The inconsistencies of my choices had been gnawing at me for well over a week. Stay with her for Noah’s sake. Let her go for her sake. Keep both, somehow, for my sake.
A date had been set for the court hearing. Ethan and I had two months to figure everything out, and I was going to use that to my advantage. I had time on my side. I had Olivia, still, for however long that would last. And I had Noah. For at least two more months, I had Noah.
But thinking about the potential of not having him after those two months sent me in such a downward spiral that I knew I’d lose my mind if I went too far, so I kept that tucked away, out of sight and out of mind, so that I could at least function.
But that left every other horribly stressful thing at the forefront.
Board meeting after board meeting about the financials came and went, but today’s was far more important than the last few. I’d invited Olivia along, succumbing to my want for her calm in a room full of snakes and higher-ups within the company. It wasn’t just the board today — it was everyone important. Everyone who made decisions. Managers, execs, the highest accountants, Ethan, and the board.
And I had to present my solution. Not the one that came from lawsuit after lawsuit against the companies we’d acquired, but the one that would actually gain us a net positive cash flow.
And for the first time in a long, long time, I was nervous to present.
I stood at the podium with the screen behind me, back in that same room where I’d announced the final intern whose proposal was chosen, back in the same room I’d been in moments before Olivia had run into the elevator. All eyes on me, everyone waiting with bated breath, binders out for note taking — a sea of professional attire and hungry capitalists.
Olivia stood at the back of the room, one hand around the wrist of her other, her legs crossed as she leaned against the wall. I knew what she was hoping for. I knew she wanted me to present her idea, the one she’d worked tirelessly on, the one she’d spent hours working on into the dead of night, falling asleep at her desk at home until I carried her to bed with me. Her proposal was solid. It was thorough.
But it wasn’t the positive cash flow idea the board was begging for. No, that was what I had pre-loaded on my computer in front of me, ready to display on the screen. That was what was expected of me.
The board wanted buy-ins. They wanted Blackwood to openly back politicians who preached “A Greener Tomorrow,” despite having nothing in their plans to make it happen. They wanted Blackwood to accept money in exchange for the favors. And it would work — the prices quoted were astronomical. Having a company like mine behind you brought solidarity to a political campaign.
But more than any of that, the board wanted budget cuts. The board wanted layoffs.
“Thank you for coming this afternoon,” I started, loading up PowerPoint on my laptop. “As most of you know, Blackwood Energy Solutions has been having some trouble over the last few months with our financials due to a handful of companies we’ve acquired.”
The files sat next to each other on my desktop. I swallowed.
“I appreciate your patience during this time while we work things out behind the scenes. I want to stress that no matter the solution, retaining jobs here is the utmost priority. Every decision we have made so far has been with that at the forefront,” I continued.
My stomach churned. When I started Blackwood twenty years ago, I’d always said that I would never consider layoffs. And I hadn’t. Not until the board started pushing.
“And we believe we’ve come to a solution,” I swallowed.
Olivia’s eyes met mine over the sea of people, her hand now pulling at the collar of her shirt, her gaze wary. I knew damn well her idea was better. I knew it in my gut, knew it with everything I had, and although we’d considered roughly ten other proposals that were decent in their right, hers stood out among the rest. But the board would fucking kill me.
Her lips pursed as she gave me a solemn nod. She already knew. I’d told her this morning. And it had hurt like a fucking bitch to rip off that bandaid for her.
I clicked on the presentation. A second later, it filled the screen behind me.
“After much negotiation, Blackwood has come to hold ownership over a new technology out of South Korea.”
Olivia’s eyes went wide as they locked with mine again, her collar forgotten and her hand over her mouth. There was something there, something in her gaze that looked less like dread and more like pride, and even though I was committing corporate suicide in front of the board, I knew damn well it was the right thing to do.
Especially when she was looking at me like that.
————
A much larger set of arms than what I was expecting wrapped around me the moment I stepped through the door of my home.
“Daddy’s home!” Noah called from somewhere off in the distance, and my heart cracked just a little bit more as I realized that was the first time he’d called me that.
But I focused on her instead in the short window I had before Noah inevitably would take over.
“You presented my project,” Liv said, her head buried in the crook of my neck, her feet dangling as I held her to me with my free hand. I could barely tell the tone in her voice, but from the way she was holding me, from the way she clung to me, I could tell her emotions were going haywire.
“I did,” I chuckled. I set my briefcase on the console table by the door and wrapped my now free hand around her, squeezing her tightly and shutting the door behind me with my foot. “The board is fucking furious.”
“Fuck the board,” she mumbled.
Fuck the board, indeed. I’d stayed after for far longer than I thought I would, and even though the sun had set and it was going on eight in the evening, even though Noah wasn’t in bed when he should have been, even though I’d offered to pour half of my life savings into the business in case everything crashed and burned, I didn’t care. Not tonight, at least.
Noah came running around the corner from the staircase, and in an instant, Liv was slipping from me, letting me go. She took a step back, giving Noah the space he wanted with me, and as I leaned down to scoop him up, I caught sight of her.
Her eyes glistened, a touch of water pooling along the edges. They were bloodshot and raw, likely from staying up almost all night last night finishing up the presentation. She wore my gray joggers, her loose shirt tucked in and her cardigan hanging limply around her, one sleeve-covered hand covering her mouth and nose, her long auburn waves hanging wildly around her shoulders.
“Where have you been?” Noah griped, his arms wrapping around my neck as he squeezed me.
“I told you he was at work, squirt,” Liv chuckled, wiping her nose with the sleeve of her cardigan.
“You should have been home hours ago,” Noah said.
I opened my mouth to speak, but Liv spoke for me. “Noah,” she started, putting a hand on his back. “Your dad did something really, really brave today. But that meant that he had to stay at work a little longer. Maybe we should be proud of him instead of upset with him, yeah?”
God, I wanted to fucking kiss her.
“You were brave?” Noah asked, rearing back as if that was the wildest thing he’d ever heard in his life. I snorted.
“I was,” I laughed. “Is that a surprise to you?”
He tapped his finger against his chin, pondering the question, before shaking his head.
“Good. Glad I’m not a massive disappointment,” I chuckled. “Are you all packed for your weekend at Aunt Carolines?”
Noah nodded. “Olivia helped.”
“Perfect.” I lowered him to the ground despite his protests. “Why don’t you go get your pajamas on so we can start bedtime?”
He pouted and Liv laughed, but within a second he was racing back up the stairs, too much energy in such a small body. Something told me he wasn’t going to fall asleep quickly tonight.
The moment he was out of eyeshot, I grabbed her.
With my arms around her waist and hers around my neck, I kissed her. I kissed her as if she were my wife, I kissed her as if it was the one thing in the world that I wanted at that moment, I kissed her as if no one was watching and I could have every bit of her. And all of it was true.
“They haven’t kicked you out as CEO, right?” she asked, her words practically absorbed by my mouth.
“Not yet,” I laughed. “I still have the majority of shares so they’d be damned if they fucking tried.”
“Okay so we’re not mourning your business, then,” she grinned, pulling back just an inch so she could look me in the eyes.
I shook my head. “The opposite,” I said. “We’re fucking celebrating. With Noah taken care of for the weekend, I figured we could make the most of some alone time.”
One brow raised as she eyed me with suspicion, and all I could do was beam back at her.
“You should pack a bag, too.”
