Chapter 5
Nicholas tried to laugh.
It came out wrong.
Thin.
Nervous.
“You know my sister?”
The question revealed more than he intended.
Not Who is she to you?
Not How do you know Jenna?
You know my sister?
As if Jenna were too small to exist in Emmett Stewart’s world without permission.
Emmett stood slowly.
He was not taller than Nicholas by much, but authority made him seem larger.
“She wrote every word of the speech you praised last week.”
A champagne glass froze near a guest’s lips.
Nicholas’s face went blank.
The speech.
Of course he knew which one.
Everyone in his circle had talked about it.
Emmett Stewart’s keynote at the Boston Global Innovation Forum had gone viral among executives. It was sharp, humane, restrained, visionary without sounding manufactured.
Nicholas had quoted it at dinner three nights earlier.
He had called it “the kind of leadership language founders dream of.”
He had said, in front of Jenna, “That speech is what separates real minds from ordinary communicators.”
Jenna had been cutting salad at the time.
She said nothing.
Now Emmett looked at Nicholas as if remembering the compliment.
“I believe you called it career-making.”
Nicholas swallowed.
“I didn’t know—”
“No,” Jenna said softly. “You didn’t.”
The children looked from adult to adult, sensing tension without understanding the stakes.
The wealthy guests understood enough.
Whispers moved through the chandeliers.
Jenna Parker, seated beside crayons and chicken nuggets, had written the speech Nicholas used as a standard of greatness.
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And he had placed her at the children’s table.
Read the full story 👉 Nicholas had praised Emmett’s speech without knowing the writer he admired was the sister he humiliated.
