slumps down in his chair, looking older all of a sudden. “The board went against me,” Dad says, rubbing at his jowly cheeks. “They’ve never done that. I’m not sure how to take it. How to react. But this is still my company. You just got your way on this one deal.” His gaze narrows on me, and I can see the evaluation . . . what I have that the board sees that he doesn’t, if I manipulated my way into this win, and how he can circumvent me and take the reins as his own over this deal.
I look back at him, and I realize something. He’s got nothing other than his reputation as a win-at-all-costs businessman, the façade of a strong, powerful man. The reality is very different. His children practically despise him, his wife left him, and his girlfriend is a pretty obvious gold digger. And to top it off, he backed the wrong horse. I still find it hard to feel sorry for him because he created this life of image and pride, not caring about the emotional consequence to anyone else. “You can say congratulations like everyone else.”
Dad snorts and looks out the window, where the stars are gleaming in the evening sky. “You’ll be wanting a better office now, elevation to a chief executive job. Guess you deserve it.”
I nod. That is what I wanted. Before.
I thought it would finally make me worthy in my dad’s eyes, but I can see that nothing will ever make that happen. It’s not a flaw in me. It’s one in him.
But I’ve worked so hard, we all have, to reach this point. I try my damnedest to focus on work. “Actually, the title . . . yes, that is warranted. The office space? We predict that we’ll need a larger in-house team for support of AlphaSystems, so in lieu of an office on a higher floor, my team will take over the floor below mine when their lease is up.” It’s not a question. It’s decisive and not up for debate.
But right now, all of it . . . the office, the promotion . . . it seems meaningless without Madison. She should be the one I’m sharing this with, holding her in my arms as we celebrate and knowing the world is at our fingertips. Instead, I’m sitting here feigning attention in the boardroom while Maddie is probably working her ass off and rightfully hating my guts.
I asked her once if she was happy at Stella’s and she’d told me she was. I didn’t believe her because I couldn’t imagine it. But when she’d asked me if I was happy at work, I don’t think I even knew what happiness actually felt like. But now I do. I was happy with her.
Sure, the old saying is, if you love someone, let them go. If they return, it was meant to be. But goddammit, I’m not leaving it up to fate. I’m going to fight for Madison, and if afterward, she still walks away . . . well, I’ll accept it knowing I did everything I could. But right now, I need to apologize, see if there’s any chance she can forgive me.
I turn and head out of the board room, not stopping when Dad calls after me. “Where the hell are you going?” He’s pissed I’m walking out even though he’s hardly saying a word, just staring off into the skyline mid-existential crisis, like it’s my duty to hold his hand while he contemplates how this could’ve happened.
“There’s something I need to do,” I call over my shoulder. He thunders something about how there’s nothing more important than this, but I ignore him. In fact, I ignore everyone as I head downstairs, going through the team area toward my office.
Robbie, who’s had a few more glasses of champagne while I was upstairs, calls out. “Hey, Boss Man, where you off to?”
“Madison,” I call, heading into my office and grabbing my keys off my desk. When I turn, Robbie’s there, a look of glee on his face.
Robbie nods and steps aside. “Party on, dude. I’ll take personal care of your share of the bubbly. Go celebrate with your girl.”
I don’t correct him. He doesn’t know about the stupid stunt I pulled because I’ve been hiding in my office all day, sullen and pouting.
It’s late when I get downstairs, and traffic’s hell downtown. Unbeknownst to me, there’s a fucking concert, and I crawl through bumper to bumper