After Giving Up My Inheritance, I Finally Had a Family

On my twenty-ninth birthday, I was supposed to be formally announced as the next head of the Ashford family.

But before the charity gala began, my mother fed my succession speech into the shredder and replaced it with a written pledge to my sister.

"Lydia hasn't had an easy time since the wedding. Announce in public that you're giving her the Harbor Hotel. Think of it as backing her up."

It was the first property my grandmother had left me, and the only project I had been allowed to run on my own in eight years.

I asked my mother, "And if I'm not willing?"