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Jack brushes past me and pours himself a drink. “You will because it’s your only choice. You will sign those papers tomorrow, or I’ll leak to the media that you sexually assaulted Cora. No one will ever work with you again. I’m giving you the chance to do the right thing.”
I suddenly feel nauseous. “Where is this coming from, Jack? When did it get so bad between us that you’d want this? Even though we want different things for the company, I thought you were still my friend.”
He finishes his drink in one go, even though it was a much larger drink than mine. “Let’s face it. Business partners can never be true friends. There’s too much that gets in the way. You have a day to think about what I said, and if the papers aren’t signed by noon tomorrow, I’m going to have the story of my poor, innocent daughter, the billionaire’s intern who had no choice but to submit to his demands. It’ll be on the front page of every newspaper and gossip rag in the country.”
“You would really do that? You would put Cora through hell just so that you can get your way with me?”
“If I have to.”
“Don’t do this, Jack,” I say to his retreating back. “We can still work this out, find a way to move forward with the company in a way we both want.”
“I think that’s what you’re not getting. I don’t want to.” His oily smile almost makes me vomit.
How did this happen? How did everything turn over so quickly? There are those moments when you realize how fragile everything in your life is, and this is one of them. All I did was take the woman I love on a date. One date! And now everything is in ashes.
My brain shudders to a stop. The woman I love? I thought about her as the woman I love. Holy shit, I do love her. I love her enough that I can’t let this happen. My reputation is one thing—I could disappear with the money I have and never have to see another reporter. But Cora doesn’t deserve to be branded a victim when she’s not. This would destroy her, and I can’t have that happen.
Just last night I told her that I didn’t want to sell the company, but I’ll do it for her. The fact that I’m being blackmailed makes me sick to my stomach, but there’s nothing I can do about that. Jack doesn’t bluff, and I know that probably even right now he’s having Liz gather the phone numbers of the most prominent journalists in Houston and possibly the national news organizations. He’ll be ready to follow through if I don’t do what he asks. Rock, hard place. Anger spikes through me, hot and violent. This isn’t what is supposed to happen. I’ve worked hard, harder than I ever thought possible on this company. My company. Jack’s company. Our company. I didn’t devote this much of my life to just let it go. I hear the snapping sound from my fist connecting with the wall before I even register that I’ve done it, or the pain that comes swiftly afterward.
I sigh, and pour myself another drink, and then I use it to ice my knuckles.
This morning when I came into the office, I was feeling so optimistic about working out a path for the company, and now there’s nothing. I have a way to try to get out of it, and I know that I’ll spend the entire day trying. But the dread in my stomach tells me what I so desperately don’t want to know—there is no way out of this.
10
I ’m staring out the window at the view when Cora comes into my office later. “Michael, I need to talk to you about something. It’s important.” Even though I register her words, I barely notice that she’s there until she touches my shoulder and I jump. “Wow,” she says, “you’re never jumpy. Is something wrong?”
Yes, everything is wrong. Absolutely everything. But I can’t tell her that. It’s not fair to her. Knowing that someone is using for blackmail would be a terrible thing to hear, and the last thing I want to do is hurt her. I know I’m going to though, I have to. I have to hurt her in order to protect her.
I know Jack all too well. Even if I sign the papers, there’s a chance he’ll go to the papers anyway and spread that story just to make sure I can never make a move to take the company back without him. Cora being attached to me would connect her to that. Her name would be dragged through the mud along with mine and make her senior year hell. I can’t have that. She didn’t do anything wrong by choosing to be with me.
“Michael,” she says, and I realize that I’ve just been standing here, saying nothing.
I clear my throat. “Unfortunately, I have some bad news.”
“Oh,” she says, playfully grabbing my arm. “Am I being punished early?”
“No,” I say. “It’s nothing like that, it’s…more serious. I have to let you go.”
She looks at me like she’s trying to figure out a puzzle. “Ha ha, good joke?”
“No.” If she’s fired before the story gets out, then it will protect her. I can tell the papers the allegations are from someone else who was fired. A disgruntled employee. Then it turns into a story about workplace revenge and not sexual assault, and Cora doesn’t become the face of the newest scandal.
“Michael, that’s not funny.”
“I know it’s not.”
She walks away quickly and then comes back. “I know something happened between you and Jack. The whole office is buzzing with it even though they don’t know what the hell happened. Does that have something to do with this?”
I don’t say anything. How can I? What would I say? Instead I stand silently and let her glare pierce me. “Talk to me, Michael. We haven’t had a problem with that up till now.”
“There’s nothing to say. This is finished. I have to fire you. It’s over.”
“It’s been less than twelve hours since I last saw you—since you were last inside me. What the fuck happened?”
Everything. Nothing. I press my lips together so that nothing comes spilling out.
“So that’s just it?” she asks. “The end, no discussion, no closure, no nothing? Something happened that you’re not telling me.”
“No.”
“Yes,” she gets in my face, eyes burning, cheeks flushed, and if I had known that she was this beautiful angry I would have tried to make her angry a while ago. I feel that ache in my chest and I realize it was the fact that I love her. I do. This young, wild, sexy redhead, and I know that I’m going to miss her more than anything I’ve missed in my life. I may never get over her.
“You know how I know that something happened? Because this isn’t right. If you think I’m dumb enough to think that you don’t care about me, then you’re the one who’s stupid. I know you care about me. I know that you love me. And I know that because I love you.” Tears fill up her eyes. “I didn’t want that to be the way that I said it, but here we are. I love you, and I’m going to find out what’s really going on here.”
She storms out of the office, and I’m frozen where I stand. She loves me. A bloom of unmistakable hope and pleasure flows through me before reality comes crashing back in. What terrible timing we have. Any other place and time we might have been able to make this work. Not now.
I follow her out into the main office, practically jogging to catch up. She’s moving with a purpose that I recognize—I’ve seen Jack make the same kind of decision to get something done and then absolutely demolish the task. Cora is twice as passionate as Jack, so whatever she’s about to do, it’s going to be gigantic. I hope that I can talk her out of it.
She approaches reception, where I can see Jack is talking to someone, his back turned to the way we’re approaching. Oh, no. Cora walks right up to him, and in a voice loud enough for all the immediate offices to hear, she asks, “What did you do?”
Jack stops, and slowly turns around. The look on his face is almost like he’s never seen Cora before, or heard her speak that loudly. “Excuse me?”
“Everyone knows something happened between you and Michael, and I don’t really care about what goes on between you two until it starts to affect me. So what the hell did you do?”
“Cora
,” his voice is a measured warning. “Calm down. I’m sure we can talk about this in my office, where it’s quieter and more…private.”
She raises her voice even louder. “How about you tell me right here. I don’t like secrets, and I think that getting things out in the open is in everyone’s best interest now.”
Jack takes a step back, and I recognize the move. He’s firming up his armor, ready to go on the attack. He sees me standing near the edge of the room and that oily smile returns. “I did what any good father would do,” he says, voice booming. “I was just trying to protect my daughter. I know how Michael took advantage of you, and I confronted him about it. I let him know that he could choose between leaving and being exposed.”
“What?!” Cora’s voice rings out, silencing every other sound in the office. “Michael Foster did no such thing.”
“Yes he did,” Jack sneers, “even if you don’t know it yet. You’re too young to understand, Cora. You need to be protected.”
Cora laughs, “If I need to be protected, how come you made it impossible to find you until I was eighteen? How come you weren’t a father to me for my whole life? I protect myself, Dad , and I know when I’m being taken advantage of.”
“She doesn’t know what she’s talking about,” he says, directing his words outwards at the growing crowd. He takes a step forward, and I close the distance between them and me, because I’ll be damned if he lays a finger on her. But he doesn’t touch her, he’s whispering furiously. “You already pissed me off this morning, don’t do it again, Cora. None of this matters,” he hisses. “The company is going to be sold and then I’ll be free. But either way, I’m not letting you and him be together, you can’t be.”
“Why not?” She asks.
“Because it’s not part of the plan,” Jack says viciously. “In order for this to work, neither of you can come out looking like the winners. So just shut up and stay quiet until after the company is sold, and maybe I’ll think about hiring you at my next company.”
