Chapter 13
Victor
Istride into the conference room. My marketing manager, Mr. Choi, and his team are already inside, chatting about their day.
The moment they spot me, they stop talking and busy themselves.
Some people flip through notes while others start chatting with their neighbors about actual marketing strategies.
Normally, I don’t mind idle chitchat, but with my board breathing down my neck, it has pushed me into taking a more active role in their strategy meetings.
Mr. Choi stands as I make my way to the head of the table, and the rest of his staff follows his lead. I motion for them all to sit. Each and every one of these people has proven themselves in some way over the last few years. If anyone can come up with a fantastic plan, it’s them.
“Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to meet with us,” Mr. Choi says. “My team leader made a breakthrough with a strategy we thought you might like.”
“That makes me a happy man.”
Mr. Choi smiles. “We have a presentation set up for you. We already pitched it to Mr. Natten, and he approved of us showing it to you.”
Mr. Natten has spearheaded some of our most difficult marketing plans over the last eight years. If our marketing director loves it, I’m sure I will.
So, I nod. “Start when you’re ready.”
The team leader—a middle-aged man with sandy brown hair—stands and makes his way to the front of the room. He fiddles with his sleeve before turning on the monitor to start his presentation.
“We’ve been running numbers on different ages of people who use older models of this particular phone in order to make a marketing strategy that best fits them.
” He clicks a button to go to the next slide.
“If our users are generally of retired age, we wouldn’t want to advertise on platforms like TikTok—”
A knock interrupts him. Martha, my assistant, pokes her head inside. “I’m so sorry to interrupt, but, Mr. Barlowe, you have guests.”
“We’re in the middle of an important presentation. Tell them to come back when they have an appointment,” I say.
The older woman shuffles into the room and leans down to whisper in my ear. “It’s your wife and daughter.”
A small smile overtakes my mouth. I never told Serenity she couldn’t come to my office, but I never expected her to. Pushing to my feet, I say, “I’m sorry, everyone. Can we meet back here in about an hour? Something has been brought to my attention.”
Mr. Choi nods. “Take all the time you need. We’ll continue to fine tune our ideas while we wait.”
“Thank you.” I nod at each of the team members before blazing out of the conference room. Martha rushes after me, saying something to my employees that I don’t hear.
Serenity and Summer stand in the hallway about fifty feet away. The little girl zooms around her mother with her arms out, acting like an airplane. Martha gives me a nod before heading in the opposite direction, toward my office.
When Summer catches sight of me, she squeals and says, “Bubba!” The nickname still warms my chest.
“Hello, Miss Summer.”
She barrels toward me and wraps her tiny arms around my legs. “Is this where you work?”
“Yes.” I bend down so I’m eye level with her. “If I’m not with you and your mother, I’m here.”
“What do you do? Mommy used to take care of sick people. Do you take care of sick people, too?”
“No, I run a technology company.”
Summer scrunches up her eyebrows. “Technology?”
I press my lips together to hold myself from laughing. Just like with how she couldn’t say bubbles, she butchered technology. It sounds more like “technowagy.”
Serenity chuckles and goes to her daughter. “Yes, baby. They make things like phones and computers.”
“Ohhhh,” Summer says, drawing out the single word. “That sounds boring.”
I can’t hold back the laugh that bursts out. I always appreciate honesty, and kids are the bluntest people to exist. “It’s boring to most people, but I love it here.”
Even as a child, I was gifted when it came to making things most adults couldn’t. There was zero hesitation for me when my father told me I’d one day take over Barlowe Technology. It was the next logical step for a child prodigy, right?
“Can we eat our food now?”
“No. We can’t pull Victor away from work. We already interrupted a meeting,” Serenity says, eyeing the conference room. “I’m sorry. I should’ve called you first, but Summer wanted to see you for lunch.”
One of my employees steps out of the room and heads toward the bathroom. When he spots us, he practically gawks. I’ll never understand why people find my personal life so interesting.
“You never need to call me. I love surprises.” I look between Serenity and Summer. “Did you bring food? I’m famished.”
Serenity bites her bottom lip, and my eyes narrow in on the movement. She only wears light blue jeans and a light jacket, yet she’s still the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen. I swallow as she keeps her lip sucked in behind her teeth.
For the next year, I’m the lucky bastard who gets to call her my wife. Even if it’s in name only.
“We grabbed some Italian food from a restaurant like two blocks away,” Serenity replies, pulling me back to the present.
The word food makes my stomach rumble so loudly Serenity’s eyes stray to my abdomen.
“Fantastic.” I scoop up Summer and swing her around in circles until she’s screaming in joy. Her pure laughter wraps around my heart and warms me. “Let’s go up to my office so we can enjoy it in private.”
“No. I didn’t know you were in a meeting.
When Martha told us to follow her, I didn’t realize.
” Serenity steps forward and places a hand on my arm.
Her skin sears me through my suit jacket almost as if she burns the material away.
She pulls back immediately as if I burned her.
“We can just go home. Summer wanted to see where you work, and now, she’s seen it. ”
“But Mommy!” Summer latches her arms and legs around me. “I want Bubba.”
Serenity closes her eyes and pinches the bridge of her nose. “He’s busy. We’ll see him later tonight as long as he comes home before your bedtime.”
“It’s okay, ladies. I have an entire hour to eat with you.”
Serenity’s green eyes pop back open, and she eyes me. “We’ll be out of your hair in thirty minutes. Your meeting sounds important.” Then she lifts her right arm and shows me a bag that slipped my notice until now. “I hope you like what I picked.”
She reaches out for Summer, and I hand her over.
Serenity juggles the food in one arm and her daughter in the other like it’s a practiced maneuver she does every day.
I’ve never thought about having a child before—mostly because I never found a woman I imagined having one with—but being here with Summer, it makes me think what if?
My heart swells at the thought I get a whole year of being her stepfather.
Serenity doesn’t have to do it all alone. “I can carry the food.”
She gives me a wary look as if this is a trap but doesn’t argue as she hands over the bag.
A few minutes later, we step out of the elevator that leads directly into my office.
My skin suddenly feels itchy. What if Serenity takes one look at my business and deems it unworthy?
She worked as a nurse for ten years—I investigated her history—so she’s been helping people for years while my company makes technology.
Her diligence as a nurse has probably helped hundreds of people. My tech is a want, not a need.
Martha sits at her desk like the sentry she is. Something has her attention on her computer, but she still says, “I’m so happy to see you again.”
Summer buries her face into Serenity’s shoulder. Sometimes I have to remember Summer is a shy girl. I’m not sure if it was the tree house or the bubbles, but she doesn’t hide behind her mother when it comes to me. No, sometimes, she searches me out if she knows I’m home.
“It’s a pleasure,” Serenity says in a demure tone, so unlike her.
Martha starts typing something before she finally looks up at us from behind her thick glasses. “Is there anything else you need me to do?”
“Can you cancel all of my appointments after my meeting with the marketing team?”
Martha nods, and I lead Serenity and Summer into my office.
Shutting the door, I find the duo standing in the middle of the room, taking it all in.
Summer’s wide green eyes roam over the swords I have mounted on the wall behind my desk that was handed down to my father by my grandfather and then to me when I took over as CEO a little over ten years ago.
“Mommy, are those big knives?” Summer asks, pointing at my swords.
“No, they’re swords.”
“Why does Bubba have them at work?”
When Serenity turns to me, Summer follows her lead.
I clear my throat. No one in the history of me owning these has ever inquired why I have them. “My grandfather claimed he used the swords to fight off home invaders.”
Summer’s eyes widen so big they look like saucers. “Really?”
I lean over as if I’m telling her a secret. “That’s what he says, but I think he’s lying in order to sound cool.”
Thinking of him makes me wonder why he put the marriage stipulation in order to remain CEO. I’m lucky I was able to convince him to push back the age to thirty-five. I didn’t want to rush into a union when I was young and regret it for the rest of my life like my parents.
My thoughts stray to my father who was all but abandoned by my mother during his heart attack and recovery. That was almost my fate.
I turn my attention back to Serenity. Her gaze is firmly on the pictures on my desk.
I have one of Martha and me from nine years ago when I successfully launched my first product, the XT computer.
And the only other picture is of my father, Isabella, and me from when we were teenagers.
It was a rare time I was home from boarding school.
My father took the day off, and we went to get ice cream.