Twenty-Nine

Morgan

I didn’t listen to Patrick’s voice mail.

I didn’t delete it either.

Instead, it taunted me all weekend while I worked on trying to fix everything that had snowballed into a disaster for me. I had a plan. A game plan. I was ready—or at least, as ready as I would ever be to walk into the office on Monday morning and put my job on the line.

The email had only been sent to me. I had to think that someone else had heard that Escoe Industrial had received the contract, a company that was now pretty high on my list of companies I wanted to acquire. Either way, it meant that I would be on the hot seat on Monday. I would have to figure out a way to keep my job, or the board would replace me.

I couldn’t imagine Wright Construction in the hands of someone who wasn’t a Wright. So, getting fired was out of the question. I could do this.

When I made it up to the top floor on Monday morning, David was already sitting at his desk. He was always earlier than me, but I’d come in early to begin with. I’d filled him in on the situation on Saturday afternoon. I hadn’t wanted to tell anyone, but David and I were partners in this. He didn’t want someone to replace me either.

His head snapped up when he saw me standing in the doorway. “Morgan, I’m so glad you’re here.” He hurried up from his desk and over to where I was standing. “Thank God you’re here early.”

“Why?” I asked. My stomach dropped with worry at his tone. “What happened?”

“Owen showed up as soon as I walked in the door, and he’s holed up in the conference room.”

“What? What is he doing here? Why didn’t you text me?”

“I did. You didn’t respond. A couple of other people showed up. It feels like an ambush.”

“Fuck. You think they know?”

He shrugged. “What else could it be?”

“True.” I took a deep breath. “Okay. Wish me luck.”

“You don’t need it.”

I grinned halfheartedly at him. Then, I straightened my shoulders and walked into the conference room. My uncle was sitting at the end of the long table, looking like a king holding court. Four members of the board of directors were present. Of course, Jensen wasn’t there.

“I didn’t realize that a meeting had been called for the board,” I said, setting down my messenger bag on the table and staring down half of the board. As CEO, I was technically a member of the board, but I wasn’t included in matters regarding me unless disciplinary measures were to be taken. That meant, we were only missing three people, including Jensen, from the eight-person board that would decide my future.

“I’m glad that you’re here, Morgan,” Owen said.

“I’m inferring that there’s a reason that the majority of you are assembled today. Though I don’t know why you’re here, Uncle.” I stared him down. “Last I checked, you were not a member of the board of directors.”

“He’s here as a courtesy to us,” one of the other members, Curt, said from the end of the table. “We’ve recently discovered that you lost the Texas Tech contract, and we are worried about the financial future of the company with you as CEO.”

“The contract isn’t lost. Not officially. I am still talking to the administration on campus to right this error.”

“I thought you said that it was confirmed,” Luke said to Owen.

“I was told that Escoe Industrial had acquired the contract,” Owen said.

“They had, but we were still in negotiations. I went a step up from the woman I had been dealing with on campus, and I think an inquiry is going to be opened to find out what happened. We should know by the end of the week.”

“Is it true that it was your boyfriend who made you lose the contract?” Curt asked.

I ground my teeth together. “He works in the same division at the university.”

“We’re worried about the state of the company. That Tech contract has been part of Wright Construction for thirty years,” Luke added.

“I am also worried about it, but I am doing everything I can at the moment to rectify the situation.”

“We think, at this time, it would be prudent to select an oversight committee for you,” Janice said across the table from Luke. “Truly, this kind of catastrophe would warrant firing.”

I paled.

“Especially after all the trouble we’ve been having with your transition to CEO. But we don’t have another successor in line, like when Jensen handed the company to you. It would be a nightmare to find someone again.”

“I wouldn’t mind helping to transition into CEO,” Owen said. “In a temporary capacity, of course.”

“Of course,” I ground out. “Unfortunately, we don’t need you.”

Suddenly, his motives were crystal clear. Why hadn’t I seen it before? Owen wanted my job. No wonder he had treated me like shit. Of course, that conversation at the ribbon-cutting made no sense. Why defend me, only to throw me under the bus here?

“Actually, it’s not a bad suggestion,” Janice said.

“Owen is a valuable asset to the company, and he is a Wright,” Curt added.

“I think we should see if she fixes this first,” Luke said, cutting off that scenario before it got wheels under it. “I think we give her until the end of the week to collect more information about the financial impact this might have. And, if she doesn’t come up with a solution, then we explore other alternatives.”

“Agreed,” Janice, Curt, and the otherwise quiet Jake said.

Owen looked like steam was about to come pouring out of his ears at the suggestion. He’d clearly thought that I was going to be fired. And how could I blame him? I’d thought I was going to be fired. Especially with an ambush like this.

“I’ll be happy to notify the remainder of the board about this,” I told them. “Next time, we should include Jensen as well, considering he lives in town.”

No one made a comment about that. Excluding Jensen on something like this had clearly been on purpose. It was a message. And I read it loud and clear.

I had one more chance. I was out of the frying pan but not out of the fire. If I didn’t figure this out by the end of the week, they wouldn’t be as lenient.

I spent the remainder of my day putting out fires and dealing with everyday management stuff. All while I still had to deal with how I was going to make things right. It was the last full week of work before the holidays, and I was mired down in utter bullshit.

My call with Jensen had been fucking wonderful after that meeting. I hadn’t told him about what had happened this weekend. He’d just gotten engaged, and I hadn’t wanted to ruin everything. I’d known that, if I’d told him what had happened, he would disappear and help me. That wasn’t fair to him or Emery. He wasn’t the CEO anymore. He didn’t have to always be putting out my fires.

I wanted to be able to handle this myself. But I hadn’t wanted him to find out from someone else about what had happened or the board meeting that he hadn’t been invited to. He’d been pissed. Raving about how deceitful they’d been to exclude him.

At least one good thing had come from the meeting; he believed me about Owen now.

Owen was out for my job.

He’d probably been out for my job since day one.

His douche-bag attitude toward me had been to undermine me. He’d been playing mind games. And he’d been playing them well.

He had slowly dismantled years of my service to the company in a matter of weeks. He’d made me look sloppy and like he was a better alternative to me. It was heartbreaking and also pissed me the hell off. Even if I were fired from this job, it would be over my dead body that they gave it to Owen.

My head was so far up in the clouds, I didn’t even notice that it was past five, and there was a knock at my door.

“Come in,” I called, shuffling papers around and then typing fiercely into the memo I’d been working on.

“Hey, Mor.”

My head snapped up. “Patrick.”

“I didn’t hear from you all weekend.”

“I know.”

“I called.”

“I know.”

“I left you a voice mail.”

“I got it.”

“Did you listen to it?”

“No,” I admitted.

He laughed softly. “Of course you didn’t. Were you doing this all weekend?”

“Yes.”

“You still have a job.”

“For now.”

“Can we talk?”

“What have we been doing this whole time?” I asked with emphasis on the snark.

“I couldn’t leave it the way we left things on Friday. I know you have a lot on your plate. I know you’re dealing with this contract issue. But I won’t let our relationship dissolve because of this.”

“Patrick, I have one week to make this all right,” I said, holding up one finger. “I have to prioritize that above all else.”

“I realize that. I don’t want to take away from your work. But I also want you to know that, when I suggested another company for this contract, it was a throwaway comment. I said it as if it were absurd to even consider someone like Escoe. I said they weren’t local or loyal or quality and that Wright Construction would always be the best. And I believe that. I might have made an error in wording, and I take responsibility for that, but I don’t want you to think that I would use or betray you. You mean too much to me for something like that.”

I sighed and let the stress of the weekend bury me for a second. There hadn’t been a moment in all this where it wasn’t attached to Patrick. The man I had wanted more than anything, except the CEO position. Now, it seemed both of the things I wanted were on the line.

I’d been harsh on Friday. I’d said some things I probably shouldn’t have. And, fuck it, I couldn’t catch a break here.

“I know this wasn’t all your fault, Patrick,” I told him, standing and looking up at him. “I’m sorry that I unloaded on you on Friday. That wasn’t fair to you.”

He startled, as if he had been expecting me to scream at him again. But I didn’t have the fire for it. I wasn’t angry with him. I didn’t have the energy for anger. I should have waited to talk to him after I figured this all out. But here we were.

“It’s okay.”

“It’s really not. Maybe Jensen is right. Maybe I do need to take a year off from dating while I’m CEO.”

“Morgan, that’s ridiculous.”

“Is it? I was a hundred percent dedicated to my work before we started dating, and now, I’m being investigated for a negative financial impact on the company. I clearly cannot accurately manage both. I can’t do this right now. I need to be married to my work. If I even have a job after Friday.”

“No, I don’t accept that,” Patrick said. “I don’t accept that you can’t juggle two things at once or that you need to take a year off from dating. I don’t accept that we can’t be together. We are better when we’re together. You are less stressed and more relaxed. You laugh more. You smile more. You have more fun.”

“Yeah, and I lose ten-year multimillion-dollar contracts, too.”

“You’re better when you’re with me.”

“Maybe,” I ventured.

“Life isn’t just your job.”

“That might be the case,” I said with a resigned sigh. “But, right now…it is. I wish there were another way. But, I really can’t do this. It would be easier for me if you left.”

“Morgan—”

“Please, Patrick. I have to reserve my strength for this problem. Don’t make this any harder than it has to be,” I said as my heart broke.

“I’m going to prove you wrong.”

“I hope you’re right.”

Patrick stepped around my desk and stood close to me. He placed a kiss on my forehead. “I’m not going to stop fighting for you. I’m going to figure this out.”

Then, he was gone. I collapsed forward into my chair at his absence and did the thing I hadn’t done all weekend. I cried.