Chapter Sixty Eight

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Arilynn Hamilton

The flight had passed over the plains and into the mountainous regions of the northern US where communities dotted the landscape with few major cities. The rurality was a nice change from city life. It all seemed calming and pleasant.

Two thousand miles behind me was Nathan who would be up in our apartment standing by the window most likely with a glass of non alcoholic scotch and looking at something work related to distract himself.

I also knew that he'd likely bury himself in it so that he couldn't spare a single thought to me, where his mind and wishes to be with me would likely win.

It was nice to know someone cared, that he wished to be so close to me, where he was able to protect me in his own way.

That was also why I was so sure he welcomed me going on girls night and trips so that he could see that I'd be fine wherever I went. It was a selfish reason but I saw the intention of it was pure.

Nathan was always going to be my protector, he would always want to do that with everyone around him.

There were still moments though where the veil slipped and I could see the cliff he was tightroping himself over. Where he held himself responsible for everything that happens. Control was a tool he used, and he'd always played by his rules as far as I knew.

That control never extended to me, unless completely necessary, which again so far hasn't happened, and I don't want it to. It'll only add to the stress of his life.

I had seen what Nathan was like behind all the walls the veils he showed the world. He'd broken once snapping in public and when she saw him ended up treating the wounds on his hands. Where he stored all the anger while being so calm and reserved I would likely never know but he did it well.

Nathan also seemed to like that I didn't really challenge him, I didn't fight things with him. He had also never tried to change me and I never made him change. I was willing to accept him for who he was even if that came with being a workaholic, and high amounts of personal stress that he placed on himself.

Only in a family that demanded perfection without ever saying it.

Looking out of the window at the landscape below I could see Colorado where Nathan had mentioned he'd spent a piece of the past summer on his parents ranch.

I didn't realize how being away from him would be like, and I knew he wouldn't do what he had done with the shoot in New York.

The thing with the Winters Family I'd learned allowed them to hold onto everything was that they put those they cared about above everything else. Family and loyalty were one in the same and it was the same reason they had built an empire that had never really fully fallen for over two hundred years.

That same loyalty was something Nathan never sacrificed, he stayed true to his beliefs and kept his circle closer. It was much like how the same circles the Winters frequented were one's that my own parents attempted to get into or at least maintain connection. The snubbing of those below weren't from a superiority complex, it was the same basic principle of respect equals loyalty.

Nathan respected loyalty, and direct honesty, along with free opinion, and keeping to one's word. In his own ways Nathan would change WGI's image but he'd also have to adapt the company to his own image while maintaining the one that his parents built.

I did have opinions on it. It would be stronger with his sisters being the next two most powerful positions beneath him, along with the boys taking over the Harrington Industries, Ambrose Enterprises, and Niles Law. The other businesses would also be taken over but New York would be looking to see how the next generation would look at those four companies. My own parents even wanted me to come home after I graduated Harvard and take over Hamilton Enterprises, little did they know I would sign over ownership to Nathan and he could separate it how he pleased.

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