Though…

I press on the intercom.

“Alicia, can you please send Brandon up?” I ask.

“On it,” Alicia replies.

I don’t want to step on Brandon’s toes. He’s worked so hard on this deal ever since I handed it to him. I have no desire to take it back unless Alan Simmons steps in. Brandon is more than capable of running this deal, and I want to see him succeed.

As such, he deserves to know what’s going on and why I will be interrupting his meeting at some point to steal away his current business partner.

It doesn’t take long before Brandon appears in my office, looking curious. I fold my hands on the desk and try to calm my nerves.

“I apologize for the suddenness, but I need to discuss something sensitive with you,” I say. “Please take a seat.”

“Is this about the deal?” Brandon asks cautiously, sitting down. “Are you taking it back?”

“No,” I say instantly. “You’ve done an amazing job. I definitely want you to see this to completion. No, this matter is more…” I cough, “personal in nature.”

“In what way?” Brandon asks, even more confused.

“Some weeks ago, I met a woman at the club and we decided to exchange numbers,” I say, and Brandon’s face falls, already seeing where this is going. “Of course, I then realized that she happened to be the daughter of my greatest competitor and that she would be coming here. I didn’t know until I saw her in a meeting with you.”

“Right… So you’re in a relationship with my business partner,” Brandon says, deadpan.

“Was,” I sigh. “She broke up with me a week ago. I didn’t tell her who I was, but I think she figured it out. Anyway, she hasn’t spoken to me since, despite my attempts to reach out so that there aren’t any hard feelings.”

“Alright…” Brandon says slowly. “So…?”

“So, today, I’ll be pulling Amanda aside to talk to her,” I say firmly. There’s no room for argument; this will happen, no matter what. “I don’t want any feelings between us to ruin what the two of you are working on. I’m hoping to assure her that I didn’t do what I did maliciously, and that will hopefully make her feel better about working toward an alliance with us.”

“Oh,” Brandon says, his expression clearing. “I understand, sir. But, please, let me know if you want me to help in anyway.”

“Thanks, but it’s fine,” I say, smiling at him. “This is my mess, and I’m going to fix this so that it we don’t damage what we’ve bee

n working toward.”

“Thank you, sir,” Brandon says. “Do you know when you’ll come down?”

“When would be a good time?” I ask. “I don’t want to interrupt anything important.”

“Honestly, anything you do interrupt will probably be important, no matter what,” Brandon confesses. “Whatever you interrupt, we’ll just go over again. A small delay won’t hurt anything.”

I smile. My employees are amazing. As soon as they realized that I was serious about trying to keep up the power and reputation of this company, they’ve done whatever they could to help me adjust to my role. It’s thanks to them that we’ve seen such success in the last two years. I know my father would be proud of all the people he employed.

“Thank you,” I say. “I’ll come down around mid-afternoon.

“Sounds great, sir,” Brandon says with a nod, standing. “I’ll see you then.”

I wave him back and slump back in my chair. That actually went quite well.

Now, I just need to confront Amanda.

I told Brandon mid-afternoon and I didn’t want to go down any earlier than that. Unfortunately, waiting until then was almost impossible. As time crept closer and closer, I felt myself getting jittering, and it became impossible to do any work at all.

This is, truly, my last chance to talk to Amanda. She’s definitely not going to be happy about this, and I haven’t run the plan by Alicia, because I know she’ll call me an idiot, but I’m determined to do it. I need to talk to Amanda face to face and hear what’s going on. I want her to know that I care about her and that I’m sorry I hid such important secrets from her.

As time ticked forward, I got up and started pacing. I just needed to focus. Losing my head now, especially when I’m about to face an irate Amanda, would not be a good thing. I needed to keep calm and get my thoughts straight. I knew exactly what I want to say to her, but getting the words out would be an entirely different story.

Tags: Mia Ford Romance
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