Chapter 24
Chapter Twenty-Four
Madison
I had trained for this. I was ready for this, but it was unfortunate that my sex-hazed brain kept tripping over the bed sheets until I eventually just had to let go of it completely and grab a robe instead. I found my phone and laptop sitting on my desk and immediately returned Marcus’s call. He didn't pick up, so I called Meredith, and she immediately did.
“Why the hell are you unreachable?” she instantly lashed out.
I tried to control my temper, mainly because I was still groggy and because I wanted to remain in a good mood, but I could tell already that she was going to make this as difficult for me as possible.
“It’s late; I was asleep.”
“What do you mean it’s late? It's not even midnight there, and your boss is still up.”
Sighing, I waited until her annoyance had passed so that we could continue on with our work.
“Do you know what to do?” she asked.
I wrote down on my notepad as I thought.
“I need to arrange an emergency meeting with the boss and the senior management. I'll contact Grey in legal and Cullen in Public Relations to join as well. Has the breach been leaked? I’m wondering if we’ll have to contact the shareholders as well.”
“Not now,” she replied. “Just make sure that Hunter is able to attend the emergency meeting now without it messing up his schedule too much. And of course, whatever materials we need, you can arrange before Stephen and whatever we send and hand it over to him.”
“Alright, got it,” I said, and the call came to an end. I immediately set up a real-time crisis management dashboard and sent Hunter the link as well as to the other members of senior management so that they could include notes to be shared by everyone and so that they can also track updates and news and actions in progress or to be completed.
Thankfully, Marcus picked up, and I was able to liaise with the cybersecurity and IT teams as well to join the dashboard so that their updates would be included. This was all I could do now until the meeting began in twenty minutes, and so I took the moment needed to take a breath. I was still in a robe, my hair was a mess, and we had a conference call in a few minutes.
So, grimacing, I got up and headed over to the bathroom. After finding a hair tie, I pulled my hair back, put on some clothes, and then changed into an oversized dress shirt and shorts. Afterwards, I took my laptop with me, and I couldn’t believe how nervous I felt to knock on Hunter's door.
“Come in,” he called out, and I met him once again dressed in the shirt from earlier, though it was still completely unbuttoned. I wanted to lick across his glistening skin. He was so fucking gorgeous; my mind couldn’t contemplate it, especially in this moment when his very existence seemed so effortless and even exciting.
He appeared completely calm and was instead running some tests on his computer. I watched the numbers as they scrolled through his system and couldn’t help but notice the frown that was now on his face. He was no longer in as good of a mood as he had been earlier and was now instead focused on resolving this issue.
I headed over and hesitated even taking the seat before him. This was working time, and there was no room for familiarity as we had agreed, so I stood until he offered me a seat.
“Sir, the meeting is in ten minutes. You’ve opened the board, I see?”
“Hmm,” he replied as I watched him rapidly type a text message to the department. Suddenly, he stopped typing, and then he picked up his phone and rose to his feet. He headed over to the window, and soon enough, he was in deep conversation with IT.
No longer needing to be asked, I took my seat on the chair opposite him, and prepared for the meeting. I listened to what they had to say and couldn’t help feeling slightly relieved.
Soon enough, it was time for the meeting, so I joined the conference room, and after confirming that everyone was present and had been able to join, I called him over.
“Sir?”
“I’ll be right there,” he replied.
He finished his call, and a few seconds later he came over and took his seat in front of his laptop. The meeting soon started, and we were all put in crisis aversion mode.
Half an hour later, more than half the attendees had been kicked out after being given instructions to handle things that needed to be immediately. The rest had reports to be given to Hunter later on, so I took note of all imminent milestones and deadlines. Finally, the meeting came to an end.
Afterward, his attention returned to his laptop while I, on the other hand, focused on adjusting his schedule for the entire day. He was so focused that even after more than half an hour had passed, he was still solely focused on resolving the issue. I watched him and felt as though we had been transported back to New York. This was the Hunter I had fallen in love with. Unlike any other man that I had ever met, he could remain in this position for the several hours and not even bother moving from where he was.
He kept working while I tried to stay awake, but eventually, even with the chill of the room and the extreme silence, I couldn’t help but lean into the chair and fall asleep.