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“I can’t say, baby.” He sighs. “I don’t think it will ever be over, but I can tell you that I’ll protect you and love you every step of the way. I can’t promise you that people won’t look at us or judge, but I can promise you that what we have is real. You will never have to question if my love for you is real.” He leans forward, kissing my swollen lips. “And as far as the investigation, you won’t need to worry about that. If anything ever comes up again, I’ll handle it.”
“How?”
His expression grows serious. “I meant what I said before, Emery. I will tear any person limb from limb who threatens your safety or what we have. I’ve already lost too many years not having you and I’ll be damned if another man tries to tear you from me again.” He leans in, his forehead against mine. “I will destroy the fucking world, burn it to ashes if it means that it will keep you safe. You. Are. Mine.”
20
MADS
“Good afternoon, Mr. Bishop.”
I lift my head to see Emery standing in the doorway of my office. I smile, standing up to walk toward her.
“What a lovely surprise. What are you doing here?” I lean in to kiss her, letting my lips linger before I step back. “My three o’clock will probably be here any minute”—I glance at my watch—“but I’m happy to make them wait if it means I can indulge myself in you.” I nibble her ear, eliciting a soft giggle from her.
“I am your three o’clock.”
“Seriously?” I pull back to look at her as she nods. “Mmm, exciting. Is there something under this jacket for me?” I tug at the belt of her knee-length jacket, opening it and sliding my hand inside. but there’s just more material.
“No.” She laughs when I look down to see her wearing a full outfit beneath it. “I’m here for an actual meeting with you.”
“Damn, I thought you were here to surprise me with some lingerie and a quickie on my desk.”
“Well, that can certainly be arranged if we can get through everything I want to discuss.”
“In that case, yes. Whatever you want or need, you can have it. I’ll do it. Meeting over.” I reach for her again, but she pushes my hand away, shaking her head.
“Not so fast.” She walks past me, toward the chairs across from my desk, and takes a seat.
I follow, sitting behind my desk and leaning back in my chair. “What do you want to discuss?”
“Dane’s company. I want to either sell it or liquidate it.”
“Okay.” I nod. “If it were me, I would sell the company. That way nobody is losing their job.”
“That’s what I was thinking. I met with the board already and have made decisions to settle any outstanding debts. I half expected the company to be worth nothing with how he was running it, but shockingly, that’s not the case.”
“Are you wanting me to buy it? Is that the ask here?”
She shakes her head. “I considered that, but no. I also considered buying it through my father’s company but that’s not what I want either. I don’t want any ties to him.” She sighs, her shoulders dropping an inch. “I know it might sound silly because I can’t run away from the life I had with him, but I want to mitigate any connection or hold that he might still have on my life.”
“It’s not silly.”
“I also want you to help me figure out my father’s company. I don’t want to run the company; I think that Ken Figaro is doing a great job as CEO as does the board.” She reaches into her bag and pulls out a tablet, turning it on and handing it to me. “I know that I didn’t go to college and my experience with business is extremely limited, but I do understand graphs, numbers, and quarterly reports.” I take the tablet from her hand and flip through the slides she has for me. “The company continues to increase not only revenue but profits quarter over quarter and our stock prices are the highest they’ve ever been. Also, the reviews by employees are some of the highest in the industry.”
“You’re not wrong; these numbers speak for themselves.” I swipe through another slide. “Wagner has always been the market leader in their field. I doubt that will ever go away, but what’s your plan? What role do you want to play with this company?”
“I’m not sure exactly but I know that I want to be more involved. I want to establish more ways for the company to not only give back to its employees but the community and people in need. I looked at the budget and only one percent is allocated to charity each year which they didn’t even reach. Last year alone Wagner made over five hundred billion dollars. I want to see our charity donations reach a minimum of three percent. I also want to make sure that the wage gap is fixed within the company. There’s no reason why there are salespeople making thirty-five thousand a year and their managers are making three times that. Also, we need a better plan for reimbursing employees for continuing education.”
I stare at the reports in my hand. “Did you do this analysis?” She nods and I place the tablet on my desk. “Emery, this isn’t just a casual analysis; you drilled down on these reports showing breakdowns of salary, education, cost of living along with the gross and net revenue of not only the company but each department.” She stares at me blankly. “You’re good at this, baby. Are you sure you don’t want to be running that company?” I laugh but I’m only half joking.
“I didn’t even go to college, Mads; it’s a little outside of my wheelhouse.”
“Your father didn’t go to college,” I remind her. “Also, just remember that Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg both enrolled but didn’t graduate. There’s so much you can learn in school, sure, but all of the valuable experience I learned wasn’t in a classroom.”
“That’s true.” She chews her bottom lip as she fiddles with the belt on her jacket.
“Em.” I stand up and walk over to her, taking a seat in the chair next to her. “Look at me, baby.” She turns her gaze to meet mine. “I don’t say this to pander to you and while I know I’m biased because I love you, I can say with absolute confidence that you have what it takes. You are incredibly smart and wise beyond your years. I have watched you grow up from that scared nineteen-year-old to this confident woman before me today. But that being said”—I reach forward and place her hands in mine—“you’ve also been put on a shelf for most of your life. We both know this life of money and power that we were born into isn’t meant for women to rise to power. It’s designed for men, to keep women at home as trophies while the men are the ones who are raised to run this world. But that’s not you; we both know it. You have what it takes if that’s what you want to do and if you don’t want to, that’s okay, but don’t ever make that decision based on what you feel others might think about you.”
