24. Vincent
24
VINCENT
“ I t’s true what they say: there’s no such thing as bad publicity,” Amanda shrugged as she pushed her glasses up her nose. She was every inch the analyst, hunting me down first thing Monday morning to discuss the fallout from the Evermore launch party. “That’s the core of what we’re seeing. Yes, Summit is continuing to take some hits in terms of online comments thanks to Maya’s ongoing campaign, but we’re also seeing upward sales trending since Evermore is everywhere. I’d go so far as to say that it’s helping sales.”
I sighed as I studied the sales reports on my laptop screen. “But that’s not the full story.”
Amanda’s expression went tight. “No, it’s not.”
“The board?”
“They’re split. Happy for the strong sales, but concerned that you’re a…” she gave me an apologetic smile. “A distraction?”
I closed my eyes and massaged my temples. She was sugarcoating the feedback, that much was clear. It wasn’t the first time I’d heard that I attracted too much attention. When I first took over Summit from my father, I was known as the Playboy Billionaire by the people who assumed I was only in my position because of nepotism. I’d slowly proven myself over time. I did my best to balance my personal and work lives, but sometimes things blew up. I thought I was past all of that bullshit, but thanks to Maya, I was back in the headlines.
And so was Piper.
I felt terrible every time her photo flashed on screen, partly because I hated that she’d been dragged into this mess, but mainly because I didn’t want to admit how much I missed her every time I saw her beautiful face. We hadn’t spoken since the blowup on Friday night, and the silence between us told me everything I needed to know.
A few think pieces had been published that addressed workplace romances, as well as the concept of “show-mances” and PR relationships. They all assumed the relationship between Piper and me had been completely manufactured. It was a logical conclusion for them to reach, based on the video and what Maya and I had said. But they didn’t know about the very real feelings that had grown between us.
Very real feelings that were partly to blame for where things were now.
“What’s next?” I asked Amanda warily.
“We’ve determined the best way forward is to not address Maya’s ranting. We don’t want to give her any credibility or allow her to use our response as a way to prop up her platform. Our thinking is she’ll lose steam.” She paused a beat. “Eventually. We hope.”
I smirked, because it sure didn’t seem like Maya was going to get tired of talking about me any time soon.
Suddenly, my phone buzzed in my pocket. I glanced at it, half expecting another work crisis, but my chest tightened when I saw the name flash on the screen: Mom .
“Vincent, sweetheart, I saw the news and just wanted to check on you. It looked awful. I know how hard you work and how much this must be weighing on you. Call me when you can. Love you.”
My heart clenched, guilt washing over me. I hadn’t called her in what felt like forever. I’d been so caught up in the mess of everything that I hadn’t made the time. But I knew Mom would understand—she always did. She never pushed, just wanted to make sure I was okay.
I stared at the message, my fingers hovering over the screen, wanting to respond, but?—
Linda’s voice came through the intercom. “Vincent, Piper is on her way in.”
“Uh…” Amanda’s eyes went wide. “I think that’s all I needed to discuss with you. Thanks Vincent.”
She gathered her things quickly and passed Piper on her way out. They gave one another a knowing nod, like soldiers in the trenches.
My heart lurched as Piper strode toward me. Fuck , she was so beautiful, even when she was glaring at me. Her eyes were red-rimmed, but her expression looked determined. Angry, even. She came to a stop in front of my desk and folded her arms across her chest.
“I’m quitting, effective today. I haven’t used any of my vacation days, so you can take that as my two weeks’ notice. I’ll send an official email as well, but I wanted to let you know in person.”
Damn it. Piper had just achieved the impossible. She’d caught me off guard.
“I’m sorry, what ?”
“Why are you surprised?” she demanded. “Our agreement is over, you had to know this was coming.”
I blinked at her silently while I tried to make sense of what she was saying.
“I’ve scrubbed my laptop back to factory settings, and I’ll hand it over to IT before I leave. My work area is cleaned out. I created a status report on all my upcoming projects so the team will be up to date as to what’s next. I’m not sure if you want the official notice coming from me in a company-wide email, or do you want someone else to handle it?”
My chest ached with a feeling that was completely unfamiliar to me. I’d been blindsided by the news, sure, but there was more to it.
It was seeing Piper so upset, with me . There was a wall between us, bricked up and impermeable. This wasn’t how things were supposed to go. Not that I had any clue about the best way for us to end our partnership, but I knew for a fact that it wasn’t supposed to go like this, with her walking out of my life completely.
My wounded heart turned to stone. If she was done with me, fine, but I wasn’t about to allow her to damage Summit in the process.
“I don’t accept your resignation,” I replied in an even tone.
Her gaze turned stormy as she stomped closer. “I’m sorry, what ?”
“The timing is all wrong. You quitting right after the scandal on Friday is a PR disaster. You need to hold off for a few weeks, until everything dies down.”
“I need to...?” she sputtered, incredulous. “No, you need to stop telling me what to do, Vincent!”
“Piper, come on,” I grumbled at her. “You should know better. This is an optics game. How things look is all that matters. The health of this business comes before everything else.”
“Of course you’d say that,” she fired back at me, her voice full of venom. “All that matters to you is this business—you’ve made that incredibly clear.”
“Because business is the only thing that lasts!”
My voice echoed around the room like a slap. Piper’s tough facade crumbled for a second, and it looked like she was about to cry. Despite everything that had gone wrong between us, my body buzzed with the need to try to make things right for her. I’d never intended to hurt her, yet here I was, doing it again. I watched her closely, hoping she’d open up and tell me what was really going on beneath the surface. But no, she straightened her back and glared at me.
“Shockingly, I agree,” she said. “Business is the only thing that lasts. I’m dedicating my life to what matters, and from this point forward, it’s Strapped. We’re getting ready to sign the final paperwork with Mercedes. That means there’s no room in my life for this place.”
Or for me. She didn’t need to say it. The implication was clear.
“I’m sure my leaving won’t even cause a blip around here,” she said. “You were doing fine before I showed up, and I trust that’ll be the case once I’m gone.”
She was wrong. Every aspect of my life had been better with Piper in it. But her mind was made up. She was moving forward with her dreams.
“Thank you for the opportunity, Vincent.”
Piper sounded so formal, like I was nothing more than a stranger. This was wrong. Sure, we’d always had an expiration date, but I never expected the end would be so abrupt.
So…painful.
I forced myself to act like her leaving didn’t matter to me.
“You were a valuable addition to the Summit team, and we appreciate your hard work,” I said in an even voice. “Best of luck in your future endeavors.”
I hated speaking every fucking word, pretending like Piper was just a regular employee giving notice.
We stared at one another until the silence in the room turned into a ringing in my ears. Everything felt wrong.
“Goodbye,” Piper said simply.
And then she walked out of my office and out of my life.
PIPER
I felt like I didn’t exhale the entire time I was in Vincent’s office.
My palms were indented with half-moons from my nails, and my shoulders were overstretched rubber bands. I wanted to kick off my heels and run a few miles to try to lose the tension and sadness my body was holding, but I still needed to finalize my last day. Yeah, I was quitting abruptly, but I wasn’t going to be a complete asshole. There was paperwork to sign in HR, and I needed to say goodbye to my colleagues.
I did my rounds and answered the same questions over and over. Yes, I was sad to go. No, it wasn’t because of what happened with Vincent. Yes, we could keep in touch. I went into autopilot to keep myself from feeling too much.
I didn’t want to spend a second doubting my decision.
After all, I’d gotten everything I wanted. A nest egg to help launch my business and an introduction to Mercedes to kick it off. It was what Vincent and I had agreed to. And it was a mutually beneficial partnership, because he got what he needed as well.
And now it was over. And that was fine.
I’d planned ahead and driven Darcy’s grandmother’s car again, so I wouldn’t have to take the subway ride of shame with a box stuffed full of my belongings balanced on my lap while the rest of the riders gave me sad, knowing looks.
I packed the last of my things—a welcome plant that had been waiting for me on my desk on my first day that I’d miraculously kept alive, a stress ball in the shape of a bottle of perfume, framed photo of Darcy and me to remind me what I was working toward—and took one last look around.
The end of my tenure was a nightmare, but I’d sure had fun while it lasted.
I hoisted the box onto my hip, flipped off the light, and nearly ran into Linda.
“Oh, hey,” I said, wary because Linda was Vincent’s lifeline, guardian, and pit bull.
She smiled sympathetically. “Piper. Are you okay?”
Tears stung my eyes, but I blinked them away. “All good, thanks. Just heading out now. Is there something I forgot to do?”
She shook her head. “Not at all. I just wanted to walk you out.”
“Is this a security thing?” I glanced beyond her to see if Vincent had sent his tough guys to join in.
“Piper.” Linda clasped my shoulder. “No. This is a colleague thing. I want to be here for you.”
More eye prickles, more sniffles. I wasn’t going to break down.
“Thank you. I appreciate it.”
But I didn’t exactly understand it. Linda and I barely knew one another; we’d never even shared a cup of coffee. Her offer was kind, but of course I was on guard.
A few people waved sadly as I walked through the office on the way to the elevator. This silly, accidental job I’d lucked into had meant so much more to me than I’d realized.
Of course, it wasn’t just the job. But I didn’t want to think about that part.
Linda and I boarded the elevator for the long trip to the parking garage. She inserted a special key in the control panel.
“One of the perks of the executive suite,” she explained. “We get a direct flight to the garage with no interruptions. But that also means I don’t have as much time to say what I want to say.”
I frowned at her. “What do you mean?”
“He’s a mess,” Linda began. “I know it looks like he’s the same old Vincent, but all of this drama is really impacting him.”
“Well, yeah, I get it.” I stopped myself from saying that the drama was one hundred percent his fault. Linda would just feel the need to defend him—and it would be a pointless argument anyway. “He’ll be fine.”
“ Summit will be fine, there’s no doubt about that,” she agreed. “Vincent is another story.” She glanced up at the security camera then back at me. “I know this is none of my business, but I just want you to know I’ve worked with him from the beginning, and I’ve seen the beastly side of him, as well as the prince. Let me tell you, we dealt with the beast for a long time.” She laughed at the thought of it. “He’s been trying really hard to keep that side in check, but he’s a work in progress. Sometimes he still messes up. Friday night was a prime example.”
I could only nod, because I still didn’t know what she was getting at.
“I’m not talking about the Maya stuff,” she said softly. “I’m talking about you.”
Her worried expression was an arrow to my heart, and a single tear ran down my cheek.
“I know he hurt you by outing the start of your relationship like that—and then by focusing on the fallout for Summit instead of making sure you were okay. But that’s because fixing things on a business level is what he always does. When it comes to fixing things on an emotional level…he’s lost. But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t care for you. I’ve seen the change in him since you’ve been here. He’s lighter. Happier. Nicer to be around,” she laughed again. “You made my job so much easier.”
“Well, I’m sorry my leaving is going to make your life tougher,” I sniffled.
“That’s not what I’m saying.”
The elevator buzzed, and we both stepped into the quiet of the parking garage.
“It’s none of my business, and I probably shouldn’t be saying anything, but I could tell there was something special between the two of you. And I’m sorry it turned out this way.”
My bottom lip trembled as I tried to fight off more tears. “I don’t know what to say.”
“You don’t have to say anything.”
Linda pulled me into an awkward hug while I tried to juggle my box of belongings, which made us both laugh.
“Take care, Piper,” she said with a sad smile.
“Thanks, you too.”
We stared at each other for another beat, then turned and went our separate ways.
The air in the parking garage was steamy and still, and I had a flashback to the first time I’d been in the place.
The day that changed the trajectory of my life.
I walked toward where I’d parked and tried not to glance over at Vincent’s parking spot.
Impossible.
There sat a different little shiny red sports car than the one I’d hit.
Correction, the one he’d crashed into me .
I shook my head. I was about to get everything I’d wanted for so long. And not only that, I was proving to myself and the world, as well as to a certain asshole stepfather, that doing my own thing and believing in myself could pay off.
I kept telling myself I should be happy. This was my dream coming true. It didn’t matter that my heart was shattered into a million pieces.
That was my own fault, after all. What had I been thinking, falling in love with a playboy billionaire?
Falling in love at all .
Yeah, I was done believing in fairy tales. Never again.
When I finally got to my car, I wiped away the tears I didn’t even know were falling and tried to focus on writing my own happily ever after.