Page 243 of By His Vow
My stomach knots as I consider how they’re feeling. The thought of them having to go home and tell their partners that their jobs might not be secure, of them looking at their children and worrying about providing for their families.
It’s wrong. All of it is so fucking wrong. But what can we do?
This is the shitshow we’ve been left with, and we have to make the best of it.
Tatum startles, but she doesn’t look up. For a moment, I don’t even think she’s going to follow my order, but then Miles adds, “Tatum, please. We just want to talk.”
She’s never been able to defy her big brother in the same way she does me, and slowly her movements falter and she steps out of the stream of people heading for the door.
The silence is painful, but none of us attempt to shatter it until the last person has stepped out of the room and closed the door behind them.
Tatum ignores me and turns to Miles. “I know that was hard, but you did a fantastic job,” she assures him, a small smile playing on her lips. “I also want you to know, that if you need to lose marketing managers, then lay me off to secure everyone else’s positions. You don’t even need to pay me a severance package.”
“No,” I bark. “That’s not fucking happening.”
Tatum’s shoulders tense but, still, she doesn’t look at me.
“Miles, this is about the company’s future. That is what’s important here. I refuse to stand in the way if I can help.”
“Stepping away isn’t helping,” I spit, anger fueling my words. “We need you here with us. You deserve to be standing here with us right now.”
I don’t know what it is, which words I say that spark something within her, but she finally turns her light blue eyes on me.
My breath catches as our connection causes sparks to flash between us.
“I will help wherever I can, but I am not stepping up beside you. My position within this company has been made more than clear all of my life.”
“Fuck that, Tate. Dad’s gone,” Miles says, pain lacing his voice at the loss of his mentor. “What he wanted doesn’t matter. We’re in charge and we want?—”
“Success.” She cuts him off with that one single word and a hard glare. “I am not prepared to commit my life to this. To you,” she says, her eyes finding mine again.
Ouch.
“Excuse me. I have a team to talk to. If I can be of any assistance, or you’d like to discuss my offer, then you know where to find me. Other than that…” She takes a step back and looks between the two of us. “Have a good day.”
We stand there side by side, shocked into silence as she spins around, her long, dark hair following a beat later and falling like a thick curtain around her shoulders before she marches out of the room.
It’s long after the door has closed behind us that Miles lifts his hands to his hair and breathes, “Fuck.”
“She’ll come around,” I say, although there isn’t a lot of conviction in my voice.
“Fuck, KC. You’re even more fucking delusional than she is.”
I stare at him with my brows raised in question.
“This is where she belongs. Why can’t she see that?”
“Because she’s lived her entire life being told the opposite. Just because Jonathan is gone, it’s not going to change all the years of her feeling like she isn’t a worthy or deserving member of your family.”
He visibly deflates at my words.
“Look, I’m not arguing with you. I agree, she belongs here. Do you have any idea how fucking good she is at her job?” His expression wavers. He wants to say yes, to say that he’s paid attention, but the truth is that he doesn’t have a clue. He’s been too lost in his own world to pay all that much attention to hers. “But as much as I hate to say it, you’re not going to reel her in like this. You aren’t going to be able to change her thoughts and feelings about her place here overnight. It’s going to take time. Possibly a lot of it.”
His eyes bounce between mine as he tries to read between the lines.
“What are you saying?”
I swallow thickly. I haven’t said the words that he knows are coming, but I already feel the regret.