Page 322 of Tormented Billionaire Romance Series

“It’s always lovely chatting,” I tell Marly. “I’ve missed the way you just charge through what you want to say and don’t stop when you hit a wall. It’s admirable. But now, if you’d do me the privilege of leaving my office, we’re done here.”

“That’s it, then?” she asks. “I hope, for your sake, there’s a part of this story you haven’t already told me, because the way it looks right now, you’re intentionally trying to run the company into the ground.”

“That’s it,” I answer her original question. Everything else, I ignore. She’s mad. I get it. She’s confused, and I get that, too. The problem is one day she stopped trusting me. “There’s nothing about the move that would threaten the company except this vile perception you’ve been cultivating. Now, as much fun as it is watching security throw you out, I’d just as soon we all leave voluntarily.”

“What’s going to happen when she finds out?” Marly asks. “You know it won’t be long once the board has it. Audiences love all that gushy romantic crap.”

“What do you want?” I ask. “It can’t just be about her.”

“She was the problem before you started putting together the exploratory committee on Mulholland,” Marly says. “Whatever you want to keep telling yourself, sheisthe problem. If it weren’t for your preoccupation with your friend, the stranger, it wouldn’t matter what the board tried to throw at you. You’d be bulletproof.”

“Get out,” I tell her. “I’m not going to say it again.”

“I’ve never seen someone work so hard at destroying everything in their life,” she says, turning finally and going to the door. “Oh, I’ve seen plenty of people throw good sense aside to destroyothers, but this level of self-immolation’s a new one on me. It’d be more entertaining if I didn’t believe in you once, look up to you.”

“You never looked up to me,” I tell her. “That’s one of the reasons I liked you. You know, before you turned into—”

“Is there any chance I can get you to change your mind?” she asks.

“No,” I answer. “How long do I have?”

“There’s no reason to put it off,” she says. “I know you’re not going to try to stop me. You’re not the type.”

“What I don’t understand is why you would do this to me,” I say. “Are you angling to take over as CEO? I’ve got to tell you, before you started showing your third and fourth faces, I was planning on handing it over to you when I retire in ten years.”

“Why would you retire in ten years?” she asks. “You never said anything about that to me.”

“It doesn’t matter,” I tell her.

“No,” she says, “tell me. If you’re planning to give it all up, why not just drop out as CEO. You’ve got enough money for a lot of lifetimes. Why bother with all the scandal?”

“It never occurred to me you’d have trouble making sense of this,” I tell her. “You’re usually such a smart person.”

“There’s no shame if you can’t solve a puzzle no one else can solve,” Marly says. “I’ll give you an hour to change your mind, then I’m making calls.”

“Make your calls now,” I tell her. “I’m not changing my mind.”

Marly leaves the office, and though I’m beginning to loathe the sight of this building, I wait a few minutes. I’m not going to close myself in an elevator with her.

Marly doesn’t understand why the company needs to move to Mulholland. It’s not something I’m willing to elucidate for her, either. It’s just the way things are.

If anything, I was stupid to ask Grace to come to New York with me. If it weren't about her boss, it would have been something else. I knew she wasn’t going to stay.

As I’m thinking about it, I don’t know that I should ever have come back to New York, myself. My presence hasn’t fixed anything. Yeah, the stock price leveled out for a few days, but when word spread the new office was still on, it started dropping again regardless.

Of course, if it keeps going on like this too much longer, I’m going to be in some serious trouble. Financially, I’m plenty secure now, but most of my money is tied up in Stingray stock. Come to think of it, I should probably check to make sure I’m still a billionaire. You fall out of that particular club and people tend to remember it.

I stood up for my relationship with Grace in a pretty monumental way, though. I can feel good about that.

The phone calls are going to start any minute. It’s only a matter of how long it takes Marly to cross the lobby and get outside.

It’s not an irrecoverable situation. If anything, it may help public perception. It’s not going to do anything for investors’ failing confidence, and it may just be the end of my reign as CEO, but with enough positive public attention, I’ll at least have some leverage.

That is, assuming America’s still got a bit of the romantic in her.

The situation with Grace is precarious. I haven’t even told her I was that goofy kid from the last three weeks of junior high. When she hears everything, I don’t know how she’s going to take it.

I should have just told her, but through all the planning, all the years of planning every angle, I never accounted for just how hard it would be. Who I was then and now was going to be a shock if it was the first thing I told her about, but a lot of time has passed since I had that chance.

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