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“Not with that attitude, there isn’t. Listen, Christian, I understand you’re mad at Aurora; she broke your heart. Is that what this is about? But she’s back; is she not? Why don’t you leave this office romance for what it is and get back to your real life?”
“Office romance,” I muttered.
“I’m not going to get back together with Aurora, much less marry her.”
“The company-”
“You can give it to Aurora if you like her so much.”
Whatever words Melissa planned to say died in her throat, but she made sure to look at me with enough fury in her eyes for me to know that I’d messed up, and she wasn’t going to let it go easily.
She turned on her heels, and left the boardroom, making sure to bang the door loudly. I winced at the sound and took a step backward.
This was way worse than any adverse scenario I could have come up with in my head. My legs trembled, and I let myself fall into one of the seats, burying my head in my hands.
“Fiona.” Christian was by my side in an instant. His arms rested on my shoulders as he tried to coax me into lifting my head from my hands.
“I knew she didn’t like me, but I don’t think she would ever approve of me.”
“Don’t worry about that. I will do everything in my power to make sure that nothing happens to you. Fiona, listen,” Christian said and tried to pull my head from my hands. “Please, look at me.”
I pressed the heel of my palms into my eyes to stop any tears from falling. I didn’t realize how affected I had been while standing behind Christian. Now that his mother was gone, I could tell exactly how affected I was.
My heart was hammering loudly, and my stomach was in knots. This was too much for me, and to make matters worse, Christian has gone and promised to leave the company. I needed to act fast before he did something he would regret.
I knew how hard he worked for this company. I’ve been by his side during all of it, and to have him throw it away was something I couldn’t sit back and watch.
“You can’t leave your CEO position,” I said to him, lifting my head to look him in the eyes.
Christian had a soft look; the concern in his eyes was clear as day. I took a deep breath and sat straighter, causing his hands to fall from my shoulders.
“Fiona.”
“You’ve worked hard already. Why should you lose it because of what we think we have between us.”
“Don’t say that.”
I covered my face again and took a deep breath before pushing my hair away. I didn’t even know it was hot enough for my hair to be sticking to my skin. This was way more than I thought I was going to deal with today, and to think it all started because I couldn’t keep my mouth shut.
“I think we should just forget all this confession we’ve done today.”
“Fiona, don’t say that. I don’t care about the company as much as I care about you. I love you, and now that I’ve finally found the courage to let you know, I’m not going to back down. I don’t care what they threaten me with.”
“And isn’t that the problem? You know your parents will threaten you with something just to not be with me. It’s not just a company; it’s everything your family built. It’s your family’s legacy.”
“I can build my own legacy.”
I got to my feet. “This is serious, Christian. It’s really serious.”
“I know that, but why should you not listen to your heart, Fiona? Why should I give up on my happiness for the company or family? Why should I give up on you when I’ve only just had you.”
“I’m not going to quit my job,” I said.
“Fiona.”
I took another step away from him, unwilling to be touched by him because I was certain that my resolve would crumble. “Maybe you can talk Aurora into changing her mind.”
The look of betrayal on his face made me feel like I was hurting him, but I wasn’t about to let him walk away from all of this. So, I continued talking as if I wasn’t hurting myself, too, with the words I was saying.
