Chapter 1 New Beginnings

Ben

"Don't look so down," Uncle Dean said. We were at the airport. I had already checked my bags, and my flight was leaving in less than an hour.

"I feel like I'm letting him down," I said.

Uncle Dean shook his head. "You're not. It's not a crime to live your own dream. Even if that dream looks different than what your father would have wanted for you. He would have been proud of what you've done for the company."

I nodded. My dad would have been proud. And it wasn't like I hadn't given it my all for the past six years. I had done everything my late father would have wanted me to do. But I hadn't been happy. I hadn't grown up dreaming I would be the CEO of a billion-dollar company.

"And he would have been even prouder of you for taking your life into your own hands and deciding where you want to go with it."

I looked at Uncle Dean. He had been my dad's business partner, owner of half of the company I had inherited when my dad and my stepmom had died in a plane crash. He had been there for me from day one, taking me under his wing and showing me the ropes.

And he had bought me out when he realized how miserable I had become away from home. He had become like family to me, and I was sad to leave him behind, but I wanted to go back to my friends and family. I wanted to get back on the track I had been on before my father died.

"That's your boarding call," Uncle Dean said when they made the announcement. He pulled me into a hug.

"Remember," he said. "No regrets. That's the one thing I know your dad would have wanted for you, more than any fancy company and business title. If you regret the choices you've made, it doesn't matter what they were or where they got you in life."

"Thanks, Uncle Dean," I said. "For everything."

He smiled, and I thought I could almost see him get emotional, but it was gone as quickly as it had come, and he was the composed, collected gentleman he had always been. I slung my backpack over my shoulder and walked to the gate. I looked over my shoulder and lifted my hand in one last wave before stepping into the rest of my life.

On the plane, the sadness that I was leaving and the worry about leaving the company behind left me. I was headed back home. I hadn't seen my friends in seven years. I had only seen my mom twice when she had come to visit in New York, and I was glad to be going back to Oregon. No matter how long I had lived in New York, it would never really be home.

It was weird to think I was a billionaire now. When I had helped Uncle Dean run the company, I'd had a taste of the lavish life my dad had lived, but I had never had as much money as he had. He'd left me the company, but his money had gone to charities. Now that I had sold the business to Uncle Dean, I had so much money, I could drown in it.

I wasn't planning on living a different life than I'd always had in Portland, though. I was still going to pursue my dream of being a firefighter. It was what I had always wanted. Before I had gone to New York to step into my father's shoes, I had studied fire engineering to give myself a leg up in my career, and I had completed the six-month training and certification courses. I had sent my information to the fire station I had worked through before I'd left, and they had been more than happy to take me back.

All I needed to do was a quick refresher for the next week and a fitness test to be sure I was up to standard. If I passed-which I was sure I would-I started work in a week.

Perfect.