Chapter 3
THREE
I Wish I Never Met You
For a second I thought I'd misheard. Amoré Nights?
My company? What the hell did he want with my company?
As I stood there frozen, he walked around me casually, as if he didn't owe me a single explanation.
I watched him move ahead, my jaw dropping as he opened the door with my company logo on it.
Anger surged through me when the door shut in my face, leaving me on the outside looking in.
Regaining composure, I rushed inside just in time to hear an explanation.
"Hello. I'm the operations specialist sent by Greenslate. I'll be needing an office to oversee the launch of Amoré Nights."
Shit! That wasn't just a title, he would report to the people holding the purse strings.
There was a pit in my stomach. My receptionist leaned to her right to make eye contact with me. "Ms. Ortega?"
At a loss for words, I looked from her to him and back again.
Greenslate gave me the largest amount of funding to start the business.
Since only a foolish businesswoman would use her personal funds, I brought in investors.
Now, they seemed to want to babysit me at my own company, and of all the damn employees, they sent that fucking man.
"Ms. Ortega?"
Remembering Tina was waiting, I gave a professional nod. "Please get the Greenslate employee settled."
"Yes, Miss," she said, then stood and extended a hand to my annoying ex. "What did you say your name was, sir?"
"Bruno Gasol."
They kept talking while I marched down the hallway, heels loud as gunshots and fingers tight at my side. If I didn't get into my office quickly, I'd explode in front of everyone.
Once inside, I looked for something to throw.
"Did you have a bad lunch?" Eliana, my secretary, asked as she entered.
Dragging off my coat, I glared at her and fired off my own questions. "Did Greenslate send any emails or calls asking for permission to plant an employee here?"
Her confused expression was my answer.
"What happened? What employee?"
Ignoring her, I paced the length of my office, each turn fueled by the kind of fury that begged for a target.
"This is exactly why my father doesn't believe in investors. He likens them to partners, and too many of them meant you had less control."
Eliana shook her head. "Alex, breathe. I'm getting dizzy just watching you."
"Greenslate thinks I'm not capable of launching Amoré Nights, so they sent a babysitter."
"Can they do that?"
"It's a gray area. They have rights as investors, and sending someone to assist and oversee is definitely within their rights," I explained, still pacing the room. "Why does it have to be him, though?"
"Who?" Eliana asked, twisting the cap off a bottle of water and holding it out to me. I grabbed it and drank some, but it burned going down my throat. All of this shit stung. "If they didn't believe I could run the damn business properly, why the hell did Greenslate invest?"
Eliana frowned. "Wait, wait. Why jump to that conclusion? You gave me the impression seconds ago it was fairly normal."
"Well. It is, but…"
"But what?"
Staring at her, I ran my hand through my hair. "They fucking sent my ex-boyfriend. The one man I never wanted to see again."
My throat felt dry. Just seeing his face brought back a memory I thought I'd never be forced to remember.
"Shit," Eliana blurted out.
Exactly. A man I'd vowed never to see again was now a few doors down the hall in my company, getting himself settled.
"Alex, calm down."
This was calm. Pacing around the room, eyes wide, hands shaking.
That was calm. If not, I'd be down the hall creating a scene that would embarrass me and the company, whose reputation I didn't want to ruin.
My heels scraped against the floor as I did another lap around the room, worked up and furious to the point that I could not sit or think straight.
"Operations specialist. He will dig into everything, not only operations. Give him time, soon he'll be in finance and product readiness."
Eliana placed her arms on my shoulders and steered me to my desk. When she gently lowered me into my seat, I leaned back.
"We launch next month. You've worked tirelessly on this company. Your ex-boyfriend can't do anything to stop Amoré Nights."
Hearing her call Bruno my anything made my jaw tighten. However, she was fucking right. No damn way would I let him take another thing away from me. Greenslate had no legal right to their money back.
"The meeting will start in ten minutes," Eliana reminded me in a voice that sounded unsure I'd still attend.
I stood behind the desk, smoothing the wrinkles from my pants with shaky hands. My jaw was set, and the choice was already made. Nothing was going to stop me today.
"Are these the files? Is the room set up?"
Eliana carried a strange look. "Yes."
"Fine. Alert the Greenslate spy and let's go."
I walked around the desk toward my office door, head held high, shoulders back, ready to face it all. Bruno Gasol wasn't about to shake me. I'd already survived him. I was unbreakable now. As I reached for the doorknob, my secretary called out, "Alex."
Ugh, I'd given myself such a good pep talk. I was in the zone and spun around, annoyed. "What? Let's go."
"Maybe you should fix your shirt first."
A few minutes later, my Chanel blouse was properly buttoned and right-side out. I left the office, headed down the hall, and walked through the door Eliana held open. I ignored Bruno seated at the far end of the table.
"We don't have much time left, and as you can expect, we cannot afford to drop the ball now," I said while lowering myself into the chair.
Eliana gestured with her head in Bruno's direction, and I took a deep breath, rolled my eyes, and with a face that looked like I smelled the foulest odor, explained his presence. "Greenslate has sent us some assistance. Mr. Gasol will be with us for a while."
"How long?" one employee asked, and I'd wondered the same thing during my walk from the office.
Instead of wasting time guessing, I looked at him. "Mr. Gasol, how long will you be a stain in our lives?"
My words weren't missed. A few people looked shocked, but not Bruno.
He simply smiled. "I'm only here to help. Promise not to get in anyone's way. Greenslate just wants to ensure the launch is profitable for all."
"Promise?" Ha. I remembered when I was foolish enough to accept promises from this man. Once I realized the words had slipped out, I looked for a way to fix it, but there was no need.
"Well, help is never a bad thing," said James, a lead data engineer who was on thin ice.
"Maybe Mr. Gasol can help you personally. God knows you burn enough of my time already," I spat, and the room got quiet. This man was someone I'd planned to fire for weeks. Actually, if I wasn't riding Pedro earlier, he would have been asked to leave the company already, but I was delayed.
Being a perfectionist meant James and his mistakes did not fit with my vision for the company, especially with the Greenslate spy watching.
"Sorry, I shouldn't have spoken," he mumbled.
Eager to get the meeting back on track, I spoke to IT. "Change the app so that if a woman doesn't wish to fall in love with a man who has nothing but two nickels to rub together, she has the option to avoid meeting him."
"How can we be certain the men aren't lying about their work or earnings?" one employee asked.
A second added, "Should we ask for W-2s or pay stubs as proof of employment?"
"If you make it harder for men to join, how's the app supposed to succeed? I'm not trying to cause trouble, it's just math," Bruno said. His voice made my skin crawl.
"So, you're saying a woman should take whatever comes along? The eight-figure executive has no right to have standards and ask for a top earner? Only if we let a man lie to her will he join Amoré Nights?"
The moment the last word left my mouth, I heard the sharp edge of bitterness laced through it. Around me, various faces looked on, some surprised, others tense, all far too silent.
"I agree with Alex," Shelia in marketing said.
Bruno and I stared at each other across the table, but he spoke just the same. "Do you?"
"Yes. OK, we all want to date billionaires, but seriously, not many of us do.
Women often date based on feelings and emotions despite their preferences.
Forcing a broke man to be honest won't ruin all his chances.
If a man believes lying is the way to start a relationship, he's not the kind we want on Amoré Nights," she said with deliberate clarity.
Another female employee spoke up. "Shelia's right. That's what sets our dating app apart from the competition."
I shot him a glare sharp enough to cut glass before I opened my mouth to speak.
"You see, Mr. Gasol, I went out of my way to create a space to exclude lying men who wished to waste a woman's time.
Amoré Nights is my baby, and if we lose a few deceitful men, sparing just one woman tears, I have no problem with it. "
He looked unmoved. "That's a nice sentiment. Luckily for you, most dating apps have more men than women. You can afford to scare away a few and still be successful."
His words prickled my skin. "Only Greenslate seems to have any doubt Amoré Nights will be successful."
"Really? Other than you and maybe your girlfriends, what makes you so certain of its success?"
Taking his question as a personal insult, I tightened my stare but kept my emotions at bay. "The numbers haven't been reported to Greenslate yet, but my team have already analyzed them from the launch in Spain months ago. The numbers are fine."
"Spain?"
"Yes. Spain. Maybe you've heard of it. It's a beautiful country. There are people there, and some of them want to find love," I spat.
Bruno smirked. "As you know, my family is also from there, Alex."
The use of my nickname made my whole body tighten now.
"So, Amoré Nights will be an international app. Users can even look for love abroad?" Bruno asked.
"Yes. Some might argue all the men in their home country are trash. I've at least given them an app to check if it's just their location or if all the men in the world are horrible creatures."
The conference room was full, but the only thing I saw was Bruno, who sat too comfortably in his seat for my liking.
Eyes locked with mine, tossing back my words like they needed his approval.
I shot back without flinching, our exchange sharp and fast. The tension was thick enough to cut, our voices low but loaded, and I could feel the eyes around the table shifting, the silence growing as everyone tuned in.
They all knew. They had to know. This wasn't a normal business meeting or discussion.
Bruno and I clearly had history. We'd once been deeply in love, then the whole thing burned away until only the bare bones were left.
And even though I should remember my professional reputation, I didn't back down. Not with him. Not now.