Chapter 22
Chapter
Twenty-Two
ADRIANNA
“So you have to tell me what’s going on for real,” Francine says as we get a table at the bistro around the corner.
I knew it was suspicious that she wanted to have lunch today. I figured it was because we haven’t gotten to catch up lately, but now I see she wants all the tea.
“What do you mean?” I ask, looking down at my menu as if I don’t already know what I’m planning to eat.
“Girl, the rumor mill is going a million miles a minute. Boris thinks Mr. Samson tried to kill Mr. Lind and is passing it off as a heart attack. I think Mr. Lind tried to make a pass at you, and Mr. Samson went into a jealous rage and bludgeoned him to death.” Her eyes are wide as she lays out the theories.
“Stacy thinks that you were part of a love triangle and the guys finally got into a fight over you.”
I grimace. “You think I was sleeping with Mr. Lind? Gross. Ew, that gives me the heebie-jeebies.”
She smiles, giving me a knowing look. “Funny you didn’t say the same thing about Mr. Samson.”
My cheeks heat at her words, but thankfully the server comes over and takes our orders. If I thought I was off the hook, I was sorely mistaken.
“Spill. You’ve been a lot nicer to the devil recently. Maybe you found out that forked tongue can create some real magic.” She wiggles her eyebrow.
I nearly spit out my water. “Francine,” I hiss.
“What? I might be married, but I can admire that Mr. Samson looks like he would know what to do with a woman.”
Little does she know that he has a solid nine inches to work with too. Just the thought has my blood starting to boil.
Is it hot in here?
Using the menu, I fan myself as Francine cackles.
“Girl, it is written all over your face. Spill. I won’t say a word.”
If it were anyone else, I’d never tell, but this girl has been my closest friend for five years. She’s held me when I cried over Gloria and been my biggest cheerleader when I fought for the foundation. If anyone deserves the truth, it’s her.
“Elijah and I have been seeing each other outside of work.” I phrase it carefully.
She legit squeals, drawing everyone’s attention to us.
“What the fuck, Francine,” I hiss under my breath.
“Sorry, but I called this. I swear I feel like one of my favorite books is playing out right in front of my face. You hated him. I saw how much you despised him in your face. He didn’t think much of you either, but I watched it change with every interaction.
I really knew he was into you when you started handling the meetings again. Yes. I am so happy for you.”
“Are you telling me when I was complaining to you about the dickhead you were secretly shipping us? What the hell. You are supposed to be my friend.” My hand finds its way over my heart onto my chest.
“Trust me, I am. The sexual tension between you two was off the chart. You didn’t want to sleep with him at first because you hated him, but I knew it would only take one small change for you two to combust. Tell me everything.
I’m living through you.” She reaches across the table and grabs my hand.
I pull back. “No. You weren’t on my side. You were supposed to hate him with me. Bad friend. Bad.”
I reprimand her as if she was a dog, and she laughs.
“He’s not a bad guy. For whatever reason, you both had your preconceived notions of one another. I knew it wouldn’t last. Now look at you. You’ve been glowing for weeks. Love looks good on you, babe.”
“What, who said anything about love? We are just casually seeing one another. I don’t even know if this will last once he leaves. As far as I know, he is planning to leave and put another person in as CEO.”
“You have hearts in your eyes, and the way he watches you? Yeah, he is feeling it too. Are you saying if he decided to stay you wouldn’t work for him?”
I think over her words for a long moment. Would I? How could I?
“I wouldn’t. I love this foundation, but I can’t date my boss forever. If it got out, the media would have a field day with it. I would become the next Monica Lewinski. The only saving grace I’d have is that he’s not married.”
“Well, and you’ve never blown him under a podium.”
No, but he fucked me over his desk once.
I don’t tell her that tidbit, though. Some things are meant to stay private.
“That either. Still, how would it look if I were to be dating the boss? I would lose all respect,” I admit.
“I can see you feel strongly about this, but you’re wrong.
We don’t care who you are dating. You are our fearless leader.
We follow you because when this company was without a paddle up a creek, you jumped into the water and propelled us forward using your own strength.
That won’t disappear overnight just because you are sleeping with a man you seem to really like. ”
I sigh. “I really do like him. More than I should. It scares the fuck out of me. We had this bet going that if the gala fails, I’ll get the CEO position, but if he does better than I did last year, I will quit. What happens when he succeeds and I have to go?”
“Talk to him about it. Are you sure the bet is still in play?”
“I don’t know. I’m scared to ask about it. It’s like walking on eggshells. I’m too afraid that if I make the wrong move, this will all crumble down around me. I’ve never been this happy before. Not since my mom was alive.”
“Oh, honey. Life is scary. It always will be. Wait until you have kids, it gets even worse. Still, it’s worth living.
You can’t keep living in the shadow of ‘what if.’ You will waste your life away wondering what could happen instead of focusing on what is happening in the here and now.
Could he break your heart next week? Sure.
He could also stay by your side until you’re a hundred.
Or he could run off and join a rodeo. Or hell, go to space.
Nothing is impossible, but the question is, will the love you share now be worth it even if this ends tomorrow? ”
Would it? I think so. I learned a lot about myself over the past couple of weeks. Traits that other men have told me are a turn-off seem to turn Elijah on. One of them being my sassy mouth.
I think it would be more than worth it.
“I can see you have your answer. I won’t ask for it. It’s for you and you alone. How about we talk about something more fun? Did you know Rodney figured out how to shove a lima bean up his nose? Kid is a nut.”
As she continues talking about her children, I feel a little bit of the burden I didn’t realize I was carrying ease.
She’s right. Tomorrow doesn’t matter. I need to be right here right now.
ELIJAH
I’m standing in my office poring over documents when Adrianna comes breezing in. She was at lunch with Francine from accounting.
She doesn’t bother closing the door as she walks right up to me, wraps her arms around my neck, and kisses me.
I let the papers fall to the floor as I wrap my arms around her lower back, kissing her right back.
We kiss for several minutes before she pulls back.
“Not that I’m complaining, but what was that for?” I ask.
She smiles up at me with this carefree smile I’ve never seen on her face before. She looks happy. Really happy.
I wonder what could have put that look on her face.
“I missed you,” she says.
“Yeah? Did you have a drink or two at lunch? You’re acting weird.”
She giggles. “Nope. I did gain some clarity, though.”
I smirk down at her in my arms. “What is that?”
Her smile grows. “I really, really, and I do mean really…”
“Really what?” I ask.
A man walks up to her desk, ringing her little bell she keeps on it.
“Really like your dick.”
She pulls out of my arms laughing as I chuckle at her back. She shoots me a wink over her shoulder as she exits my office.
I listen as she talks to the man.
“Can I help you?”
“I need to speak with Mr. Samson.”
“Do you have an appointment with him? If not, I can set one up for you.”
“I don’t, but I need to see him urgently.”
“I really can’t just let you in there. You need an appointment.”
I step out. “It’s okay, Adrianna. I’m Mr. Samson. How can I help you?”
“You’ve been served.”
The man hands over a packet of paperwork as he takes a photo of me holding it.
“Have a good day.”
The man walks away as I open the envelope.
I read through it quickly.
“Adrianna, get me Mason and the legal department on the line. You know what, Max too.”
“What’s wrong?”
I look up at her. “Bill Lind is suing us.”
Her face pales. “What?”
“Adrianna, can you do your job the first time I tell you to for once? Get Mason and the legal team in my office in the next thirty minutes,” I snap, heading into my office with the papers.
That motherfucker.
I reacted poorly when I heard him talking so poorly to Adrianna. I let my feelings for her cloud my judgment. I was rash and protective, which caused this lawsuit.
I start to pace my office, my skin crawling as the anger builds. That man has the audacity to steal from this company for years, and when I confront him, he decides to sue?
Thank God we have the best lawyers around. We will fight this tooth and nail. There will be no settlement for him.
A soft knock on the door has me looking up. Adrianna looks uncertain.
It’s a kick in the stomach. Not ten minutes ago she was jumping into my arms, and now she is unsure if she can even step into my office.
Another fuck-up to add to the list.
“Come here,” I demand.
She does as I ask. Pulling her into my arms, I rest my chin on her head. She wraps her arms around me.
“I’m sorry. You didn’t deserve that,” I whisper.
“It’s okay. It’s a shit show. At the risk of making you angrier, the phones are ringing off the hook with reporters. Security called up and said they are camping out down there too.”
“Fuck,” I curse softly. “Tell everyone to go home for the day and not to say a word to anyone. Anyone that speaks to the news outlet will get fired immediately. Remind them of what the foundation does and what talking would look like,” I tell her.
“Hey.” She pulls back, her hand on my chest. “It’s going to be okay.”
I kiss her briefly. “Go, please. Let me know when Mason and the lawyers get here.”
She nods, heading out of my office.
It’s not ten minutes later that Mason is strolling through the door with our entire Boston-based lawyer team. Adrianna steps in behind them.
“Do you need anything?” she asks.
“Yes, come sit next to me,” I tell her.
She looks shocked as she closes the door and comes to my side on the lounge.
“What have we got?” Mason asks.
I notice the pink nail polish on his hand. If this were any other situation, I would be ragging on him, but I can’t even form words.
Adrianna speaks up for me.
“Bill Lind is suing us.”
I hold out the papers to Mason first. He scans them, then hands them to the lawyers.
“He’s claiming you are accusing him of stealing from the company with no proof. That you fired him after he had a medical episode in the office, one that he claims you caused.” Mason sums it up.
“Pretty much,” I admit.
Mason looks at Adrianna a moment before turning back to me. “He’s saying you are sleeping with your assistant and that it’s been you two all along that have been stealing from the company and pinning it on him.”
Adrianna gasps, her hand going to her chest. “I can’t believe he would say that. He is such a nasty man.”
“Are you sleeping with your assistant?” Ted, our lead lawyer, asks.
“We are in a relationship, but it is recent. I didn’t even know her until I took over the CEO position.”
He nods and writes some things down on his pad.
“Do you have proof that he was stealing?” he asks.
“Circumstantial.”
He sighs. “I’m going to give it to you straight.
It doesn’t look good. Especially with him going to the press.
We are going to put out a statement that there is an ongoing internal investigation into the misconduct by Mr. Lind.
No one speaks to the press. We will file an injunction so they cannot come into the building or on private property, but they can stand on the sidewalk all they want.
I would suggest you find concrete evidence. ”
“Did he even have a heart attack?” Adrianna asks in a small voice.
“Medical records haven’t been released yet. We won’t know until we get them.”
She nods, turning against me to rest her head on my shoulder.
“I’ll get working on this right away,” I tell him.
Standing, I shake his hand. Everyone but Mason and Adrianna leaves, closing the door behind them.
“So much for no scandals,” Mason jokes.
I glare at him. “I’ll fix it.”
“How?” Mason asks. “You have the gala and now this. You are going to burn yourself out.”
“Adrianna can handle the gala. There’s not much else that needs to be done, and she’s done it before. I’ll focus on this.”
“But—” Adrianna starts.
Mason cuts her off. “That’s a fantastic idea. Thanks for stepping in, Adrianna. You are a godsend.”
She nods, not saying a word.
“Well, I better get going. Walk me out, Adrianna.”
As they leave, I let my head fall into my hands.
I fucked this up big time. Time to fix it.