Billionaires, Bad Boys, and Alpha Males (125 page)

***

As Nicole took the train into work the
next day, she tried to organize her thoughts.
 
In her purse, she had her resignation
letter printed out and folded in half.

She’d actually been in the midst of
composing it the night before when Kane Wright had buzzed the apartment to pick
up Danielle.
 
Nicole had heard her
roommate making happy noises and telling her new husband she’d be right
down.
 

After her ecstatic friend had left,
Nicole peered into her bedroom.
 
It
looked as though Danielle was already starting to organize her stuff for when
she moved out.

Nicole wanted to be happy for Danielle,
but she couldn’t get past the fact that her best friend in the city was now
married to her fiancé’s one true enemy.
 
In point of fact, Red was starting up a new business geared to smash
Kane Wright’s empire, to destroy the man that had tried to ruin him.

Danielle was somehow blissfully unaware
of just how strange and uncomfortable the situation really was.
 
She’d blown it off, telling Nicole how
they would all get together soon for dinner.

“I think if the four of us all have
dinner and drinks, before you know it we’ll be fast friends,” Danielle had told
her at one point.
 
“Besides, the
husbands always follow their wives when it comes to social etiquette.
 
And the two of them have sooo much in
common.”

Yes,
like the fact that they hate each other down to the bone.

But Nicole decided not to spoil
Danielle’s fun.
 
She’d have to deal
with the truth at some point, so maybe it was nice if she enjoyed this blissful
fantasy while it lasted.

Coming back to the moment, Nicole tried
to put all that other drama to the side.
 
Right now she had to come to terms with quitting her first real
job.
 
She couldn’t work at the
company that had unceremoniously dumped the man she loved, the founder of the
organization. Especially not after they’d then handed the whole enchilada off
to Kane Wright. Kane would simply fold Jameson International into his larger
organization, like a sponge soaking up a pesky soda spill.

Nicole was finished with Jameson
International.
 
Her time there had
been lovely, but it was over now.

Nicole smiled, feeling her stomach with
one hand.
 
Just touching her belly
was a comfort.
 
She realized
suddenly that she had everything she could ever want or need.
 

Together, she and Red would start a new
business and a new family and they would be happy.
 
Nobody could get in the way again, she
would make certain of that.

Walking into Jameson International for
probably the last time, Nicole couldn’t help but think back to her first time
in the building, when she’d come begging for an interview, bowing and scraping
at any scrap they decided to throw her way.
 
Back then it had all seemed exciting,
intimidating and like the end-all be-all of her life.

Funny how much things could change in such
a short time.
 
Now she felt like
there was not much left to see or learn around there.
 
She’d been to the top floor; she’d seen
all the dirty tricks and a lot of the backroom politics that went on behind
closed doors.

She’d even slept with the CEO, rode the
corporate jet, felt like the cool girl on campus.

It was time to move on, time to start a
new chapter.

Nicole stepped into the elevator and rode
up to her floor, got off and headed for Remi’s office.
 
Remi was her direct boss now, and so she
would hand her resignation to the best friend she’d made at the company.

When she walked into Remi’s office, Remi
was relieved to see her.
 
“Are you
okay, Nicole?
 
Nobody knew what was
going on with you the last few days!”

“Yeah, I’m fine.
 
Thanks for asking.”
 
She suddenly realized how hard this was
going to be.
 
She didn’t know how
Remi would feel about the sudden announcement that she was leaving, even though
Remi had expressed a desire to quit the company as well.

“Sit down,” Remi said.
 
She had a pen in her hand and the end of
it had clearly been chewed.
 
Remi
was a stress case, Nicole knew.
 
She
worked so hard, and a lot of the work was thankless.
 
Today, the middle-aged woman was wearing
a black button-down shirt, the top couple of buttons had been left open.
 
As usual, she had a masculine, severe
look to her—but Nicole saw past that now, to the sweet, sensitive woman
underneath.

Nicole sat down and took a breath to
prepare for the awkwardness to come.
 
“So…I’ve been doing some thinking.”

“Uh-oh.”
 
Remi’s eyes gained a new intensity.
 
“That’s never a good start to open a
conversation.”

“Yeah.
 
I—you know how close I
was—how close I still am—to Red.”

Remi nodded.
 
“You two are still together?
 
I didn’t want to pry.”

“We are.
 
We’re very happy together.”
 
She tried to muster a smile.

 
“You’ve grown up a lot since you first
started here.
 
It’s been a real
rollercoaster ride for you.”

“It has.
 
And unfortunately, I think the ride has
come to an end.
 
I need to get off
now.”

“You’re quitting?”

Nicole dug into her purse and took the
resignation letter out, handed it across the desk to her boss.
 
“This is my letter of resignation.
 
Sorry for not giving you more of a
head’s up, but I’m definitely willing to stay on another few weeks if it would
help.”

Remi read the letter.
 
She sat back in her chair, stunned.
 
“Wow.
 
I did not see this one coming.
 
I mean, I should have, but I guess I was
too caught up in my own problems to realize that you had plenty of your own to
contend with.
 
I’m sorry if I’ve
been insensitive to what you’ve been going through.”

“It’s got nothing to do with you.
 
You’re an awesome boss.
 
It’s just everything else that’s gone
on.
 
I don’t feel comfortable
working for Kane Wright.”

Oh,
and by the way—my husband and I are going to start a new company specifically
designed to destroy this one.
  

“So.”
 
Remi tapped her chewed up pen against
the desk.
 
“What’s next for you?”

“I’m still not sure,” she lied.
 
“Red and I are going to be planning our
wedding—“

“I hope there’s an invite for your
coolest boss?”

“Definitely,” Nicole told her.

Remi smiled, and Nicole could see the
wheels turning as she processed everything.
 
“Listen, this might not be my place,
Nicole,” Remi said, sitting forward now.
 
“And I support your decision.
 
No matter what, I really hope you and I will continue to be…well I think
we’re friends.”

“I do too.”

“Good.”
 
Remi sighed.
 
“So, as a friend…I just hope you’ve
given a long, hard thought to being unemployed with your husband for any
extended period of time.
 
I’d
imagine it’s a very new experience for Red, and now you’ll both be home and out
of work temporarily.
 
That could be
stressful for you guys.”

“Red is working on something new,” Nicole
said carefully.

“Oh.”
 
Her boss nodded as if that piece of
information explained everything.
 
“Well, what the hell do I know?”
 
She laughed and stood up, extending her hand.

Nicole stood up too and they shook hands
firmly.

“Thanks for being so understanding, and
for being a great boss,” Nicole said.

“It was easy working with someone like
you.
 
And you’ve always got a
reference from me.”
 
Remi smiled but
the smile was short lived this time.
 
“Unfortunately, because of who you are and your relationship to the former
CEO—I’d imagine word will come down that they want today to be your last
day, Nicole.
 
I just don’t want you
to be surprised if that’s what happens.”

“It’s fine.
 
I totally understand.”

They said their goodbyes and Nicole went
back to her desk and began packing up the few things she’d accumulated over the
time she’d been at Jameson International.
 
She put most of it in her purse and then she threw out anything she
could get rid of.

A moment later her cell was buzzing.
 
She figured it was probably Red checking
to see how they’d reacted to her quitting, but when she took her phone out of
her purse, the caller ID said:
 
Mom.

“Oh jeez,” she sighed.
  
She debated the pros and cons of
answering versus not answering and decided to just be a big girl and deal with
her mother.

Nicole left the cubicles and went into
the hallway near the bathrooms to talk without disturbing anyone.
 
“Hi Mom,” she said, feigning enthusiasm.

Her mother didn’t even try to fake
it.
 
Her voice was cold and
distant.
 
“Hello, Nicole.
 
I was wondering why we hadn’t been hearing
from you the last few days, but then one of my friends was kind enough to
forward me a link to the new article about you and Red.”

“Huh?
 
I have no idea what you’re talking
about.”

“Maybe you haven’t seen it.
 
But apparently, the entire
world—except for your father and I—knows that the two of you are back
together.”

“Who printed this article?” she asked,
her stomach suddenly in knots.

Her mother made a noise of
exasperation.
 
“That’s not the
point, Nicole.
 
You’re back together
with him, aren’t you?”

“Yes,” she said, simply.

“Well, isn’t that just lovely,” she
muttered.

“Mom, I really hope you’ll support
me.
 
I hope you’ll support my
relationship with Red because—“

“So the wedding is on again?”

“I feel like I’m being cross-examined.”

“I’d just like to know what’s going on
with my own daughter.
 
I didn’t realize
that meant I’m cross-examining you.
 
But since you refuse to tell me anything, and I have to find out from
the Internet—“

“I’m sorry about that.
 
I didn’t know someone had reported on
us.”

“This relationship is unhealthy,
Nicole.
 
You’ve been up and down, up
and down, dragged around by the whims of this rich person who has no regard for
anyone but himself and his money.”

“That’s not true, Mom.”
 
Nicole closed her eyes and tried to stay
calm.
 
“Listen, I’d love it if we
could all get together for dinner and try to start fresh.
 
Could we do that, Mom?”

“I don’t know.
 
I don’t know if I can get past what this
man has put your through.”

“Well you need to try, for me.”

“Nicole…” her mother sighed.

“Will you give it another try, for
me?
 
Please?
 
Red and I are going to be spending our
lives together and I’d like it if you could be a part of that, too.”

“This is not a man who can make a
lifetime commitment.”

Nicole was fed up.
 
“Do you want to try or not?
 
I’m pretty much done with this
conversation.”

There was a long, long pause.
 
“Fine,” her mother uttered after what
felt like an eternity.

“Maybe you and Dad can come to the city
and we’ll all have dinner together.”

“That works.”

“I love you, Mom.
 
I’ll be in touch, okay?”

Her mother curtly replied that she loved
her too, and then they got off the phone.
 
Nicole let out a weary, tired breath.
 

It never ends, does it? She thought.