.

A photograph filled the screen.

Alexander Vance and Giovanni Mercer leaving Ysabella’s Steak House.

Nothing scandalous.

Nothing intimate.

Just two men in business attire walking toward the parking area after lunch.

The caption underneath was considerably more irritating.

VANCE AND MERCER CEOs SPOTTED TOGETHER AS PARTNERSHIP TALKS CONTINUE

Dominic stared at Giovanni’s face.

Andrei’s words were still fresh in his mind.

He never needed to lose for you to succeed.

Dominic locked his phone.

"Bullshit."

Then he called his PR manager.

"Find out everything you can about that lunch."