Chapter 20
OH, IT’S LIKE THAT?
Rory.
I knew something was off the second I stepped into the building.
Marlon’s office door was closed. Not the usual half-open, come-if-you-need-me type of closed. That shit was locked too.
I slowed my steps as I passed it, trying it anyway. Yup, locked.
I didn’t even bother knocking. I just let out a small breath and kept walking.
Oh, he’s mad-mad.
That was the only explanation that made sense.
This really was the end. Saying I love you was that nail in the coffin.
I shook my head slightly as I stepped into my office, dropping my bag onto the chair.
“That man is so dramatic,” I muttered under my breath. But even as I said it, I knew that wasn’t all it was.
The morning dragged after that.
Emails, calls, vendor confirmations and staff scheduling. I buried myself in it.
At least he had the decency to actually give me access to the staff wages but I couldn’t figure out a solution to our financial problem with it either and the longer I looked at it, the more the numbers made my head hurt.
Every now and then I’d catch myself glancing toward the hallway, listening for his door.
Nothing.
No footsteps. No proof of life. No “Aurora” being called like I did something wrong.
Huh.
And I thought I missed him before.
Around three, Hartland knocked once and walked in without waiting.
“You alive?” he asked, dropping into the chair across from me.
“Barely,” I said, not looking up from my laptop.
He leaned back, studying me. “You been at this since you got here.”
“I got work to do.”
“It’s pass lunchtime.”
“And?”
“And the guys were looking for you. You not eating?”
“I’m not hungry.”
Hartland leaned forward, elbows on his knees. “You and boss man beefing?”
I paused, fingers hovering over the keyboard.
“No,” I said, a little too quickly. “We not beefing.”
He raised a brow. “So the two of you randomly decided to skip the vineyard inspection and hideout in your offices all day for no reason?”
I finally looked up at him. “We are not beefing.”
Hartland didn’t even try to hide the look on his face. “Right...”
I rolled my eyes and leaned back in my chair. “He’s just… being weird.”
“Sinclair’s always weird,” he said. “But you being weird is new weird.”
I let out a breath, dragging my hand over my face.
“Yeah,” I admitted. “This is new weird.”
He nodded slowly, “You gonna check him?”
I thought about it. About walking down that hall, knocking on that door, forcing him to say whatever he’s clearly avoiding. But what’s the point?
“…nah,” I said finally.
Hartland tilted his head. “Nah?”
“I’m not chasing him,” I said, more to myself than him. “He got something to say, he can come say it.”
Hartland sat back, nodding once. “Fair enough.”
Then he looked at my screen. “So, what we working on?”
I turned the laptop toward him, pulling up the event schedule.
“We got two weeks to tighten this up before the next round of bookings,” I said.
“I need confirmations locked in, staff assigned, and I wanna run through the guest experience again. Plus. If you have free time, I want you to review the staff wages. I need to reconfirm their incomes and make sure it lines up with the number of years they were here. Also, there’s the inactive employee number I can’t access.
See if you can get bank records for it.”
He leaned in, scanning the screen. “You been busy, huh? No more playing around, I guess.”
“I told you I wasn’t,” I said. “Launch day is coming up and I refuse to look stupid in front of my dad and Marlon so we gotta make sure everything runs smoothly. Grab your notepad.”
I was halfway through reviewing vendor confirmations when the door opened again with no knock. I didn’t look up at first.
“If it’s not urgent, come back—”
A file dropped onto my desk. I frowned and looked up to see Lavender standing there.
She couldn’t even meet my eyes and that alone told me everything. I reached for the file, flipping it open quickly.
The first page made my eyes grow.
Reassignment.
Department: Branding and Marketing.
Effective: Immediately.
“What the hell is this?” I demanded.
“I’m sorry.” Lavender swallowed. “I’m so sorry, Rory.”
I closed the file slowly, my fist tightening as everything clicked into place. Then, I pushed back from my desk and stood, grabbing the file as I walked out.
His door was still closed but this time unlocked. I didn’t knock.
“Dude, seriously?”
He didn’t even look surprised, like he knew I was coming.
“You’ve done your development,” he said calmly, like this was a regular business conversation, “and you’re supposed to learn all aspects of the business, so you’re transferring to marketing. We need a marketing manager anyway.”
I stared at him.
“And lemme guess,” I said slowly. “I’m there for the rest of the summer?”
“Your father cleared it.”
That made me laugh.
“Did he now?” I tilted my head slightly. “You tell him about our lovely lil’ summer together too?”
“No,” he tapped his fingers on the desk. “But I did tell him I would forgive your debt, so. It’s all good.”
“Hmm.” I nodded slowly, taking in the new information. “Guess it’s bad form to get reimbursement after sampling the goods, right? I mean, you already got what you paid for.”
“It’s not like that—”
“Save it,” I cut him off. If he wanted to do business only, then business it was. “We don’t even have a marketing team.”
“Then build one,” he replied. “It’s time you branched out anyway. There is empty space in the third building. Lavender will give you access.”
I blinked at him.
“I gotta give up my office too?”
There was a pause.
“…I’m sorry, Bunny,” he said, quieter now. “I can’t do this anymore. I can’t—”
“Fuck you, Marlon. Like for real. Fuck. You.”
He nodded then swallowed it. “Okay.”
That was it. No pushback or correction.
Just okay. That’s when I knew it was over for real. I looked at him, trying to figure out if he meant it. Is this his version of doing the “right thing”?
My chest tightened for a second.
I felt like tearing up or throwing up. I wanted to yell, to cuss, to kick his ass for putting me through this, but I shut it down.
Not here. Not in front of him.
I straightened my posture, adjusting the file in my hand like this was just another business decision and put my poker face on so good it mirrored his.
“Okay,” I said evenly. “I’ll relocate by the end of the day.”
He didn’t respond but I could tell he was waiting for something else.
A reaction or fight.
I didn’t give it to him because it wasn’t worth it, so instead, I turned and walked out.
The hallway felt longer on the way back. I stepped into my office and closed the door behind me, setting the file down on the desk with more care than I felt.
Okay.
Okay.
I stood there for a second, staring at nothing, letting everything settle before I exhaled slowly, walked over to my desk and sat down.
Think Rory.
Do I react?
Do I go back in there and say everything I didn’t say?
Do I call him out? Push him? Make him explain himself?
Or—
Do I handle this with some level of control?
I leaned back in my chair, staring at the ceiling for a second before looking back at my desk.
Nah.
I’m not about to crash out. Not over him. I learned my lesson. If he wanted to make this business only, then I’d treat it like business only. And I’d do it better than he expected. I didn’t waste time.
I stood, grabbing a box and starting with the nearest stack of files. If he wanted me out, I’d be out.
The third building was exactly how I expected it.
Dust lined the windowsills, and the air had that stale feeling of a place that hadn’t been used in a while. But structurally, it was solid. Open layout. Good light. Enough space to build something.
I set the box down on the nearest table and looked around.
Okay.
We can work with this.
“We deadass?” Hartland’s voice came from behind me as he stepped inside, looking around.
“Very,” I said. “Welcome to marketing.”
He blinked. “Marketing… as in us?”
“As in us,” I confirmed, walking further into the space. “Don’t look at me like that. We gonna figure it out.”
He let out a short laugh, shaking his head. “Aight then. What you need me to do?”
I turned to him, already shifting into work mode.
“I need a list,” I said. “Everything. Desks, chairs, computers, software, whatever we need to actually run this like a real department.”
He nodded slowly, pulling out his phone. “You want top tier or budget?”
“Both,” I said without hesitation. “Give me options. I’ll decide where to cut and where to spend.”
“Got you.”
I paced the room, already mapping things out in my head. First we need a cleaning crew. Workstations along one wall. A central table for meetings. Maybe a small content area for photos and videos.
If I was doing this, I was doing it right.
“I’m ordering everything today,” I added. “I don’t want us sitting in here looking stupid.”
Hartland smirked. “You just got kicked out your office and already spending money.”
“Reallocated. Let’s use the right language.
” I shot him a look. “And I got money of my own. My father has a way of cutting me off when I’ve upset him so I learned to have funds set aside for a rainy day.
I have enough money set aside to pay my debt three times over.
I just didn’t feel like giving it to Marlon. ”
He laughed, but started typing anyway.
Good.
I needed that energy.
Because if I stopped to think too hard about why I was here—I’d get distracted.
And I didn’t have time for that.
Once he got started on the list, I stepped outside for a second and pulled out my phone.
If I was building a team, I needed people I actually trusted. People who understood what I was trying to do. I scrolled for half a second before hitting call.
She picked up quick.
“Yes ma’am?”
“Hey,” I said, leaning against the railing. “You want a job?