“I don’t—”
We are interrupted by a knock at the door. One of her employees wants her to fix some customer issue, and she goes, leaving me alone. Our conversation ends there and we never pick it up again, even when we get back home. She goes into her room while I go into mine. When I came back from work the next day, she had removed all of her stuff from my room.
We get back to our now usual routine of talking indirectly to each other and through Lake. It’s a polite state I will never wish on any couple. We’re too nice to each other in a frustrating way. Even this morning’s conversation, which was about Lake’s new nanny, was stilted and overly formal. As though neither she nor I want to show each other any depth of emotion. And I go along with it because I want to give her the space to think through her decision without pressuring her. She hasn’t moved out, so that’s comforting, but that is all the solace I can get from this situation. Once she moves out, our relationship is over.
I contemplate how best I can sway her away from divorce as the office elevator shoots me up to the C-suite. Is she a fan of gifts? I could shower her with all sorts of stuff. Jewels, cars, clothes, whatever she wants. But something tells me she wouldnot like that. Not once in all the time we’ve lived together have I seen her dressed up or adorned with jewelry. She wears nice clothes, yes, but they’re mostly practical. She’s never shown an interest in cars, so I doubt that would sway her. Maybe I could buy her a boat. Would she like that? Fuck, I wish I knew, and the only person I can think of helping me in this predicament is Nolan. I haven’t talked to him much since the day of the vote. I am too invested in my thoughts to notice the anomaly outside my office door as I enter the office.
Maybe if I take her on a vacation with just the three of us, I might get an opportunity to show her my true self with no distractions. Maybe—
My door opens and both of my assistants enter. Both. Including Nicole, who I am sure I fired. She has her notepad in hand and is behaving like nothing happened. “Aren’t you supposed to be looking for a job?” Nicole’s cheeks redden and Meg’s eyes bulge. “Meg, can you please leave us?” Meg glances at Nicole, makes a quick U-turn, and closes the office door behind her.
“What the fuck are you still doing here?” I pick up the desk phone and dial the security extension. They answer after one ring. “Can you please come pick up Nicole Miller and make sure she hands in her security tag and the company gadgets?”
Nicole winces. “I thought you didn’t mean it.”
“What part of ‘I’m firing you for causing harm to my child’ did you think I didn’t mean?”
“Ugh. Are you even sure he’s yours? She could’ve lied to you. You’ve said so many times that she’s a liar.”
“You were sure enough when you poisoned him with something you knew I was allergic to.”
“It was a mistake! Please.” She rushes over to my side of the desk and clutches my hand. I am immediately oppressed by the gallon of perfume she’s poured on herself. Her grip is tight anddesperate and her eyes are wide to the point of being scary. “I don’t know what I was thinking. I don’t know what came over me. Sometimes, I do things, bad things without thinking them through.”
I wrest her hand away from mine. “Like forging my handwriting and lying to the mother of my child that I didn’t want my son.”
“I only did it because she kept pestering you. She wouldn’t stop sending letters, and sonograms begging you in such a desperate way that--”
“She sent me sonograms? What did you do with them?”
“I returned them. It was a clear manipulation tactic. She’s a master manipulator. You used to say that all the time.”
My mind reels from the information. Ivy is right. In her eyes, I must be the most unfeeling bastard she has ever known. Not only did I refuse to see her when she was pregnant, but I also refused to see our son. Fuck!
“I want you out of my life. I never want to see you again. I never want to talk to you. If you ever come within five feet of me and my family, you will regret ever living.”
“Damien please--” she takes hold of my hand again. “I love you.”
“If you did, you wouldn’t have done what you did. You took away precious time away from me and my son. Time I would never get back. You made sure someone I cherish deeply would hate me forever. That’s not love. And I’m sure you’re smart enough to know that.”
Her hand slides up my chest and she stands on her tiptoes as though she’s about to kiss me. I wrestle myself out of her grip just as the security arrives. The two bulky men immediately go to her and one instructs her to leave. She refuses. Only when they threaten to manhandle her out of the building does she budge. The two men escort her out while everyone in the C-suiteis watching from the offices, but no one dares come out and ask what’s going on. Even Craig, my nosy CFO, stays in his office. Only Terry is the one brave enough to enquire.
“Surprised it took you long enough,” she says when I explain the situation. I don’t give her all the details, just the bare bones of how she was sabotaging my correspondence for years.
“You knew?”
Terry thrusts her hands in her pockets and assumes a wide stance. Her androgynous suit makes her look like a young boy in a cute way that I don’t think Terry would appreciate if I tell her. “About her hiding stuff from you? That shit I knew, fuck all. But she’s always been a little weird around you. A little clingy and overly possessive of your attention.”
I don’t think I’ve ever noticed it. If I did, I probably took her ‘weirdness’ as Terry calls it, as Nicole’s way of doing business.
“You never picked up on it, did you?” She laughs. “Craig owes me one hundred. He was sure you tolerated her because you were banging her.”
“Craig can rest easy knowing I’ve never slept with Nicole.”
“That’s another one hundred for me.”
***
“Are you ready?” I say after knocking twice on her door. I wonder what she’s wearing that is taking her so long. Not that I mind waiting. I am just wet with anticipation. When Nolan told me I would be the guest of honor at this year’s Hawthorne Charity fundraiser, I almost laughed, thinking he was joking. But he wasn’t. The company is holding their most well-known annual event and they’re honoring me as their new co-owner. Nolan didn’t sound as frosty as I thought he would. If anything, he was a little jovial. Ivy didn’t look happy. I would describe her mood as resigned. Tonight, I am going to rectify that.
