Page 329 of Tormented Billionaire Romance Series

Her laughter isn’t a comforting sound.

It’s only a few hours before Marly’s leading what she called our little cabal into the hotel. I tell the few people still working in the conference room to take the day and we sit down together.

“Zach, I think you know everyone here,” Marly says. “I’m sure it won’t surprise you to find out there are no secrets between anyone in this group. You’re among friends.”

“How do we keep them from moving the company?” I ask.

“Frankly,” Shel Avery, one of the only lawyers in the room whose name I can remember offhand, starts, “we can’t keep them from moving it.”

I remember Shel’s name because at the very first company party we ever had, she ended up wasted and puking all over the front of Daniel Reeves’s formalwear. It was love at first vomit. I don’t think I ever liked that smarmy bastard.

“Then why are we sitting here?” I ask.

“What she means,” Marly says, “is that we don’t have executive powers and once you’re gone, we can’t prevent the board from choosing whoever they want to replace you.”

“Oh,” I say. “That sounds a lot better.”

“Will you shut up and listen instead of blurting out your stupid comments for once?” Marly asks with a beautiful smile cemented to her face.

The lawyers try to keep their eyes from popping out of their heads, and even Malcolm slinks down a little in his seat.

“Come on, people,” I say. “This is grownup time. What are you telling me that I’m not getting?”

“What we have to do is replace you with someone who shares your opinion on moving the company to a low-wage, low-working-standards model,” Marly says. “We need someone who’d be just as outraged as we are.”

“You just said we couldn’t do that,” I observe.

“There’s one person they couldn’t overrule to replace you,” Marly says. “Even if they fire you, he can still take the company if he wants it.”

“Jacque,” I mutter. “It’s not going to work,” I tell Marly. “He was pretty clear how much interest he had in the company when he sold all his shares after we started making a profit and quit.”

“I think this might change his mind,” Marly says. “He believed everything you believed once. Don’t let whatever history the two of you have together get in the way of saving thousands and thousands of jobs.”

“I don’t know what bad blood you think there is between him and I, but that was never the problem,” I tell her. “He never wanted anything to do with the business itself. The last thing he said to me before he left for good was that he’d only stuck around that long to make sure I wasn’t going to let the board do what they’re trying to do now.”

“That’s kind of the point, wouldn’t you say?” Marly asks.

“I imagine he sees the news just like anyone else,” I respond. “If he was going to come in and be hero of the day, he would have made a phone call by now. I’m assuming that hasn’t happened to anyone in this room?” I ask. “He sure hasn’t contacted me.”

“We need you back in New York,” Marly says. “He’s still in Manhattan. You need to go talk to him and let him know what these people are trying to do.”

“You think I can convince him that easily?” I ask.

“You’re the one that convinced him to take the company public in the first place and nobody else could get him to sit down and talk about it,” Marly says.

I glance at the lawyers and I glance at Malcolm. Even though Marly’s only been back at the company a few hours, the people, at least the ones in this room, look to her for guidance.

“What about you?” I ask.

“I’m not Jacque,” she says. “He’s the only one. He’s one of the founders and the wording’s right there in the bylaws.”

“I can’t leave yet,” I say.

“This can’t wait,” Marly says. “The board is already drafting a letter to the shareholders requesting their support in having you removed on the grounds of incompetence. They send that letter and Jacque’s not ready to step in, that’s the ballgame.”

“Give me the night,” I say. “I’ll try calling him after we’re done here and I’ll get on a plane in the morning, but I can’t leave tonight.”

Things may already be over between Grace and me, but there are some things I need to tell her before I give up entirely.

---