Page 105 of Rival to the Billionaire

"I only mean to say… Can I get you anything?"

"No. I'll be fine." I scowl and scrub my face with my hands just as the elevator doors open behind me. Derek steps out of the elevator and walks straight up to me, concern in his eyes.

"Whoa. Okay, I'm not even going to say it, but you know what I'm thinking."

"Yep." I nod slowly. "Lily expressed her sentiments about how I look quite clearly."

"Want me to cancel the meeting?" Derek asks. "It'd be no problem."

I shake my head. "Nah. Let's just get this over with."

He claps his hand on my shoulder. "Great. Meeting's not for another fifteen. Until then, wanna step inside my office to talk? I got your message.”

"Yeah. I guess so."

Derek leads me into his office, sits me down in a chair and closes the door behind us. "I'd ask what happened, but I'm pretty sure it was the talk of the conference. Everybody had been waiting on you to present about the Ultimate Reading app. For it to be canceled last minute like that surprised a lot of people."

I sigh. "None no more than me."

"I heard it was an emergency."

"And I heard you were thinking about firing me over it."

Derek's eyebrows raise as he takes a seat behind desk. "No, I wasn't thinking of firing you. That thought never crossed my mind. I was testing a theory. One regarding you and Jenny."

"What theory?" I ask.

Derek leans back in his seat and crosses his arms. "I wanted to see if you'd let your animosity towards each other win over your loyalty to the company. Your loyalty to each other."

"I'd say that ship has sailed."

"I wouldn't be too sure about that." He stands. "Turns out we found another speaker to take over the meeting you were supposed to lead today. I didn't want to upset you, but it seemed like it was the only option. All things considered; I'd say that all worked out for the best."

"Wait. Are you telling me that you're keeping me on?"

"I am. We can talk more after today's meeting, of course."

"But…I thought?—"

"You were going to be let go," Derek says. "Don't get me wrong. It's tempting when you're being a pain in the ass, but I don't want to lose you, especially after all the work you've done on this software."

“Hm. I’ll try not to disappoint then,” I say.

Derek laughs dryly. "You have nothing to worry about there. You've definitely exceeded expectations. And I'm not the only one who thinks so."

"You mean our stuffy old board of directors doesn't want to see me out on my ass yet? A feat."

"Among others. Today's guest speaker at the meeting is a big fan, actually. Additionally, you might even be able to give them some pointers."

"Pointers on how not to look like shit?" I glance down at my haggard outfit. "Not likely."

"I'm talking about pointers on the app." He glances down at his chrome watch. "And we're going to be late if we don't hustle."

There's no reason to hurry that I can see, but Derek all but drags me out of his office, through the maze-like halls of H&H and towards the conference room.

Never at a loss for confidence, today, I'm feeling like a complete wreck.

The smile that I plaster on my face when we reach the conference room is hardly genuine, but it's all that I can do. When Derek opens the door to the room, everybody inside of it looks up.

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