Chapter Twelve #2
‘I mean, what would lack more confidence than making a decision that negatively impacted the price of your shares and your income?’ she said, turning on her father.
‘It almost reeks of sabotage, to make such a risky move when Gallo Group is still on such shaky ground following Gio’s death.
I mean…of course, if that were the case,’ she said, her tone heavy on implication, just as Micha realised where she was going with this, ‘then when all your shares dropped so shockingly low, there would really only be one person in this room with enough money to buy them off you before you lost any more money. And how very kind that person would be. To buy all of your shares from you,’ she said, her tone turning whip sharp, ‘at a knock-down price, in order to have complete ownership of Gallo Group.’
One by one, he watched the confused faces of Gallo Group’s board realise what Maria was implying: that her father was purposefully sabotaging GG in order to engineer a buyout leaving him as the sole owner.
And whether or not it was the truth, whether that had been his intention all along—which Micha believed probably was the case—Maria had just successfully managed to turn every single selfish one of them against him.
The shock and fury on the faces of the board rivalled only what he’d seen when they had been told that he would be the one stepping into the CEO position and he almost felt sorry for them. Almost.
And then he couldn’t help himself. He laughed. Because in that moment, Maria really had shown herself to be worthy of running Gallo Group.
He stared at his wife. The pride, the joy, the genuine love he felt for her poured into his gaze and when she caught it, he thought that she’d understood.
The flare of her eyes, the flush on her cheeks, the little hitch in her chest as her breath caught.
He was almost sure that she’d felt his very thoughts.
‘So,’ Maria said, turning back to the faces around the table. ‘Would you like to try this again? All in favour?’
One after the other, they raised their hands to cast their votes again, her father looking absolutely thunderous, his face an angry blotchy red.
Micha didn’t spare a single person a second glance, even as they all voted in favour of him this time, with the sole exclusion of Maria’s father, who desperately stuck to his guns.
Micha didn’t care. He didn’t once take his eyes off Maria, not even as the rest of the board members filed out of the room, under harsh whispers and grumbles, utterly deflated and more than a little angry.
Throughout it all, he took in how glorious she was, truly in her element, finally taking her position, whether in title or not, as head of the Gallo family.
He wondered whether this was what Gio had been hoping for, or whether the old man would be turning in his grave.
Micha liked to think that, somehow, he’d always known that this was the way it would be.
That if they could get over the deep hurts holding them back when they’d been younger, that this was how incredible it could be between him and Maria.
That only through the trials and tribulations they’d been through in their time apart had they become strong enough to reach for what they wanted. Each other.
She dropped his gaze, only to speak in hushed tones to Antonio, who glanced in Micha’s direction, eyes narrowed in assessment, before turning back to Maria, nodding and leaving the room. Maria closed the door behind him.
She turned to lean back against the door.
And for a moment they remained like that, staring at each other across the boardroom.
‘Did you know?’ she asked him.
He didn’t bother pretending not to understand her. ‘I had my suspicions that this was what your father was after. When did you realise that’s what he was doing?’
She bit her lip. ‘Last night. After speaking to Antonio. Enzo had given him a heads-up that my father had approached him for his vote. Enzo’s position on the board might be new, but despite all accounts of him being some scandalous playboy, he is, in fact, a very shrewd businessman and was quick to realise what was going on. ’
‘He wasn’t here today?’
‘He couldn’t come on such short notice, but he’d given permission for Antonio to vote for him in favour of you.’
It felt a little unusual to have the support of a stranger, but although no one had known Enzo Rossetti that long, Maria’s cousin seemed to have become a close friend to Antonio and Maria.
Maria closed the distance between them with a step.
‘I didn’t know,’ he said, needing her to understand. ‘I didn’t know, in Paris, that you’d never been with anyone.’
‘I wouldn’t change a single thing about it,’ Maria replied, truthfully, defiantly, her hand protecting her stomach.
‘Maria, you deserved—’
‘I wouldn’t change a single thing,’ she said again. ‘It was perfect, it was us. It was the beginning of us,’ she said, reaching for his hand as if unable to hold herself back from touching him.
‘You are incredible,’ Micha said, unashamed to offer his praise of her.
No matter what happened between them now, not after their last exchange back in Morocco, he wanted her to know that.
‘And I will happily step down as president and CEO,’ he said honestly and truly.
Nothing was worth more to him than her. Nothing.
Not a job, not a company and certainly not his ego.
He wanted her, in whatever way he could get her. Nothing else mattered.
The man I love.
She looked at him, and for a moment, he was reminded of how this all started, back in Paris, in a different headquarters.
‘I don’t want it,’ she replied easily.
‘What? I—’
‘No,’ she said, interrupting him. ‘I don’t want it.
I thought I did. I thought it would finally give me the acceptance I’ve been craving for an entire lifetime.
That it would give me security and recognition.
I thought that perhaps if I was CEO, finally, I’d be worthy of my father’s attention.
But I realised that being CEO wouldn’t give me any of that.
And I don’t want to be the kind of person that would do what he wanted me to do to get there.
‘The only person that accepted me for who I was, was you,’ she said, closing the distance between them. ‘The only person that ever made me feel loved was you,’ she said, tears adding a sheen to her eyes that stole his breath, and yanked on his heart. ‘The only person I ever loved was you.’
Her words were like a puzzle piece, finally slotting into place after eleven years, like a thick heavy chain that had encased his heart, falling away and letting him breathe, letting his heart beat, true and strong for the first time in forever.
‘You, Micha Rufina. I love you. You are all I ever wanted, and all I will ever need,’ she said, looking up at him with the kind of love he thought he’d never see again in his lifetime.
‘I love you,’ she whispered again as she rose onto her tiptoes to press her lips gently, chastely, perfectly against his.
Maria wanted to give him this. She wanted him to know, whether he loved her or not, no matter what happened between them, she needed him to know that she loved him.
That she’d fought for him and that she would always fight for him.
Not because he was her husband, or because he was the father of her child, but because he deserved it.
She lowered back down onto her feet, staring up at him with all the hope in her chest and the love in her heart. She didn’t need anything from him, but she needed him to understand that.
‘You humble me, Maria,’ he said, the emotion in the depths of his gaze filling her up, nearly consuming her whole.
‘I am in awe of you. I am truly sorry that your family didn’t see in you what I did.
The amazing, incredible, talented, powerful, dynamic, quick-witted and strong-hearted woman you have become.
I am lucky just to get to love you,’ he whispered, as if shocked by the truth of his own words.
His hand came to cup her cheek and she couldn’t help but lean into his palm. The safety he had always offered her, the protection.
‘You are my family, Micha. And our child. That is all I’ll ever need,’ she vowed, the words more binding than their marriage certificate.
‘I think Antonio might have something to say about that,’ Micha teased and she smiled, and pressed a kiss against the palm of his hand, before turning back to look up at him.
‘I love you,’ he said, this time with no trace of tease or humour.
His love was serious, grounded, a decade in the making, just as hers was.
It was serious in a way that only those who had known what it was to be unloved could feel.
Serious in the tears that rose to press against the backs of her eyes as something in her shifted, healed and became new and fresh and precious.
He kissed her then, the first of many that had no questions, only answers, only security, only love.
‘What do we do now?’ she asked, against his lips.
‘Well, right now, I’m taking my wife back to my apartment and making love to her all night long.’
‘Lucky wife,’ she replied with a smile.
‘Lucky husband,’ he said, smiling down at her, the flames of his desire flickering in his gaze.
‘And then?’ Maria asked.
‘Well, then we get to spend the rest of our lives together, happily…’
‘Ever…’ she added.
‘After,’ he concluded with a kiss that they both remembered for many years to come.