Page 26 of Tanner

She’s the number one reason I don’t parade around the fact that I’m the son of West Coast newspaper and media magnate Edward Sexton. At the young age of fourteen, I was gifted shares in our media company, and when I reached the legal age, I took actual control of them. My personal wealth has seven zeroes at the end, and I haven’t worked a day in my life to earn one of them.

“I didn’t stay long. I managed to sneak out before the presentation,” Bryce says.

I look at my phone and see my brother’s face with the tired lines around his eyes. The guy works like a machine.

“You left Austin there to play the good son?”

“Serves the bastard right. He manages to skip familial obligations more than a dead man. He also got himself into a shitload of trouble last night.”

I stop in my tracks. “What happened?” I ask.

“Don’t worry about it. I have it all under control.” Bryce pinches the bridge of his nose and lets out a deep sigh. “You can’t graduate fast enough.”

I tilt the phone away from me, not wanting him to see the expression on my face. I’m a Sexton, heir to a media empire. With that comes obligation. With obligation comes sacrifice. One I know I’d be selfish not to make. I mean, who doesn’t want to work for the multimillion-dollar company his mother created from the ground up?

“Just a few more weeks.” I try to keep a lighthearted tone.

When I pull the screen back up, Bryce is looking off to the side, his mouth pinched and a deep vein protrudes in the center of his brow. I step out of the way of people walking by and hold up the phone, so I can give him my full attention.

“What are you not telling me?”

Bryce removes his glasses and rubs his eyes. “Father gave Missy half of his shares.”

“Why the hell would he do that?”

“She wants control.”

“Of what? She’s already married to him. She has been for four years. She already works for the company. What more does she get out of being an owner?”

Bryce drops his head back, letting out a deep sigh. Sometimes, I feel bad for him. Being the oldest Sexton brother, he holds the weight of our family on his shoulders.

“So, what does this actually mean?” I ask.

“Technically nothing … or maybe everything? I don’t know. I know I’m not going to like their end game though. California is a commonwealth state. They’re married, so she already gets half of what he owns. There’s got to be something I’m missing, a reason he would gift her his shares.”

“Dad didn’t make her sign a prenup?”

“Fuck, I don’t know. I always figured he had, but when they married, I was so buried, trying to figure out how to run a newspaper and spearhead a media company, that I didn’t think I had to question my own father.”

“Lesson learned, right?”

He groans. “Big fucking lesson learned.”

“So, what’s the plan?”

“You graduate, get your ass back here, and help me save the company our mom built.”

“I know. I’m almost finished.” I start walking again, not wanting Bryce to see the falter in my face and using the cold air as my reason to be gritting my teeth.

Of course, I want to move back to San Francisco, where my family is, but I can’t deny that I love having my anonymity here. I’ve had freedom to be the man I want to be, doing the things I want to do. When I go back, I’ll be hit full force with my new life as Tanner Sexton, President of Marketing and Advertising, Sexton Media.

Yes, I’ll get to work in the most artistic department, and I’ll get to actually use my Columbia degree, but I wonder how much I’ll be doing versus telling people what I want them to do.

That’s not really what I want.

I want to create.

I want to live, creating my art.