Chapter 37
CURTIS
Tonight was the biggest night of my life. A night to set things right. A night to stick it to everyone who’d conspired to ruin my reputation.
But it would all be for nothing if Faith didn’t forgive me.
In this room full of my family, ex-work colleagues, and press, all I could see was her, in a sexy green dress, peering up at me from the table at the front, her blue eyes wide in shock.
I hoped Amy was strong enough to keep her from running away.
A small smile found its way to my face as I remembered how feisty she was in taking down the guy in Nero’s the day I’d first seen her, a day that would forever live deep in my heart as a foundation for the relationship I hoped we could still have.
Faith said something else to Amy, pursed her lips, then rolled her eyes.
I smiled wider at how she always said what she thought when things were unfair, no matter who she might offend.
I was glad Amy was on the receiving end of whatever she just said and not me.
Although, Amy was doing me a favor by getting Faith here, so I hoped she wasn’t suffering too much.
Verbally sparring with Faith at the office before we’d called a truce were some of my fondest memories.
She was one in a billion.
And I was an idiot.
Had been an idiot.
I didn’t plan on screwing up again.
Please, God, tell me I haven’t totally fucked this up and lost her.
If she could just sit here for my whole presentation, I’d have a chance. At least Amy thought I would. I wasn’t so sure if the look on Faith’s face was anything to judge by. She really wanted to leave. My shoulders tensed, and I gripped the lectern for dear life, waiting to see if she’d stay.
Amy said something to her, and Faith replied. I’d kill for some lip-reading skills. Thank God she sagged back into her chair. I took a deep breath and relaxed my hands. She was giving me grace, and by the look of sadness and hope in her eyes, it was a last chance. One I wasn’t going to squander.
I flicked my gaze to the left, to the table where my family sat with Victoria.
Mom had managed to get my father here by saying that I had an important business announcement.
Whether he’d come to see me fail or to encourage me, I had no idea because I hadn’t spoken to him since that day.
Victoria had come because I’d asked her, and she probably assumed I’d forgiven her for taking my CEO position.
It was just “business” according to her, and we shouldn’t let it get in the way of our “friendship.” Exactly what a conniving psychopath would say.
And I had receipts.
Thanks to Amy and Faith and Amy’s crack team of investigators.
Her law firm had a section that dealt solely with insurance and fraud cases.
After I’d had my epiphany that I was a supreme moron and I couldn’t live without Faith, I’d called Amy and engaged her firm to go all in.
it had only taken them a week to uncover everything.
If I’d known they would be so efficient, I would’ve done it a lot sooner.
So, tonight wasn’t just for announcing my future—the world was dying to know because there weren’t more important things to report on than some rich guy’s business plans.
I kept my eyeroll to myself. Tonight was, in part, for righting my reputation.
But more importantly, it was for Faith. I wanted her to know she was valued, trusted, and important, no matter what her mother, my father, Victoria, and any other boneheaded imbecile had to say.
I wanted the world to know what an amazing person she was.
It was time someone truly stood up and backed her.
That someone was me.
If it wasn’t enough for her to forgive me, I didn’t care.
I just wanted her to have everything she deserved.
Okay… I did care if she didn’t forgive me, but I would never give up trying to win her back.
Unless she told me I was creeping her out.
Then I’d leave it alone. I swallowed at the horrific prospect.
Don’t think of that now.
Right. I needed all my confidence to sell this and to deal with the fallout that would be coming my way.
My father and Victoria would be out for blood.
If my father disliked me before, he was about to hate me.
Any thin thread of a relationship we’d had was about to be destroyed.
I was cutting him and his toxicity loose.
It had taken me too long to realize, but when he went after Faith, he’d crossed a line.
I would do anything to have her in my life for the rest of my life.
She was more important than my father, than my job, than anything.
A flash of sadness at how it would affect the rest of my family flared through my body.
I had to trust they’d deal with it one way or another.
I knew my siblings would stand by me, but my mother…
well, she was in a difficult situation, right in the middle.
Aunt Stephanie had chosen my side and was ready for the fallout.
She’d apologized profusely when I presented my evidence against Victoria.
The fact she’d kept my secret from my father about tonight showed I could trust her now.
She also admitted that she hadn’t wanted to go along with my father, but her own job had been at risk.
What a piece of shit that man was. Family meant nothing to him.
I shook off those thoughts and ran a hand down my tie. I took a deep breath.
It was time.
My reason for being here was watching. The brave woman who gave everything and asked for nothing. She peered at me, uncertainty on her face. I met her glorious gaze and took strength from it.
This is for you, my beautiful Faith. This is for all the times people have let you down.
“Good evening, everyone. As my Aunt Steph said, welcome, and thanks for coming. As you all know, the past few months for me as CEO of Knight Advertising have been… interesting. Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, I’m no longer CEO.
That title goes to the resourceful Victoria Worthington.
” I smiled as if it didn’t bother me. There was uncomfortable murmuring in the crowd.
Victoria sat up straighter and preened, her smile oblivious to the few angry looks being shot her way—mostly from Faith’s table.
I also noticed a few rolled eyes, mainly from Faith’s friends in marketing.
I imagined Victoria hadn’t been making life easy for anyone.
Unlike Victoria, my father’s impassive face gave nothing away.
My mother chewed the side of her bottom lip, her “worried” tell.
She was probably thinking about how it had all affected me.
My siblings shared curious looks—they didn’t know what I’d planned.
I didn’t want them involved. Even though I was ready to drop an ACME anvil on my relationship with my father, they might not be ready. I wanted them clear of repercussions.
Because there would be many.
No one made a fool of my father and got away with it.
But he only had himself to blame, so I had no sympathy.
I could’ve gone to him with this information myself, but he hadn’t thought twice about publicly shaming me in the media as being incompetent.
And he was always telling me I wasn’t ruthless enough, so I was only taking his advice.
I’d ditched all my ruth and was totally without it. Definitely no ruth here.
“So, what are my plans, you may ask?” I smiled, a bit of evil slipping into it.
Faith’s brow furrowed. She could tell something unexpected was coming, that I was zigging before I zagged, because she knew me.
No one else had picked up on that fact. That she knew me so well filled my heart.
If she could read my expressions, she’d believe me when I told her I loved her.
Whether she wanted to hear that or not was another story.
Ignoring the fearful thud of my pulse in my neck, I forced my tone to joviality. “Well, you’ll have to wait a few minutes longer to find out.”
A few people chuckled.
I nodded to Aunt Steph who held the projector controller.
She pressed a button and the screen behind and above me lit up with a collage of four images.
Everyone’s heads tipped back slightly as they peered at the large screen.
“The picture on the top to your left is Knight Advertising’s Victoria Worthington and her friend Amanda McCormack in their second year of college.
” While everyone stared at the screen, I stared at Faith.
Her eyes were wide, her mouth open slightly.
What must she be thinking? Was she in pain at the memory of the betrayal of Mark and Amanda, or had she recovered?
She would definitely be wondering what the heck I was doing.
“You’ll see the picture next to that is Victoria and Amanda at Victoria’s twenty-fifth birthday.
” I was at that party too. I’d known Amanda only distantly, as Victoria didn’t tend to mix friend groups.
It hadn’t struck me until Amy sent me particulars that Amanda McCormack—Victoria’s friend—was the same Amanda McCormack, partner of one of our competitors.
Piranha Media hadn’t come up on my radar much until now.
They were too small to worry about. Or they had been.
Since poaching our clients, they’d improved their clout and had attained even more high-profile clients. All thanks to Victoria.
The question was why.
I was about to answer it.