The conference room is tense, and I have no clue how to break the tension.

Samuel and Roy sit across the table, looking grim. Ingram is to my right, with a smile on his face, along with two of his lawyer aides whose names I don’t know, and to my left is Laura Shane, the PR head.

“We saw your updated contract suggestions,” I start off the meeting. I have a copy of the contract that Samuel gave me the other day on the table. “I think there are some promising things in here.”

“From my perspective, it’s a good balance,” Laura says.

Samuel frowns at me. “Far as I’m concerned, we already came up with the contract.”

“Unfortunately, the board wouldn’t accept that,” I say to him.

He glances over at Ingram. “Your doing, as we’re all aware.”

Ingram just shrugs. “I have to do what’s best for the company.”

Samuel scoffs and goes to say something, but I interrupt him. “This isn’t about that contract, this is about the new one. We need to keep these talks open and figure this out.”

Samuel nods but he doesn’t look happy. I open up a folder and start going through some of the changes he suggested, line-by-line, while Ingram and his lawyers follow along. Laura is on her phone the whole time, clearly not all that interested in this.

I manage to get control of the situation and try to engage Samuel, but he’s clearly not interested. He’s busy glowering at Ingram like he wants to murder him, and I feel like I’m talking to a brick wall.

“What if we dropped a vacation day, but increased pay by twenty cents?” I ask, glancing over at Ingram, who nods.

“No thanks,” Samuel says. “Won’t be worth it.”

I sigh. “What will be worth it?” I ask him.

He arches an eyebrow. “The contract I gave you, as I gave it to you.”

“You know that’s not going to happen,” I tell him.

He shrugs. “I don’t know what to say then. Maybe we’re wasting our time here.”

I clench my jaw. I don’t know what his deal is, why he’s acting like an asshole, but I can sense the tension in this room. I know Ingram is the reason for everything. I thought he could put it aside long enough for us to get some work done, but clearly I was wrong.

I look at Ingram and back to Samuel, and I make a decision. “Everyone out,” I say.

The entire room looks at me, including Laura. “Excuse me?” she asks.

“Everyone, get out,” I say. “I’m sick of this. Samuel stays. The rest of you, leave.”

Ingram gapes at me. “You can’t… kick us out.”

I stare at him. “I outrank you, Ingram. Get out.”

He hesitates a second. The whole room is staring at him. But finally, he stands up. “As you say, CEO.” He smiles at me, full of venom, and leaves the room. His lawyers follow him out.

“Are you sure about this?” Laura asks me.

I smile at her. “It’ll be fine. Please, go.”

She shrugs and leaves the room.

I turn back to Samuel and Roy. “I can’t order you out, Roy, but could you please give us some time to talk alone?”

He looks at Samuel, who reluctantly nods. Roy smiles at me. “You got some balls,” he says, before leaving the room.

I look across the table at Samuel, who stares right back at me. “So, should you start taking off your pants, or should I do it for you?”

I sigh. “That’s not what we’re doing here.”

“It’s not? I figured you needed a little stress release.”

“No,” I say. “But I think you do. What’s your deal, Samuel?”

He glances away from me. “It’s that fucker,” he says.

“I know, but come on. We need to get this contract negotiated, for both our sakes. You can’t let him get to you. That’s what he wants.”

He clenches his jaw. “I know that,” he says. “You think I don’t know it? I’m playing right into his hand, which pisses me off even more.”

“Samuel,” I say softly. “Come on. Work with me here.”

“I can’t,” he snaps. “Don’t you get it? We’re enemies. I can’t let… whatever this is between us get in the way.”

I bite my lip for a second and let that linger in the air. I reflexively put my hand on my stomach where his child’s growing, but quickly drop it away.

“What is this thing?” I ask him softly.

“I don’t know,” he says quietly, relaxing a little bit. “But I know you feel it too.”

I don’t deny it. I couldn’t even if I wanted to. “So what do we do?” I ask instead.

“I don’t know,” he admits. “I know I’ve been… distant.” He looks like he’s struggling to say something. “It’s just that, I’m torn in all these directions… the mine, the union, and you…” He shakes his head, not able to go on.

“I understand,” I say. “And Samuel, I want to help you. I want to help everyone. I just need you to help me do that. We’re on the same side, even if we’re coming at it from opposite ends.”

He nods a little and sighs. “We’re planning a walkout. Not tomorrow, but the day after.”

That surprises me. I hadn’t heard anything about the workers striking, but that’s huge news. “We just got a big order,” I say. “Do you really need to walk out right now?”

He nods. “It’s the best time, actually. But there’s something else.”

“More than you guys walking out?”

“Ingram threatened my guys. Said he’d break knees if we go through with it.”

“Fuck,” I say softly, which makes him smile. “That bastard. How can he get away with this?”

“He has the cops in his pocket.” He shrugs a little. “That’s how.”

“It’s not fair.” I tighten my fists, and I want to walk around the table, sit in his lap, and kiss him. Or maybe pull his hair. Or slap him a little bit. Or scream and punch Ingram in the face.

Instead, he just smiles at me and I lean back in my chair. “I’m going to call them back in. Can you please work with me?”

“I can try,” he says. “But the strike’s happening. Ingram can try to stop it, but we won’t let him.”

“What are you going to do?” I ask.

He smiles a little. “We have some ideas.”

I sigh and shake my head. “Just don’t get in any trouble.” I stand up and head toward the door.

“Why not?” he asks softly. “I think you like that I’m trouble.”

I glance at him and smile. I can’t help it. He’s probably right.

I open the door and call everyone back in, and from there on out, Samuel’s more engaged. We get some decent work done, mark up the contract he gave me, and Ingram promises to give it to the board. I don’t know if he means it or not, and I seriously doubt it. Most of his suggestions were outright ignored by Samuel, mainly because they were unnecessarily harsh and one-sided.

I can sense something looming. I know this is going to come to a head, but I don’t know how. I can smell violence in the air, and I’m afraid for Samuel. Not really because I think they’ll hurt him even more than they already have, but because I think he’ll hurt them back even worse. I’m afraid he’ll do something, go too far, and he won’t be able to come back.

I’m stuck in the middle of all this, torn between two worlds, wishing I was never given this burden, but glad I got to meet one part of it at least.