Chapter 26
The collective gasp was so loud it reverberated.
My stomach plummeted. What does that mean? Is this because of me? Because of us?
He didn’t even give us a chance to process as he kept talking. “Remedy will be acting CEO, and it will be made official at the quarterly board meeting at the end of the month. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a meeting. Thank you for your time.”
With my heart slamming against my chest, my eyes followed him as he strolled out of the conference room.
“Did he just quit for you?” Taisha hissed.
“I don’t…”
I was at a loss for words. I didn’t know he was going to do that. I didn’t want him to do that. RLF was his brainchild and his legacy. He told me to trust him and that he had a plan, but I would’ve never gone along with a plan that meant he had to give up his company, his dream.
My chest felt like it was cracking open.
Remedy instructed Lori to start the meeting, but I barely heard a word. Just when I was able to push my emotions down, the models were dismissed to the showroom. As soon as the conference room door closed behind us, the models erupted with questions.
“The boyfriend you were talking about is Russell Long?” Matias damn near hollered.
“Is that how you got chosen for the runway show?” Jacqueline questioned.
“Does he know that I didn’t know about him so there’s no need for beef?” Jonah asked.
“You two have only been dating since June and y’all already got matching shoes?” Taisha joked.
As we walked to the other side of the office building, I answered them all.
“Yes, Russell Long is my man,” I told Matias. Turning to Jonah, I continued. “He knows that you didn’t know anything, and he doesn’t have beef with you at all.”
I eyed Jacqueline, not completely sure if she was being shady or not. “No, Angelica nominated me to walk in the show. Russell wasn’t in on the vote for me to walk.”
Taisha bumped me with her hip. “You didn’t answer my question.”
Shaking my head, I laughed. “Because it wasn’t a real question.” I pointed at her. “I knew you peeped that. I felt it in my gut.”
“Should I be worried that you’ll get all the runway shows or big opportunities?” Jacqueline complained as we walked into the showroom. “Because I can’t compete with someone who’s screwing the boss.”
My brows furrowed. On one hand, I could understand where her mindset was but at the exact same time, I knew she was being shady.
“I already said that he didn’t nominate me to walk,” I returned.
Jacqueline frowned. “Well, it feels suspicious that you two are together and then all of a sudden, without a tryout or anything, you’re selected to walk. No offense.”
“Well, I take offense to that,” Angelica stated as she emerged from behind a rack of clothes. She pushed her red glasses up the bridge of her nose as she crossed the room toward us. “I nominated Nina. I pushed for her to be selected. Are you questioning my judgment?”
Jacqueline looked shook. “No ma’am.”
“Are you questioning the integrity of this company?”
“No—no, ma’am.”
She placed a stack of T-shirts on the table and looked around at all of us. “These shirts will be part of your content creation for this week. It is not for the Miami appearances. Taisha, come with me.”
We sat in silence as we waited our turn to get our clothing.
My sadness subsided momentarily and was replaced with worry.
That was the most I’d ever heard Angelica speak and even though it was in defense of me, I still felt like I needed to stay quiet because I didn’t know how she felt about me and Russ.
When we left as a group thirty minutes later, we didn’t talk until we were in the elevator.
“I’m grown and Angelica wasn’t even talking to me, and I felt like she told me to stay in a child’s place,” Taisha commented.
We all burst out laughing because it legitimately felt like that.
When the humor died down, Jacqueline turned to me. “I’m sorry about what I said. I was being a hater.”
“Yeah, you were. The first question was shady, but there was some validity to the concern. The second time, you were being a hater for real.”
She pouted. “I was jealous. I was hating. And I’m sorry.”
The elevator door opened, and I gave her a smile. “Apology accepted.” I pointed at her. “But don’t do that shit no more.”
We exited the building, exchanging goodbyes.
“See you tomorrow,” I called out as I headed to my car.
As soon as I started my car, my cell phone rang. The minute I saw Russ’s name flash across my screen, I was immediately flooded with guilt.
“Are you okay?” I answered frantically. “What happened?”
“I’m good. What’s wrong?”
The concern in his voice made my eyes prick with tears. Even when he has just done something so heartbreakingly selfless, he’s still thinking about me.
“You’re not CEO anymore.”
“It was the only way for us—”
“You should’ve told me you planned on leaving,” I interjected, trying not to break down and cry.
“I would’ve told you not to. I never would’ve wanted you to do it like this.
We could’ve snuck around for the next seven and a half months if we needed to.
We could’ve figured something else out. We could’ve—I would’ve made the sneaking around work if I thought you leaving your company was the only option.
” My voice broke. “You don’t deserve for it to happen like this. You don’t—”
“Nina,” he interrupted gently. “Where are you? Have you already left the building?”
“I’m in the parking deck across the street.” I blinked back tears. “On the third level.”
“Don’t move. I’m on my way.”
His phone was breaking up and I knew he was on the elevator. When it disconnected altogether, I took a shaky breath and climbed out of my car. A couple of minutes later, the elevator opened and the second I saw him, tears burned my eyes.
“I’m sorry,” I called out to him.
With each step he took, my heart broke a little more. I couldn’t stand the idea of him being upset with me—or worse, resentful. Because he was giving up his dream for me to live mine.
My heart swelled as it was cracking in half.
“I didn’t want this,” I told him when he was about fifteen feet away.
I couldn’t read his expression and I was scared to let him talk first, so I kept going.
“I didn’t want you to lose anything—especially not your company.
I don’t want to walk away from you or RLF.
But I don’t want you to resent me. I don’t want you to regret us—”
Grabbing my face, he crashed his lips into mine.
He kissed me hard, forcing me back against my car.
His muscular body pinned me in place as our mouths expressed our feelings for one another.
His kiss quieted the noise in my head, the despair in my heart, and the churning in my belly.
His kiss was a temporary balm covering the guilt I felt from his loss.
And for a full minute, I was given a reprieve.
Russ pulled away fractionally and searched my face. “I would never regret us. I would never resent you.” His thumbs stroked my cheeks. “You are my escape… my fantasy… the woman of my fucking dreams.”
My eyes started to water. “But RLF is also your dream and I can’t let you give it up for me.”
“It’s the only way for us to be together.”
“I didn’t want you to give up everything for me, Russ.
Knowing that you did this…” My lashes fluttered closed.
“I’m sorry if I made you feel like you had to do something this drastic for us to be together.
Because you didn’t. I’d sneak around with you for the next seven, eight months if that’s what I had to do. ”
“Baby, look at me. Look at me,” he insisted. When I opened my eyes and stared into his, there was so much emotion in his expression. “You’d sneak around with me for months even though you hated it?”
“I hate the idea of you losing your dream as much as I hate the idea of losing you. I can survive a few months of us having to sneak around. I cannot survive you giving up everything for me. Let’s go to HR and fix this.”
Looking at me worshipfully, he stirred something within me. He brought his face to mine and planted a soft kiss against my lips. “I love that you’d do that for me.”
“I’d do anything for you,” I admitted, my voice barely above a whisper.
“And I’d do anything for you.” He stared into my eyes, and I was filled with so much love. “Which is why I stepped down as CEO.”
“Russ—”
“It’s my company. It’ll always be my company.”
“I don’t understand.”
His hands coasted from my face down my neck and over my shoulders. When he ran them down my bare arms, his fingertips left goose bumps in their wake. When he got to my hands, he intertwined our fingers and then brought them to his mouth.
“I wasn’t just the CEO. I’m also the majority stakeholder.
” He took a step back and swept his gaze up and down my body.
“And what I want is you and to design. Remedy’s been the face of RLF for years so having her replace me as CEO made the most sense.
Because as CEO, I can’t be with you the way I want to be with you. But as head of design, I can.”
My eyebrows shot up. “What?”
“My lawyer tried, but there was no way around us being in violation. Even if I wasn’t your direct supervisor, you were still my subordinate.
I was at the top of the organizational chart.
So the paperwork we signed was strictly legal.
It was to protect the company’s assets. But from a public standpoint, we would’ve taken a hit.
Every move I made would’ve been open to critique.
Every opportunity you earned would’ve been open to speculation.
So, my lawyer concluded that our relationship wouldn’t have gotten board approval with me as CEO because me taking a hit would be the same as the company taking the hit.
But as head of design…” He let his new title trail off and hang in the air between us.
I’d heard what he’d said the first time, but it didn’t really hit me until he explained it.
I was at a loss for words.