2. The Board
2 THE BOARD
Daphne
I stood before the mirror, mopping tears. My father’s secretary, an older woman who’d been with Delphine Holdings forever, looked on sympathetically while washing her hands. She debated asking what happened but knew better. On the other side of that door, a presentation awaited—one that could redefine my future.
I should not cry in a bathroom while a man—again—stole my moment.
She turned to leave, but stopped. “Daphne, if you need something, sweetheart, you can always ask. Are you okay?”
I shrugged, dropping my gaze to the tile floor.
“Because it’s okay to confide in people. Sweetie, I watched you grow up. It’s okay to come to me if something is going on.”
“I’m fine,” I lied.
I wasn’t. I’d just gotten off a plane after having a breakup conversation with a man who claimed to love me but asked too much.
“Well, alright.” She left.
I powdered my face . You’ve got this, Daphne .
I tucked my compact into my desk, grabbed my laptop, and headed to the conference room. I threw aside the ultimatum I’d left behind in London. I sat near my brother in back.
“Time to nap.” He snickered.
I rolled my eyes, “It isn’t that bad. You need to focus on strategy. That’s all this is.”
“Robertson will go on and on again about audits and I cannot even.”
I snickered. Our Chief Compliance Officer wasn’t much of a fun time. I had biweekly meetings in his side of the house with legal. Even for me, it was anything but thrilling.
“It’s like Aunt Kara at thanksgiving describing her trips to Europe,” Davey groaned, pretending to sleep.
“Slides, too. She’s not gone there.”
“Yet. Don’t speak it into existence, Daph.”
Davey wasn’t much for feels—despite being sensitive. He was a people pleaser with a fragile ego. However, he knew me well. Knowing something happened in London, he clowned to distract me.
“You’re going to kill it with the presentation,” Davey added.
“Try not to fall asleep. Okay?” I joked.
I caught Cal’s eye. He entered the conference room, nervously ignoring me. I rarely saw him since we were here alone. He sat with the other C-suite guys.
I nervously shifted in my chair as Dad entered with the president and board. They chatted with Cal. He nodded at Davey and I, but didn’t make a big fuss. I struggled sometimes with his dichotomy of big boss and doting dad. I didn’t want to be overly familiar, but sometimes I wanted a hug. Today was one of those times.
With a full conference room, the meeting began. When it was my turn, my father’s assistant nodded at me and queued my slides.
“David Jr., are you presenting this?” Our president asked my brother.
“No, Daphne took this one,” Davey answered. “She just got back from London. She has been providing the white glove service.”
“Oh, alright.”
Finally, I got some credit for busting my ass while he slept with half of the girls in River North! He was the first man who gave me that in the past twenty-four hours.
“Thanks,” I said. “So, as Davey explained, I literally just returned to O’Hare two hours ago. Apologies if the slides aren’t super pretty. I did them on the plane.”
“They’re fine, Daphne,” Dad assured.
I took a deep breath. Don’t undermine yourself, woman!
I updated them on financials, and liabilities before addressing compliance concerns.
The president cut me off. “We have no consolidated branding. Why is that?”
I stared, deer-in-headlights, at Cal, who should have spoken. He was radio silent.
“We don’t have it yet,” I said.
“And why is that, Miss Delphine?”
This wasn’t even this prick’s domain, but here we were. I looked to Cal to chime in. Instead, he stared at the wall. I set my jaw, annoyed.
“Cal do you have an update?”
Cal, looked up. “Uh… we weren’t contacted?—”
I crossed my arms. “I sent you three emails with read receipts. If your team is too busy, it’s understandable, but I haven’t received a response.”
He flushed red. “Well, it’s not as if we’ve had adequate time to prepare much, you know?”
Don’t bullshit me, Cal!
“When did you receive the request?” Dad asked, concerned.
“A week ago. We haven’t made headway?—”
“It was ten days ago,” I answered. “I was working late on financials and contracts and told you we needed branding assistance. I sent a follow-up on Monday morning. No response.”
“We were flooded?—”
Dad cleared his throat, cutting his protege off. “Cal, I need to see movement on this. When Daphne sends an email about an urgent issue, please do not delay.”
“I wasn’t, David. We wanted to return with actual information.”
“Well, at least say you’ve seen her request.”
“Apologies. I thought Sarah responded,” Cal said. “She didn’t reach out about any clarifications?”
I didn’t believe him.
“No,” I answered. “No response.”
“Well, maybe she assumed it could wait until we could meet with you, David?” He looked to Dad for guidance.
“You’re both adults. I delegated all the work on this matter to Daphne and David. Is that not clear?”
“It’s clear. Yes,” Cal said. “But couldn’t you have come to me, Daphne?”
“She was in London,” Davey scoffed.
He wanted to let loose on Cal. I dreamed of accountability, but not wiping the floor with Cal.
“You’re right,” Cal backed off, knowing when to call it.
“In the next week, I want a branding kit plan on Daphne’s desk,” Dad said. “Can you two work on that?”
“Yes,” Cal and I said in unison.
With no more time, I sat. Cal stole the rest of my presentation by derailing things with his own lack of preparation.
“He thinks the sun shines out of his ass,” Davey whispered as I returned to my seat. “I’ve got your back.”
* * *
Cal
I wanted to punch a wall—the wall Daphne nailed me to—but couldn’t blame her. I didn’t do my job to the best of my abilities. Now, David wanted to speak to me in his office. I planned to take my lumps and move on, but I’d not cross Daphne again. I obviously angered her. Was this blackmail?”
I left my office, ready for a bruising and passed Daphne in the hall. She stood at the espresso machine. Her gaze averted mine, turning immediately to the shot pouring out of the expensive machine. I debated passing, then stopped.
“Do we have an issue?” I remained calm.
“I don’t need this right now.” Daphne shook her head, deflated.
“I’m not coming for you.”
“Right,” she said sarcastically.
I softened my face. “I’m not upset with you.”
“You have a funny way of showing it, Cal. I don’t need your grief today. I was out of fucks before crossing the Atlantic. Don’t try me. You dropped the ball, I gave you two chances to make an excuse, you didn’t, then you blamed me. Don’t come for me unless you want to watch my father and brother tear you from limb to limb.”
You’d probably get off on that .
“Your dad is about to dress me down. You’re right. I fucked up but... I just didn’t know. I’m sorry. I wasn’t trying to deflect.”
She didn’t buy it. “Well, it won’t be bad. The sun shines out of your ass. And no, I haven’t said anything. So, don’t continue to take it out on me.”
I grabbed her hand without thinking. “Daph, I am not out to get you. You were right to call me out, okay?”
Daphne’s big green eyes finally met mine. For a moment, I saw the sweet side of her. She returned to all business, pulling her hand away.
“I… I just want us to get along,” I said.
“Well, we are fine if you do your job and don’t try to infantilize me. Next time, try not to derail my presentation.”
“Got it.” I let it go.
She didn’t care about the kiss, just that I stole her moment.
Daphne said flatly, “Your tie is a mess. Fix it.”
I adjusted it in the espresso machine’s reflection, quipping, “To the gallows!”
Marching to her father’s office, I should have felt lighter. Daphne didn’t give a fuck about the kiss—the best-case scenario. Sadly, I wished for her to take it out on me rather than take the high road.
“Cal,” David’s face lit up as I came in for my punishment, to my surprise. “I have good news.”
“Oh,” I shut the door.
“Is everything okay?” He read my expression.
“Sure,” I said.
“Oh, you thought I was dragging you to the woodshed?” David chuckled. “I feel like Daphne did that better than I could. I assume you will?—”
“I’ve already told my team it’s top priority, David.”
“Great, great. Don’t let her scare you. She’s Danna’s daughter. She doesn’t give anyone a pass.”
Lady Danna, David’s wife was a perfectionist and no doormat.
“It’s a good quality,” I said. “She holds her own. She was right.”
“Good. Then I don’t have any reason to think you two aren’t going to make this bit work?”
“No, sir. We just discussed it. We’re fine.”
“Great. Then, let’s talk about a new project. This doesn’t leave these four walls,” David brimmed.
“Oh?” I sat before his desk.
“I have an opportunity to buy a property and start up a venture. I cannot manage it all. It’s too much to add to my portfolio without a steward.”
My heart leapt. I hoped like hell he was saying what I thought he was.
“I’d like you to manage it.”
My face erupted into a wide smile. Reading it, David chuckled, “Yeah, yeah. I knew you’d be excited. It’s not done yet. We won’t count our chickens.”
“Of course not. How can I help?”
“When I tie it all up, I’ll bring you in. Until then, keep your head down and focus on helping Daphne with the merger.”
“Will do,” I agreed. “Thank you, David.”
“Now, let’s get into the specifics of it,” David continued. “You are going to love this mixed retail plan. It’s a boutique feel. The branding needs to be perfect .”
David regaled me with the details for my hopeful new project. I stared out the window at the city and thought about what could be. Any concerns about Daphne faded as I mentally wrote my next chapter.