Page 121 of Icebound Hearts
Desiree guides them all to the conference room where Violet and I are waiting for them, and even without having ever seen him before, I can guess which one is Elijah. He’s tall and thin but in good shape, a fact that shows even through the crisp, expensive looking suit he’s wearing. He might be a shitbag on the inside, but on the outside, he’s got an easy-going, charming demeanor that’s probably opened a lot of doors for him.
It only makes me hate him more.
He visibly reacts when he spots Violet, a smug, surprised smile crossing his face. He starts to say something to her, but I cut him off.
“Don’t speak to her,” I say firmly.
Elijah scoffs, his gaze darting in my direction. “Excuse me?”
“You heard me. I won’t say it again, and you won’t try it again.”
He raises his perfectly manicured eyebrows at me, but he gets the message, so I turn to Robert, who’s lingering beside Desiree and looking just as bewildered as she does.
“I’m sorry we had to meet like this, Robert,” I tell him and offer him my hand to shake. He takes it tentatively. “But with all due respect, as long as that man”—I point to Elijah—“is working on this marketing campaign, I refuse to take part in it.”
The other members of the team from Affinity Marketing all react to that, quiet murmurs breaking out amongst the group.
Robert trades looks with Desiree before he turns back to me. “With all due respect, Mr. Townsend, I’m sure you understand that I’m going to need an explanation here.”
I hesitate. Part of me wants to lay all the cards on the table and expose Elijah for the total piece of shit that he is, but I don’t want to hurt Violet by telling this room full of people she doesn’tknow all the worst parts of what he did to her, so I need to thread the needle.
“Because he’s a manipulative liar and sexual harasser, and I don’t want to be associated with someone like that. So either he goes, or I do.”
The atmosphere in the room shifts, and all of the people from Affinity go silent, glancing at each other before shifting their focus to Elijah. Robert frowns, and Desiree’s eyes bounce back and forth between him and me. I hold Robert’s gaze, standing firm. Technically, Elijah works for Affinity, not Beaumont, but I know that Robert is still the one with the power to do what I need done right now.
“What? This is ridiculous!” Elijah shouts, shattering the silence that’s fallen in the room. “Are you serious?”
My jaw tightens along with my fists. I have to keep my cool, have to stay levelheaded about this. As much as I want to knock Elijah’s teeth out, acting that way isn’t going to do me any favors with Robert and Desiree. I need them to believe me, and that’s going to take putting everything on the line.
But I’d do that for Violet. And so much more.
“Deadly serious,” I say, sweeping my gaze over Robert and the team from Affinity. “In fact, unless Elijah is fired right now, I’m going to have to back out of the commercial deal.”
Desiree’s eyes widen, her jaw falling open. Her commission is on the line here too, and I’m sure she’s not used to clients of hers acting like this. I know I’m vastly overstepping here, but I’m willing to risk it. Beaumont seemed thrilled to have me on board for this campaign, but this demand I’m making is a big one, so Robert might decide to just walk away rather than push for the marketing firm they’ve hired to let one of their team members go. And Desiree will probably drop me as a client if that happens, because I’m sure it’ll cost her a pretty penny to lose out on this deal too.
But I don’t care about any of that. I only care about Violet and doing what’s right for her.
“Can we talk for a second?” Robert asks Desiree and one of the Affinity reps—an older woman who must be in charge of the marketing team. They both nod, and Desiree leads them out of the office so they can have some privacy.
As soon as they’re gone, Elijah tries to step closer to Violet, but I stand in his way and cross my arms over my chest. I’ve got at least seventy pounds of muscle on him, and he knows I sometimes fight for a living, so he’s not stupid enough to try anything. But he does lean around me.
“Violet, let’s talk this out,” he begs her as if he already knows how fucked he is, and I move to block his view of her again, making sure his eyes meet mine.
“I warned you. If you try to talk to her again, you’ll be doing it through a broken jaw. Understood?”
Elijah blanches, swallows hard, and nods before he steps back from me.
Desiree, Robert, and the Affinity rep walk back in a few minutes later, their expressions fixed and serious. The Affinity rep gestures for Elijah to come over to her as the rest of the creative team watches with wide eyes, clearly curious to see what will happen. Elijah looks like he doesn’t want to move, but he reluctantly strides over to join the older woman near the doorway.
She speaks to him in a voice too low for me to overhear, but when all the color drains from Elijah’s face, a feeling of satisfaction swells in my chest.
“Cindy, you can’t be serious,” Elijah mutters in disbelief to the older woman. “That’s it? You’re firing me?” He gestures to me, his lip curling. “Just because thishockey playerdoesn’t like me?”
“This hockey player has a very good reason not to like you,” I interject, unable to hold back. “And your boss has plenty of reasons to fire you.”
Cindy clears her throat. “I’ll be calling HR to handle your termination. You can see yourself out.”
Elijah goes completely still for a moment, his jaw working. Then he mutters a string of curse words under his breath and stalks out of the room, slamming the door behind him and making Violet jump in her chair. I move closer to her, my hand instinctively reaching for her shoulder, and I feel some of the tension in her muscles drain away as I give her shoulder a gentle squeeze.