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"And who's to say that our buyer was linked to them, anyway?" Andrew asked hopefully. "I sold mine to a woman. I'm sure none of us have sold to anyone we knew had direct involvement with our rivals, did we?
There was a resounding chorus, "No!"
"Does anyone remember the name of their buyer? Did all of you sell to a woman?" John probed.
There were nods all round before Malcolm decided, "I think her name was Anna or Annette or something."
Desi head whipped up in suspicion. "Anita perhaps?" she queried. "Anita Howard?"
There was a light of recognition in the faces turned towards her as they all nodded and agreed.
"You know this woman?" John enquired.
Desi pursed her lips in annoyance. So, Joseph had been using Anita to front his takeover campaign. She wondered how much more damage had been done in the general shareholding.
"Yes," she told them. "Anita Howard is Joel Blackwood's new fiancée."
As she sat in her office later that afternoon, Desi pondered the letter she had just typed.
She hadn't disclosed the fact of her own recent engagement to Jake. She couldn't see how it wouldn't compromise an already unstable situation, and she wondered if she should just break it off or at least keep it quiet for a while. This was all such a mess. The alternative was in her hand. Her resignation. Desi tapped the edge of the envelope continuously on her desk as she contemplated that move.
Despite her agreement to marry into that very family, the thought of working for The Blackwood Corporation left a bad taste in her mouth. She could cope with the necessary contact with Joel, despite their history, but she certainly had no desire to have to deal with Anita. After her very public denigration of Jake, the discovery that she was fronting the plan to destabilise Universal's share base was the final straw.
She didn't think it would be too much of a problem on a personal front. Desi couldn't imagine that Jake wanted to spend any more time in the woman's company than she did; in fact, he would probably be more opposed to it than she would.
But business wise, once Joel and Anita were married, things would become a bit trickier. It was something she was going to have to discuss with Jake in much more detail. As his wife, she might possibly be able to bow out of any functions they might all have to attend, especially if she had the excuse of young children, but as a board member of the same company, it would be almost impossible to avoid. On a tangent, she wondered how she might feel having to witness the creation of Joel and Anita's own children, but quickly locked that thought away. It had no place here.
As for Joseph Blackwood, it annoyed her that, deep down, her first impression was that she had actually liked the man. She wondered how much of that judgement was just based on personal circumstance because he was Joel's father and Jake's uncle and because he had treated her as an equal, listening intently to her opinions and considering her arguments. He had respected her business ability, and that wasn't always a given in this male dominated world.
Aside from that, the man was a tyrant. That he had conspired to pit her against her colleagues and foster an air of distrust between them, that he was arrogant enough to imagine that he had any control over her decisions for her own future, and not least that he considered Anita to be 'suitable bloody wife material' for his son after the way the woman had behaved toward Jake, did absolutely nothing to endear him to her. Completely the opposite, in fact. There was no way that man was going to dictate her future to her, when she had just taken it back into her own hands. And there was no way she would allow him to use her to further his ambitions in regard to Universal Holdings, especially when her actual position was the polar opposite. He was manipulating people's perceptions and using her to do it. That was something she could not allow. And that, above all else, was the reason she quit.
She would stick around—quietly—enough to steer Universal through the quagmire caused by the hostile bid. She couldn't leave them rudderless, but after that, there was a whole new future to explore. Maybe she could find herself a little corner to set up a pottery studio, and if she wanted to start on that family she was so desperate for, then she'd need more time for herself, anyway. Desi smiled, her anxiety easing. Yes, it was the best decision all round.
A commotion in her outer office brought her out of her reverie, and she went to investigate. In the corridor, Laurel was facing off with Jake.
"I don't think Ms. Harper has any interest in seeing a Blackwood today. You're not welcome in this building, right now, so I think you had better leave.
"I'm sure Desi will be agreeable to seeing her fiancé," Jake retaliated, catching Laurel completely off guard.
"Desi? Fiancé?" her PA repeated inanely.
Desi hurried out to defuse the situation. So much for keeping their engagement a secret.
"Rae?" Laurel queried uncertainly
"Please," she implored. "Call me Desi,"
She moved around the one-woman human blockade Laurel had established herself as in the hallway and slipped her arm around Jake's waist.
"And, yes, Jake and I got engaged this weekend. Unfortunately, with the news of the hostile takeover, there hasn't really been a good time to make that announcement, so perhaps you could keep it quiet for now, hmm?" she appealed, trying for some damage limitation.
"You got engaged?" Laurel repeated. "To him?" She pointed at Jake, and Desi waited for the eruption of anger and betrayal she was certain was coming, but Laurel surprised them both.
"Oh!" she squealed, jumping up and down in delight. "That's wonderful!"
Impulsively, she reached out to Desi and hugged her, then did the same to Jake.
"Oh, I'm so happy…for you, I'm so happy for you."
