“And I already told you that you’re not going to med school. It’s not what I had planned for you,” her father said. Mia laughed softly in disbelief. Her father acted as though he got to decide what she was going to do for the rest of her life. She was an adult now, and at twenty-two years old, she was old enough to make her own decisions. Apparently, her father disagreed.
“I know that you wanted me to go to business school,” she said.
“Yes, that’s the plan,” he insisted.
“I don’t want to run Bennett Holdings, Dad. I want to be a doctor, and business school won’t help me,” she said.
“It’s your responsibility to take over the company,” he said.
“No,” Mia snapped. “The company is your responsibility, not mine,” she reminded. The temperature in the room seemed to drop ten degrees as her father leaned back slowly in his chair, studying her with the same detached expression he used during shareholder meetings.
“You’re emotional right now,” he said as though that would explain her wanting to become a doctor.
“And you’re controlling,” she insisted.
“Mia,” her father warned.
“You don’t get to dictate my entire future because you already planned it out in your head.” His jaw tightened, and she knew that she had hit a sore spot.
“You are my daughter,” he reminded, as though she could forget that fact.
“And I’m still a person and can make my own decisions,” she said. The words echoed through the room. Her mother sat silently halfway down the table, looking exhausted, which was typical when she and her father had disagreements. Evelyn Bennett had spent thirty years avoiding conflict with her husband, usually by pretending it didn’t exist.
“Mia,” her mother said softly, “your father is only trying to protect you.”
“From what? Helping people?” she asked.
“From having to struggle through life,” her mother said.
Mia pushed away from the table. “I won’t struggle,” she insisted. “My life doesn’t have to be about the almighty dollar, like yours has been.”
Her father frowned. “What does that mean?”
“You think medicine is beneath me, and it’s not,” Mia said.
“I think becoming an emergency room doctor after being raised with every possible advantage is ridiculous,” her father insisted.
Anger burned hot in her chest. “You know what’s ridiculous?” she asked. “Growing up with more money than anyone could ever spend and still feeling completely miserable.” Her mother inhaled sharply, and Richard Bennett’s face hardened instantly.
“You’re behaving like a child,” he spat.
“No. I’m behaving like someone who actually wants her life to mean something.”
“And running a multibillion-dollar company doesn’t mean anything?” her father asked.
“Not to me,” she admitted. Her father stood slowly from his chair. The movement alone was intimidating enough to make grown executives nervous, but Mia held her ground anyway.
“You will not embarrass this family by working in some overcrowded emergency room surrounded by addicts and criminals,” he shouted.
Rage exploded inside her. “That’s what you think patients are?”
“I think you’ve spent your entire life romanticizing struggle because you’ve never actually experienced it,” her father said.
“You know what?” she whispered. “Maybe I want to help people because no one in this house ever helped me.”
His expression darkened. “You are acting like a spoiled child.”
“And you’re acting heartless,” she shouted.