Page 48 of Moonlit Colorado

“You seem like you know your way around a ski mountain,” she said. “I assume your family had the money for ski vacations when you were a kid.”

“We did. Never had a choice about learning, but for different reasons than you might think. My mom was an Olympic Alpine skier. Medaled three times.”

Grace stopped short. “Really? That’s amazing.”

“My momispretty amazing. She took up mountaineering as a hobby. That’s how she met my dad. They were both at the Everest base camp in Nepal. Neither got to summit because the weather didn’t cooperate, but Mom claimed Dad’s heart.”

“That’s so sweet.”

I grunted. My father had been good to my mom. No matter how much he and I clashed, I could never forget about that. “Mom had me in her late twenties, and they adopted my brother Kip not long after. The origins of the Knightly Global empire,” I said wryly.

“But you didn’t always work for your father.”

I watched her from the corner of my eye. “Somebody’s been on my Wikipedia page.”

“Fine, I googled you! Ashford told me some things, but he’s not much of a gossip.”

“Something I’ve always liked about him.”

“It sounded like it was a big deal, though. When you joined your father’s company.”

“It was.” Dad made it a big deal. Press releases, articles in business magazines, appearances at high-profile events.The prodigal son returns. I’d hated every second of it. “I never wanted to work for my father. We’ve never gotten along. Kip was the ideal, and I was the disappointment.” In family photos growing up, Kip looked as perfect as a statue, while my hair had always been messy no matter how much Mom smoothed it down.

“You’re hardly a disappointment.”

“It’s all relative, I guess.”

When my father expected me to head to the Ivy League, I only made it through a semester and a half before I was in an Army recruiter’s office. Mom had been worried about me, yet she’d also cheered me on.

“When I left for basic training, my father disowned me. Didn’t speak to me for years.”

“Seriously? Even when you were deployed?”

“Yep.”

But the Army had been exactly what I needed. Maybe it was strange that I’d found freedom among so much rigid discipline. But I’d had a purpose. Something larger than me that resonated more than making money. And then, when I left the service, I took that drive into starting my own company. Because I certainly didn’t have any problem with making money, per se. But I had needed to do it on my own terms. For reasons that spoke to me.

With some friends I’d made during my brief stint in college, I started a health tracker app. Worked my butt off day and night to get us off the ground. When we got the offer from a massive media company to buy us out, it felt like I’d summited Everest myself.

Then our company went public. Once my shares had vested, I used the money to invest in other start-ups. I got really good at picking winners. It all snowballed from there. By my thirty-second birthday, I was a billionaire in my own right.

Then Mom got her diagnosis. And my entire world crashed back to the ground.

“My mother’s proud of what I accomplished on my own, but she always wanted me to join Knightly Global. Reconcile with my dad and Kip. I did it for her.”

“Is she happy that you’re working for the family business now?”

I rolled my tongue against my teeth. “I think so. Yes.” I almost told her about my mom’s condition, since it was no secret, but something held those words at bay. I had no idea what.

“But areyouhappy?”

I stopped and grinned at her. “Happy right now. I have excellent company.”

She pressed her lips together, her amber eyes assessing.

We continued along the trail. “My mom died when I was in middle school,” Grace said. “Our dad…none of us were close to him. We haven’t heard from him in a very long time.”

“Do you want to hear from him?”

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