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“My updates?”
“Plus Ken’s. You had some good ideas, Angie. I’ll give you that.”
“You’ll give me that? Why, thank you, Noah. Nice of you to believe I have something to contribute to Lassiter Media.”
“What’s going on here?” Evan interrupted from behind her.
“Of course you have something to contribute,” said Noah, his tone smoothing out. “You have plenty to contribute. Isn’t that what I just said?”
For a second, she wondered if she could have possibly misinterpreted his meaning.
“We all loved your changes. We’ve elaborated on them.”
“Why are you working on Ken’s project?”
“Enough,” said Evan. “Noah, this isn’t the time or place.”
“Butt out,” Angelica said to Evan.
“Leave,” Evan said to Noah.
Looking nervous, Noah glanced at Angelica. Then his attention shot back to Evan. A flash of trepidation appeared in his eyes, and he suddenly rushed past them for the door.
Angelica turned on Evan, struggling not to shout. “You can’t undermine me like that.”
His voice was flat. “They’re cutting the cake.”
“I don’t give a damn about the cake.”
He stepped forward, nearly pressing up against her. “Do you hear yourself? Do you?”
“He was talking to the affiliate in Australia, asking about low-rated shows. I think they might actually be out to get me. I couldn’t ignore it.”
“Yes, you could. You can. You’ll deal with this in the office on Monday.”
“Is that an order?”
He clamped his jaw tight. “It’s a friendly suggestion.”
“You lost the right to make friendly suggestions.”
“Did your father’s machinations mean nothing to you? Did he put me, your brothers, the company, and everyone else through the ringer for six months and have you not learn a single lesson?”
“Shut up, Evan.”
“No, I won’t shut up. I can’t shut up. You want to hear an order, Angie? If I was going to give you an order, here’s what it would be. Fire Noah. Fire Ken. Fire Louie. Promote Max. Promote anyone you think you can trust. Then back off, Angie. Back off and let them do their jobs. You cannot do it all alone. You’ll botch it, and you’ll ruin your life.”
Angelica’s pulse pounded in anger. She’d been around Lassiter Media a whole lot longer than Evan. She was the one her father trusted. She was the one in charge. She all but growled at him. “Are you actually telling me how to run my company?”
“No,” Evan answered softly. Then he lifted her left hand, rubbing his thumb across the diamond in her ring. “I’m telling you how to be my wife.”
The world stopped dead in its tracks.
“A long time ago,” he continued, “I met a beautiful, cheerful, wonderful woman. I fell in love with her, and I wanted to spend the rest of my life keeping her happy. But you’ve taken her, Angie. You’ve stolen her from me and I can’t seem to get her back.”
He let go of her hand, and his voice flattened out. “If she ever shows up again, give me a call.” Then he turned and walked away.
Angelica started to shake. She gripped a shelf again, feeling woozy. She hadn’t gone anywhere. She was still here. If Evan loved her, if he’d truly loved her, he’d know that she was all one package. He wasn’t allowed to pull her apart, discarding anything that was less than perfect. That wasn’t how love worked.
* * *
Evan spent three days regretting his outburst. Back in L.A., it played through his head over and over again. He’d pushed too hard. He’d pushed too fast. She might someday be ready to put her life on an even keel, but she wasn’t there yet. He should have given her more time.
“Premier Tech Corporation conferences,” Lex announced triumphantly as he walked into Evan’s office at Sagittarius. “Five-year commitment, five days each month as they rotate through their regions, five hundred guests per conference.”
“This came out of Deke’s contact?” asked Evan, shifting his mind to business.
“On the strength of the commitment, we’re sending you to trade shows in Munich, London and Paris.” Lex slapped a stack of conference brochures down on Evan’s desk. “Corporate business is the most lucrative of all. You leave Friday. Pick five staff to take along.”
“I don’t get a say in my own schedule?” Evan lifted an itinerary from the top of the stack.
“You’re overseas expansion. Besides, it’s London and Paris, not Siberia. Who doesn’t love going to London and Paris?”
“I suppose,” said Evan.
It was a great opportunity. And he knew he was foolish to keep waiting on Angie. She was stuck in her world, and he was quickly moving into his own. It couldn’t be clearer that she didn’t want his advice, that she didn’t want him.
He leafed through a conference brochure from the stack. “I suppose I should start building a marketing team.”
Lex sat down. “You can hire new, or you can see if we have any likely candidates already on staff.”
“I like Gabrielle down in client relations. She’s originally from Paris. She’s fluent in French and Italian.”
“She’s also smokin’ hot.”
Evan frowned. “Now that’s a quick route to a sexual harassment lawsuit.”
Not that he was interested in any woman at the moment. If it wasn’t Angie, well, he was going to have to take some time to think about how that worked.
“What I meant was, she might have some hot friends back home.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” said Evan.
“So Angie broke it off with you?”
Evan was through pretending. “We haven’t spoken since the wedding.”
“Isn’t that pretty much the same thing?”
“I guess.” Except that they’d never actually gotten back together in the first place. “It was doomed from the start.”
“You okay?” asked Lex.
“I’ll be fine. It’s not like I haven’t had six months to get used to the idea.”
Lex considered him for a moment. “I get the feeling you never did. And having her back, well...you two seemed good together, Evan.”
“We were, until we weren’t anymore.”
“Can the good times come back?”
“I thought maybe. For a while at least, I’d hoped so.” The image of her sleeping in his arms at Big Blue surfaced in his mind. “For a little while there, I really thought we had another chance.”
“Maybe you’ll get over her in Paris.”
“Maybe.”
Lex came to his feet. “Take Gabrielle along. Hopefully her friends can help out.”
Evan managed a smile. But a fling in France wasn’t in the cards. He couldn’t imagine making love to anyone but Angie.
* * *
Mid-morning, Angelica stared across the boardroom table at Noah and Ken. She’d wanted to be right. She’d desperately wanted to be right and for Evan to be wrong. The last thing her self-esteem needed was for her ex-fiancé to be better than she was at running her family’s company.
“These are terrible,” she said to the two men, covering the screen of her tablet computer on the revised storyboards.
Noah jumped in. “We think they’re very much in keeping with the overall—”
“No,” said Angelica. “They’re terrible. And, what’s more, you both know it.” Her anger was rapidly replacing her disappointment. “You want this project to fail. You don’t agree with the direction I’m taking, and you want to prove your point by compromising the project.”
This time, Ken tried. “We took what you said and—”
“No,” Angelica repeated. “You deliberately undermined me. And you compromised the good of Lassiter Media to support your own agenda. You don’t get to do that.”
She rose to her feet. Then she hit a speed dial button on her cell phone. Her assistant immediately answered.
“Becky? Please send security in here right away.”
The color drained from Noah’s and Ken’s faces.
“Are you all right?” Becky asked.
“I’m fine.”
There was a briefest of pauses. “They’ll be right in.”
Angelica set down her phone. “Someone from the finance department will be in touch with a severance package. It will include your pension plans. For now, security will escort you to your offices so you can pick up your personal belongings.”
The boardroom door opened, and two Lassiter security guards entered the room.
“These two gentlemen are leaving Lassiter Media’s employ immediately,” Angelica said to the security guards. “Please give them a chance to pick up any personal items. They’ll need to leave their company cell phones and their keys. And have the IT department shut down their accounts. I’ll make arrangements with the Cheyenne office.”
Noah came to his feet, and the two security guards instantly moved toward him.
“You can’t fire us,” he shouted.
Ken rose as well, but he seemed more stunned than angry.
“I just did,” said Angelica, gathering her things.
“We have the support of the creative team!” Noah shouted.
