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Desi frowned at the qualifier, but chose not to dwell on it, more relieved that Laurel wasn't ranting and raging about Desi's lack of loyalty undermining the company. Stepping back, Desi remembered the envelope still in her hand.
"Well, I hope you're still happy when I tell you that I plan to hand in my resignation." She sighed, tapping the envelope.
"What?"
"Why?" both Jake and Laurel shouted at once.
Desi held her hands up in appeasement. "My position here has been compromised," she replied carefully.
"At this morning's board meeting and the announcement that The Blackwood Corporation plan a hostile takeover…" Her eyes met Jake's briefly and she was aware of the conflict in them. "I was targeted with both suspicion and hostility from my fellow directors. And not even because of my plans to marry you, Jake, which hasn't even been thrown into the mix yet. But because someone has mounted a damn good smear campaign to make it look like I'm colluding with Blackwood. Details of my significant personal shares here have been made known amongst rumours that I will use them to vote against the company and more rumours that undermine my relationship with my co-workers, that Joseph Blackwood plans to remove everyone on the board and install me as CEO."
Laurel stood open mouthed and shocked, while Jake cringed and shifted on his feet.
"And as for my relationship with you, Jake, I can only imagine what sort of fuel that will throw on the fire. If that gets out right now, I might as well kiss my entire reputation goodbye!"
Jake whipped his head up to look at her. "What exactly are you saying, Desi?"
Desi could see the panic in his eyes, could tell he was thinking the situation rang a death knell for their relationship. And maybe a month or two ago, it would have. But Desi was more than just the sum of her job, these days.
"What I'm saying is that I won't allow myself to be manipulated like this. What I am saying is that I will make my own decisions and not allow circumstances to conspire to push me in a direction that is not of my own choosing. What I am saying is that I quit. I am removing myself from the equation, and I am leaving a proxy vote for my shareholding with the remaining members of the board so that my loyalty cannot be questioned and my reputation remains intact. I don't know what sort of game your uncle is playing, Jake, but I'm not playing it with him. Over half of our board members were approached before the takeover announcement to sell their personal stock holding at double their market value to none other than Anita Howard."
She was gratified to see Jake's own shock at that piece of information.
"I don't know what his motives are, but I'm afraid your uncle is about to find out that I'm not a person he should have messed with. I will work, gratis, with Universal on a consultant basis while they counter this buyout, but other than that, I'm out of here. Effective as soon as I pass this…" she waved the envelope in front of her "…to John."
Thirty minutes later, it was done. Desi had cleared what few personal belongings she had from her office, John knew the whole story but insisted he was holding her resignation under advisement in case she changed her mind, and Jake had passed on what little personal knowledge he knew about the level of Blackwood's shareholding in Universal, which wasn't much.
Now, she stood in the kitchen of her apartment, boiling the kettle for a soothing cup of herbal tea and wondering if she had just flushed her entire career down the drain. More than that, she was wondering if she actually cared. Her life had been a rollercoaster ride, these past few weeks. The ups and downs were making her dizzy, but more unnerving was the feeling that fate controlled her steps more than free will. She was done with that.
"If there was a way to reverse this decision that Joseph has made, would you go back to your job?" Jake asked as he leaned against her breakfast bar, a certain tension about him.
Desi looked up at him in surprise. "What do you mean?"
"I mean, I might be able to persuade Uncle Joe to drop the takeover. I'm just wondering, if I tried to do that, would it make a difference to your resignation?"
Desi frowned. "I don't know, I guess so. I wouldn't have considered quitting if I hadn't been forced into this situation, but on the other hand, I didn't have to. There were other options, but there were also other reasons to quit."
She walked over to him and took his hand. "One of them being the fact that I'm going to need a bit more time at home if we're going to start a family."
Jake turned his hand over and threaded his fingers through hers before bringing their joined hands to his lips and kissing her palm. "What about part time, then?" he asked, looping his arms around her back. "Or do you plan to quit working completely?"
Desi frowned and leaned into Jake's strength. She hadn't thought that far ahead, well, she kind of had. She had planned to maybe find a more flexible job, maybe something where she could work from home. She certainly didn't plan to become a kept woman, even while she raised a family. She knew enough about herself to know that she needed financial autonomy and a degree of independence. Neither did she want to throw away everything that she had worked so hard for. She just wanted to dial it down a bit, make time for herself and a little bit of sculpting and the family she wanted to create. Not give it up altogether.
"Well, I guess part time might be good," she faltered. "I don't plan on being a freeloader."
"Hey!" Jake admonished. "A stay at home mama is not a freeloader."
Desi smiled. "You know what I mean."
"So if the takeover at Universal could be circumvented, would you go back, maybe part time?"
"Why are you asking, Jake? What have you got in mind?"
"I just feel like you've been coerced into making this decision."
"Hmph! Coerced would have been staying and being manipulated for someone else's objectives."
"I get that, and I support whatever decision you make, but if the current situation no longer existed, would you go back? Or would you still want to pursue something different?"
