Chapter Twenty-Two Connor
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
CONNOR
I couldn’t stop smiling. It was Tuesday morning, the day before the board meeting. I should be a nervous wreck. I should be stressed and going over the presentation a million times, but I wasn’t.
My wife was back. We had had the perfect date night, and even though I should be thinking about what to say, my mind kept going back to the skating rink and scavenger hunt.
We didn’t win, but we laughed. We didn’t get back until midnight, and even though Laney had stayed the night, my tired mind raced with ideas.
This town needed someone to help it.
“I cannot believe you are on the cover of the Cherrywood Times. You. Of all the grinchy people I know.” Petra rolled her eyes as she pointed to the papers on the table.
“You almost took out a stand and went all out for the scavenger hunt. How do I know this, you might ask? Because Matt told me. He heard it from someone who saw the Zamboni incident, and this town is just wild. Why does everyone know everyone’s business? ”
Petra had stayed in Cherrywood preparing with me, and the town was wearing on her. She wore a sweater that was clearly handcrafted. I wouldn’t mention it, but it made me smile.
“Because they all like each other.” I checked my phone to see how Laney was doing. The town’s events were picking up with Christmas nearing. Today was a Christmas tree farm celebration. She’d be outside all day, so I made a note to bring her more hot chocolate and find an extra blanket for her.
Plus, a part of me wanted to talk to the owner of the farm and see how they were doing.
After a quick search into the town, it was clear they needed help or they’d continue to lose visitors.
The thought of Laney’s parents unable to keep business at the hardware shop gutted me.
I couldn’t get the idea out of my head. If they had someone in charge of improving the local economy…
it’d help save a community. Jobs and lives.
“Connor, what do I say? Matt is texting me again about grabbing dinner. He’s going to take me to his grandma’s house! That’s ridiculous, right?”
I hid my wince. Matt could be a decent guy, but I still didn’t want him around. At least he was texting Petra and not my wife. “Uh, do you want to get dinner with him?”
“Yes. Maybe?” She groaned and covered her face with her hands. “No! My career is on the line with you. My ex is an asshole. Your father is a bully. We can’t find the link between Dennis and the attack, nor my ex. I cannot have a puppy dog of a man interested in me.”
My lips twitched as I stared at my assistant. “You’re a mess.”
“Oh, fuck off. You were a mess like three days ago.”
“Still nothing on the connection to my dad, or Dennis and the data breach?” I scrubbed my jaw. That piece of evidence would really tie our presentation together. “Let’s say we can’t find anything. Our presentation is still strong. It still shows why you deserve this role.”
“I’m a woman, Connor. These men are not as forward thinking as you are.” Her eyes were the only indication she was sad. “If we can attack and—”
“No attacking. That’s giving away our hand.
We remain stoic. Take the high road.” I thought about Laney, about her hope in me, in us, and my heart skipped a beat.
I had to get this right, and for the first time in my life, I was nervous.
Fucking rattled. Yet, I couldn’t show Petra that.
“You have to remain neutral. Whatever they say, or insinuate, you keep your face the same. Now let’s walk it through again. ”
We practiced our opener: our current landscape, Petra’s new role and how it would elevate us, everything Petra has initiated, led, or completed over the last seven years, and then data.
How we have increased profit, our plans to double it, the companies we’re acquiring because of Petra’s connections.
How she’d taken data and created plans around it, executing major deals with her insights.
I told Petra we had to take the high road, but that was slightly a lie. A fib. She had to take that path or she’d get blasted by them. Me though? Nah. This was my attempt at righting my life, and I’d use every card possible. I didn’t want to resort to revenge, but I would be prepared regardless.
I remembered exactly how my father said I should forget my wife and let her leave.
I’d pull up old texts he’d sent over the years, berating me for picking my wife over the company.
The three board members who I was good with all had families.
I’d play into that, share that Laney and I had an emergency come up and that mattered more.
And that part of the motivation for moving Petra into a role with more power would be to focus on my family.
The resolution to the mess I had created was all right within reach. Things just had to go my way.
“Jen sent us an email, dude. This could be…” Petra trailed off. “Connor. Check your email now.”
Shit. I fired open my browser, my heart racing, as I clicked the email from our CTO.
I wanted to inform you that we have successfully identified the source of the recent breach. Our investigation revealed that the breach occurred due to a compromised internal account, that of Nate Smith.
Additionally, we discovered suspicious messages between Nate and several influential members of our company. These communications suggest a potential internal collaboration or, at the very least, serious security lapses that need immediate attention.
I recommend an urgent meeting to discuss the next steps, including tightening our security protocols and addressing the involved parties. I will clear my schedule to fit yours.
“‘Influential members of our company’?” Petra repeated the words that I stared at.
“Does she mean—”
“My father, our board. Either option is possible.” My gut churned with the reality crashing over me. “We have to head into the office. We need to speak with Jen.”
“I can be ready in five minutes.” She shut her device and had quickly stacked the papers into a pile. “Connor, I know Jen. That last paragraph… she’s stressed.”
“Yeah.” I gripped the back of my neck, the thought of leaving Laney almost unbearable. I could drive there now, come back tonight, leave again tomorrow morning. “Call Jen, have her meet us in her office at one.”
“One?” She arched a brow. “What about eleven?”
“I need to tell Laney what’s going on. I planned to see her later and can’t back out.”
Petra nodded, but her retort was right there on her face. “I think she’d understand—”
“I know she would, Petra, but I’m not fucking chancing it.” I narrowed my gaze, lowering my voice as my pulse raced. “These are the moments I need you to be better for me. A two-hour difference won’t matter.”
“Yes, it could. If someone found out that we know, they could cover their tracks. If it’s your father or Dennis or someone else, they could be monitoring our emails.”
“Jen would know if that was true.”
She shrugged. “If I’m going to be your COO, you have to trust me. I have a feeling that Jen sending that email set off a chain reaction from the people who want you gone. I’ll set the meeting for noon. That gives you forty minutes to talk to Laney, get your shit together, whatever.”
My jaw tightened as Petra’s words hit me in the chest. Forty minutes would work. The tree farm was twenty minutes from here toward the city, and I could grab her lunch before.
“Done. Get moving. I’ll call Jen and tell her to remove the email.”
It was a whirlwind before Petra left the house and I was in my SUV. Jen answered on the first ring, her voice nervous. She was never nervous.
“Talk to me, Jen.”
“I think—”
“Wait.” I pinched my nose as someone pulled out ahead of me. “Are you in the office?”
“I am, yes.”
“We’ll meet off-site. Petra will send you a location. Do not tell anyone what you found, delete your email to me, and leave your phone at the office.”
“Do you think we’re being watched?”
“I think someone is fucking with me, and I’m over it.” I passed an old sedan, annoyed that people didn’t know how to drive the speed limit. “And I don’t trust anyone but you and Petra right now. Bring everything you found and refuse any requests from the board.”
She gasped. “How did you know?”
I laughed darkly. “Put in PTO right now. Say something came up at home. Then go to the soup place down the block. Something isn’t right.”
“Okay, Connor. Be safe.”
I hung up. My adrenaline was the highest it had been in a while. If the board—or my father—was watching us, that broke so many laws. But why had they wanted an attack? It had brought only bad press and loss of sales, and dragged my name through the mud.
Dennis and my father were the only two who were evil enough to do it, but why?
I drove a little too fast toward the tree farm, the urge to head to the office overwhelming me. I felt responsible. This was my company, and I had to protect it, protect everyone.
Sweat beaded on my forehead despite the frigid wind.
I parked, then scrubbed my face over the fact I had forgotten her soup.
So I was just gonna say goodbye in person?
I groaned as my stomach fucking twisted into a pretzel.
Laney might not understand my reason for leaving, and I really needed her to.
Even if she does understand, will she accept it?
I’d be choosing the company over her tonight.
That’s what she’d feel, but I didn’t have a choice.
This wouldn’t be the last time this happened, and that reality hit me like a truck.
There would always be something that came up at work.
She might forgive me tonight, or the first few times it happened again, but what if emergencies kept resurfacing? I didn’t fucking want that.
“Fuck.” I pinched my nose and took deep breaths before someone tapped on my window. My wife stood there, red-nosed and with a small smile.
“Laney,” I whispered, in awe of how damn pretty she was. I opened the door, and her smile grew.