She cringed hearing that. "Please, Cameron. I didn't want to have to ask you this, but I have no choice. The company's completely stuck in the mud. Brett can cover for you, but his powers are limited. The other stockholders are talking about forcing a buyout, all kinds of stuff if they don't hear anything from you."
"I'm glad my dad had an employee who cared for the company as much as you do," I spat.
"Cameron—”
"What was it really that brought you up here yesterday?" I asked.
"Brett asked me to come," she said quietly.
"Because the last time he sent you, you didn't get the job done."
"Cameron..." she trailed off, not trying to fight it because I was right. She didn't care. If this had come out earlier, I wouldn't even have been mad. I had thought that about her from the beginning, but she had proved me wrong. Or she had tricked me well enough to believe her. She was smart. Smart and good at her job. That was all she cared about in fact: the company. If it wasn't all she cared about, she obviously cared about it more than she cared about us.
"Sorry I kept you guys waiting," I said to her.
"How long were you expecting for it to happen? Hundreds of people still work at the company, and they weren't just going to stop because you had."
"I didn't expect anyone to stop, Natalie. I asked for a fucking break. That was it."
"You knew that your father left you the company."
"I knew that, but I just found out five minutes ago that I actually had something to worry about."
"Come on. What did you think was happening without you?"
"Nothing, Natalie, because every time I asked you, you said nothing. You didn't tell me. You let me think that everything was fine, so I acted like it was. If you were sent here to say something, why didn't you do it sooner?"
"I hated that I had to be the one to break it to you," she said. "I didn't want to keep pushing this thing you ran from into your new life."
"I didn't run," I said, looking at her.
"Then what are you going to do?" she asked. Last night I had thought was the beginning. Things had changed. She had stopped being just Natalie, and she had become someone who I had started to think I wanted in my future, but not anymore. Just like that, I didn't want her in my cabin. I didn't want her in my bed again; I didn't want to hear her fucking name again.
"You tell Brett I'm done," I told her. "I'm selling." Her face went paper white.
"Cameron, you can't."
"Not the answer you were looking for? Sorry, looks like you came all this way for nothing."
"Cameron, think about this."
"I thought time was up?" I said. Her face was hopeless. She looked guilty and confused, almost betrayed. "You tell Brett what I said, then draw up the paperwork." I turned and started heading back up to the loft.
"Cameron, if the company goes through a change like this, dozens of people might lose their jobs."
"Won't be my problem if the company's no longer mine," I said.
"Why are you doing this?" I turned and looked down at her.
"Because I'm sick of it, Natalie. I don't want to sit in a fucking boardroom with a bunch of suits talking figures. I don't want the people, the conversations, the life that comes with that. My parents survived it, but I don't have to stay because they did. I won't."
"You're not like those people," she said.
"Maybe not, but you are." I turned and walked up the steps. She didn't follow me. I heard her unlock one of the doors and head outside, but I didn't turn to check. She would be cold, she wasn't wearing a sweater over the long-sleeved t-shirt she had worn to bed, but right then, I didn't care. In a couple hours, she'd be out that door for good, and with any luck, she'd stay gone.
Chapter Thirty
Natalie