“I was just thinking,” I admitted, “about how long I let them make me feel invisible.

For years, I genuinely believed that if I just worked harder, if I produced cleaner reports, if I kept my head down and never made trouble, my father would eventually see my worth.

It took losing my place in that company to finally understand that he was never looking at me at all.

He was only ever looking at what I could do for Caleb.”

“Your father is a short-sighted man who confused his son’s recklessness for ambition,” Julian said, his voice edged with cold certainty.