Ch9 - Idiot cousin

Julian idly reached out and toyed with a leaf from a planter. “How about marketing? Heard that department’s the chillest.”

Serena didn’t actually want him anywhere near the company, let alone in a decent role, but she couldn’t find a clean excuse to shut him down. Right then someone knocked and walked in after two quick taps.

Serena’s face went hard—who the hell barged in?—until she saw Charles, and her expression instantly froze.

Charles beamed that grandfatherly smile. “Sorry to interrupt, Serena. Got a moment for Julian?”

She hated it, but Charles was one of the old guard—an aide to the former chairman, someone who’d watched Ashford grow from the ground up. So she gave him a little face. “Of course, come in. What do you need? Want me to give you the room?”

Charles waved her off. “No—sorry to drop by like this. I got a call. One of my team’s tied up with visa issues and won’t be back for months. Can Julian help out for a bit?”

Julian clapped his hands, pleased. “Perfect — I was just thinking marketing!”

Charles straightened. “Don’t treat it like a lark. It’s not filing and coffee runs; you’ll be handling real work.”

Julian pouted. “I’m supposed to be an exec. Running errands ain’t my thing.”

Serena tapped his shoulder. “You just said you wanted to come to work. Don’t start whining now. Go meet Charles and get some experience.”

She was secretly pleased—if it turned out to be grunt work, Julian wouldn’t last a week. The “precious heir” had never done a day of real work, and the marketing floors were 8–11—far enough from the core that she wouldn’t have to see him all the time.

Julian sighed. “If it weren’t for Violet, I wouldn’t be wasting my time at this dump.”

“Hey, old man,” he asked Charles, “is there pay involved?”

Charles went stern. “Do the job right and you won’t be shortchanged. Stop whining—let’s go.”

He folded his hands behind his back and turned away. Julian called after him, “Wait—what’s the role? Don’t give me something lame…”

Only the closing door answered. Julian muttered, “Man, the old guy’s got quite the temper. He was all smiles out there a minute ago.”

Serena nodded for him to hurry. Julian fell in step with Charles.

In the empty elevator, Julian elbowed Charles playfully. “Not bad. You put on quite the act—how’d you know I’d get the cold shoulder? So, is your team really short-handed?”

Charles gave him a flat look. “Stop clowning. I’m not joking; if you mess up, I’ll ship you to HR.”

“Oh yeah? Heard that’s where all the babes are.”

“Cut the crap, you jerk.” Charles glanced at his reflection in the elevator door—white hair, years on his shoulders. He should’ve been retired, but he couldn’t shake the worry. He didn’t want everything the old Ashford worked for to go to hell because of some people.

Julian just grinned. “Do me a favor—let me cause a little trouble these next few days. Watch Serena and Marcus’s faces when the real show starts.”

Upstairs, Serena sneezed, rubbed her nose, and made her way to the conference room. As soon as the board meeting wrapped, she practically chased Marcus back to his office.

She couldn’t hold it in. “Do you know that brat Julian showed up at the company today, running his mouth about his wife? Do you think he’s actually serious, or just playing dumb?”

Marcus massaged his temples. As head of strategy, he was already buried in headaches about breaking into new overseas markets—he needed results to prove himself before the board if he wanted to move up to CEO.

“Yeah, I got reports this morning he turned up. The kid’s a damn nuisance.” He scowled. “You remember Mr. Hill?”

“You mean… the distributor? The one who brokers all those big hospital contracts? He moves a ton of product for us every year.”

Ashford Biotech had built its fortune on bread-and-butter meds like painkillers and antibiotics. In recent years, they’d been trying to pivot into rare-disease and oncology drugs—but with those long R&D timelines, half their revenue still depended on the basics.

“Two nights ago Julian picked a fight with Hill—something about that Violet girl. I don’t know the details, but it was basically a pissing contest over a woman. Hill was so furious he threatened to cut ties with us.”

Serena slammed her palm on the desk. “WHAT? Over a girl?”

“Exactly. Either Julian’s an idiot or he’s playing the fool so well he’s willing to sabotage the company just to keep up the act. Either way, I had to smooth Hill over—gifts, apologies, promising him Julian would be punished. Took forever just to calm him down.”

Of course, Marcus knew it only after the wedding, otherwise he would’ve ripped into Julian during the dinner already. But it wasn’t just the lost orders that pissed him off—Hill had real value. 

The man had connections in Switzerland, could get their drugs approved for procurement easier. That would’ve been a huge boost for Marcus’s expansion plans. And Julian nearly blew it all because of his obsession with women.

Serena’s worry deepened. “Hill doesn’t know Violet and Julian are married, does he? I’m afraid he might…”

Marcus shook his head. “Relax. I didn’t tell him. Honestly, it’d be better if they divorced before he finds out.”

From Marcus’s perspective, Hill clearly liked the girl too. Getting one-upped by Julian had driven him insane—enough to jeopardize his deals with Ashford. Sure, the company would take a hit, but Hill wouldn’t come out unscathed either.

Serena folded her arms. “Didn’t you see the dinner I threw last night? The only people there were family.”

“And guess what? Not one of them believes this marriage will last. They all think I’m being generous letting a nobody like her into the family. But do you really see Julian settling down for more than, what, six months? He’ll be back out screwing around in no time. “

“When that happens, I’ll give things a little push—slip Violet some cash to walk away. A girl like her? Never seen real money before. She’ll cave.”

The family trust required the marriage to last at least a year before Julian could claim those shares. So, their mutual goal was simple: make sure Julian’s marriage crashed and burned before the clock ran out.

“The more reckless he is, the better for us. And for you…” Marcus trailed off, letting the implication hang.

Serena didn’t need him to finish. She knew exactly what he meant. She was “holding” Julian’s 10% stake—technically just proxying it, since the board had sidelined him as “too inexperienced.” Outwardly, she kept her image as the caring stepmother, but in practice, she was the one pulling the strings.

“Fine then.” Serena smiled slowly. “To a very… productive partnership.”

She was already thinking up new ideas.