Chapter 17: Domineering CEO Trope
** Harper **
The blank look on Harper's face was probably just what Eli expected to see.
"You might have noticed a very tall building on State Street with a very glaring and very pretentious mirrored-glass facade," he continued in a sarcastic tone. "It's kind of hard to miss if you ever pass by that area. There's a ten-story-high sign on top of it that says 'Sterling Trust'."
It took Harper a moment. Then her eyes widened, and her hand slapped to her lips. "I can see the sign from my office window," she gasped. "Gosh, I thought that was referring to the silver."
Eli huffed. "I wish. Unfortunately, that Sterling is my father. And he's been working on getting me adapted to taking over his little empire since ... I don't know, before we met as kids. I never wanted to, but he doesn't really care."
He sipped his seltzer, giving Harper some time to process the bomb he'd just dropped.
Or maybe, considering his nonchalant expression as if he was only talking about the weather, he didn't seem to even realize how much of a bomb it was. He didn't seem to recall that although Sterling Trust might be only a regional bank, its name had grown almost insanely fast in the past decade, and being the heir of this monolith of an enterprise might as well mean that he was already a billionaire in the making. In some people's imagination, it pretty much also meant that he should be flying in private jets to hang out at secret elite clubs, with a row of bodyguards in tow.
Which probably explained why he was so familiar with The Balconies, Harper thought as she slowly recovered from the shock.
But he was talking about such a coveted life as if he wanted none of it.
"Why didn't you want to?" she asked. "I thought you've always liked finance since high school. And your first job was at an investment bank too, I remember you were quite excited about it."
Eli stared at the can in his hand, running his finger in absentminded circles along the top. "It's not finance that's the issue. As you might recall, I don't get along too well with my father."