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My husband.
If only she could absolutely convince herself that those words meant nothing.
My husband.
But those words only caused Hallie to torture herself with thoughts of Andreus' cock plunging inside Monique's pussy again and again until he had planted his seed in another woman's womb—-
God, oh God.
She would have thrown up then and there if not for Helios giving Monique the chance to speak on her father's behalf, and the first thing Andreus' wife said was—-
"I'm going to vote for my husband to relinquish his seat in the board."
Andreus saw how Monique's words had rendered everyone speechless, but the only thing he cared about was the way a pair of violet eyes had suddenly swerved to his direction.
Ah, God.
It took everything in him to keep his expression steely and unreadable.
Took every fucking bit of his self-control not to meet her bewildered gaze and break his word to another woman...so he could save Hallie's heart in return.
I'm sorry, baby doll.
But the words remained locked in his throat.
It was better this way.
Safer.
Even if it meant Hallie learning what he once thought was unthinkable, and she would finally fall out of love with him for good.
11:34
Hallie struggled to overcome her shock. Monique had been speaking for seventeen minutes straight, and every word she had uttered was against her own husband.
She tried to be fair and objective. Reminded herself that there was not a single thing which Monique had said that was not a lie.
It was true that Andreus' continued involvement had noticeably alienated a small demographic of their target market.
But...why should they care about assholes that didn't want to support their company just because Andreus, whom those same men had once worshipped for being their testosterone-fueled god, had been sexually involved with another man in his younger years?
Hallie had been in love with him for over a decade, and seeing that video hadn't changed her feelings for him at all. She had once told Andreus that his past would never make her love him any less; she had meant it then, and she would always mean it.
If people chose to turn away from Andreus because of something he had done in his past, then it was their loss—-
And Hallie just couldn't understand why his own wife didn't see it the same way she did.
Monique finally took her seat, and Helios reached for the built-in keypad across him. One of the buttons was programmed to randomly select which board member would be given the floor next, and Helios' lips pressed in a straight line when the name that showed up on his screen was Hallie's.
Prior to this meeting, he had been determined to see Andreus' wife in a positive light, but her earlier outburst had left a bad taste in his mouth, and he could only feel even more protective towards Hallie, whom he had always thought of as his little sister all these years. And he knew it was the same for the other members of Afxisi, except of course for Andreus, who had always seen Hallie as anything but a sister.
"Helios?" It was Kellion who addressed him. "Who's next?"
Although a part of him was seriously tempted to lie and switch Hallie's name with someone else's, honor dictated that he had to speak the truth, and he saw how Yuri noticeably stiffened upon hearing his sister's name.
Hallie's fingers shook as she flicked the power switch of her microphone. "I..." Her mind warned her not to rock the boat for no reason, but instead she still heard herself say, "I intend to vote for Andreus to retain his seat in the board."
Andreus jerked at the words, and his reaction had Hallie's fingers tightening around the slim stem of her microphone. "I—-"
A voice cut her off, and of course it could be no one else but Monique.
"I'm s-so sorry, but can I just say something?"
Hallie had never been the quick-tempered sort, but there was just something about the other woman that kept rubbing her the wrong way.
Or maybe you're just jealous, her conscience warned her. Monique was Andreus' wife now, and that could be the simple reason why she disliked and distrusted everything about Monique.
"I really think it's important for every member in this board to remember that our decisions would affect the livelihoods of many."
Hallie bit her lip hard to keep herself from saying anything snarky. Was Monique implying that Hallie's decision was selfish and immature?
"Emotionally d-driven decisions rarely lead to profit—-"
Something inside of Hallie snapped at hearing the faint tremor in Monique's voice. There was just something so damn fake about it...that she couldn't help but switch her microphone back on and cut the other woman off.
"I think what you're referring to are impulse-driven decisions, which are completely different from choices and commitments that are born out of passion. And that's what this company is all about," she said fiercely. "That's what every person making up the Afxisi is all about. This company is what it is now because it's the four of them together. It won't work if it's just one or two or three of them. It has to be all of them—-"
