I stood and paced, working through my thoughts.
Li Na had made pubic proclamations about her company’s impending market advancement and its ultimate dominance. She had also promised to advance Shenzhen’s overall standing in the global marketplace. If she failed to deliver at a grand level, she would lose face.
We were on the verge of selling Paragon to Li Na, and Lauren had agreed to help her with the transition. I went back to my desk and scrolled to Li Na’s picture again. If I’d known nothing about her, I would find her attractive. But Li Na didn’t care about that kind of face—she wanted more than recognition for just that, much more.
I needed to make sure people—her people—saw behind her mask. If she was exposed as someone who bragged, but couldn’t deliver on her promises, she would lose face. The stigma could be potentially devastating.
Potentially devastating sounded…promising. After all, Li Na did have a lot to answer for.
I shot off a quick email to Kami, asking her to have all my international agreements with my patch distributors updated immediately. Then I spent the rest of the day getting ready, finally feeling like I had the foundation of a plan.
Chapter 19
Lauren
After another emotional day, I was happy to be home in sweats, nursing a glass of wine with Gabe.
He put his arm around me. “Dr. Kim called this afternoon from the hospital—Wes is the same. Still stable, but still in ICU.”
“Thank God. At least he hasn’t had another arrhythmia. Did Timmy get in touch with the brother’s unit?”
Gabe nodded. “His brother—Ellis—is taking leave and coming home.”
I sighed. “That’s good. I hope it helps Wes.”
“It will.” Gabe sounded confident, as though he were trying to stay upbeat. “Getting Hannah back will help too. I’m sure Wes will be able to sense their presence. Dr. Kim said continued visits and support are extremely important.”
I nodded. “I’ll go see him again tomorrow. So…what have you been up to since I last saw you this morning?”
Gabe shrugged, looking nonchalant. “Just some research. You?”
“I held a staff meeting, to talk about the future.”
“And?”
“And everyone single one of my employees agreed to transition to Dynamica. They’re thrilled. I can’t thank you enough.” I kissed his cheek. “Really…you made an impossible situation bearable.”
He smiled, playing with my hair. “And what about you, huh? Have you decided about what you’re going to do? I’m not trying to push, I swear. I’m just…curious.”
“I know.” I leaned against him, trying to gather the energy to tell him how I felt.
“So?”
“In theory, I would love to come work at Dynamica. We already have an existing business relationship, we work well together, and I’d be free to develop new technology—I know you’d give me all the space and support I need to build something great.”
“But? Because I can tell that there’s a ‘but.’”
“But… I don’t—I don’t want to work for anyone else!” I put down my wine, got up, and started pacing. “I don’t want to say no to you. I want to keep things on as even a keel as possible—to follow my staff, to start working again as soon as we get through this. I can’t stand being idle, just reacting all the time to different stressful situations. It’s making me crazy.”
“I can see that.”
I looked at him, feeling helpless. “I want to say yes, but I c
an’t.”
Gabe watched me patiently. “And that’s because… Can you explain the ‘because’ part again, babe?”
“Because I’m a CEO. I like running my own company and being my own boss. I could never work for someone else, not even you.”