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He’s already at the elevator—damn his fast legs—and banging on the button to call the carriage.
“Mack,” I say, “wait.”
He glares at me. “Did you know about this?”
“Yes. It’s not what you think, I swear.”
“It’s not to do with the fucking award?”
“Well, yes, but not in the way you—Mack!” I yell at him as the doors slide open and he goes to enter the carriage. He stops, but only because Jamie and Emma are there, looking surprised as they see him.
“What the fuck?” he says.
I give Jamie a helpless look. “Don’t let him in.”
“Come on,” Jamie says, walking out, straight toward Mack so he has to take a few steps back. “You’re not going.”
“Get out of my way.”
“Sweetheart.” I tug on his hand. “Wait, please.”
He stops, but his chest is rising and falling quickly, and I can see panic in his eyes.
“Hey.” I move up close to him and cup his face with a hand. “Look at me.”
He’s glancing around the room, like a wild animal looking for a means of escape, but eventually, as I wait, his gaze meets mine.
“Do you trust me?” I whisper.
He blinks a few times. Then, finally, he nods.
“All right,” I say. “So believe me. It’s not what you think, okay?”
“I’m not going in there,” he states. “Not until you tell me what’s going on.”
I’d hoped to let Elizabeth make the announcement, but I realize that I won’t even get him in the room unless I tell him. “She changed the nomination,” I say. “To include your team. Kai, Cherry, and Eoin. The award goes to all of you, Mack, to the company, in recognition of the amazing work you’ve all done. Don’t you think your colleagues deserve that?”
He blinks a few more times. “We won?”
“Yourteamwon. The spotlight’s not on you. Not as much, anyway.” I stroke his face. “You lead the team, sweetheart, you’re always going to be the focus of any attention. And when you’ve achieved something amazing, itisokay to stand up and tell the world, and to be rewarded for it. Your mother was wrong. It’s not something to be ashamed of, and it’s not arrogant.”
He swallows, then looks down at his feet, sliding his hands into his pockets.
“You can trust me,” I say. “And you can trust all these wonderful women who are just crazy about you now. Victoria, Nadine, Emma, all your family who worship you, and Elizabeth. She wants to say thank you for what you’ve done. Do it for her. Do it for me.”
He lifts his gaze then to meet mine. “For the team.”
“For the team.”
He blows out a long, shaky breath, then finally nods.
Jamie grins and puts a hand in the middle of Mack’s back. “Come on, dude.”
Mack grips hold of my hand tightly. “I’m not doing it without you,” he says.
“It’s okay. I’m right here.” I walk with him back through the door that Ed’s holding with a smile, and along the corridor. “It’s all right. I’m not going anywhere,” I tell him, and then Jamie opens the doors to the Chess Room.
We walk in, and this time the greeting is more subdued, presumably under Huxley’s direction. But everyone’s still smiling, and they all clap as we cross the floor to where Huxley and Elizabeth are waiting on the stage at the front. Besides them, Cherry, Eoin, and Kai are sitting in three of the four chairs that have been placed there. They all grin as we walk up.
