Chapter 29
Nicole
Myles, Victoria and I walked into the Murrin International corporate headquarters in downtown Chicago. It was exactly two months to the day since I gave birth to my son, and just over a month since Myles got out of prison.
I had no idea how he pulled off staying with me while I gave birth to our son, but I will forever be grateful. A million things could've gone wrong but he did it anyway. There really wasn't anything he wasn't willing to do for me. I couldn't even describe how good it felt knowing that.
There was no hope for me, I was his completely and forever.
“You're sure you're feeling up for this, Nicole?” Victoria asked, pressing the elevator door ‘hold’ button for us to step in. She and I worked closely together these last few weeks, and I was surprised to say that it was a great experience. In our time together I've come to understand her a little better. When Victoria is immersed in work, everything makes sense to her and she's able to relax. Despite being rough around the social edges, in a work setting Victoria is receptive, helpful, open, and—gasp—borderline pleasant.
Crazy, I know!
The three of us had spent most of the last month finishing our preparations for today's board meeting. Victoria meticulously combed through both Illinois and New York Law, while secretly consulting with shareholders and Board Members. Myles had been relentlessly chasing leads from his prison contact, and I gathered and compiled all the evidence we found. I was laid off at the end of the school year, so it felt good to do something important again.
“There is nowhere in the world I'd rather be right now.” I pressed the button for the executive floor. My part in this was done. I wasn't required to be here but I really, really wanted to be. After everything Silas had done to all of us, I needed to see what happened first hand.
The home front had gotten much better as well. Mom was able to go back to the house. She was feeling much better, but it would take her a long time to heal from all the smoke inhalation, and the severe burns on her legs and back. She was already able to walk around and do very light housework, and of course, terrorize my father.
She was watching Malcolm for us today while we paid Silas a surprise visit.
“That's my girl. We couldn't deprive her of the look on that smug motherfucker's face when it all falls apart.” Myles's smile beamed in the reflection of the closing doors. He slipped a hand around my waist and pulled me close.
Being apart for so long made me relish every second of the pressure against him. It was so good to see him in a suit again. Myles looked amazing and was in great spirits. It wasn't just the crisp, gray Armani he was wearing; it was his whole outlook.
He was such a changed man.
The one-night-stand Myles of almost a year ago never would've helped with two a.m. feedings or changed a diaper. That charming mischievousness I had fallen for had evolved into something just as playfully devious, but far more nurturing. I could barely believe how good he was with our son; it actually made me a little envious at times.
Our son. I loved, loved, loved that!
I was so worried that neither of us would be ready for something as huge as a baby, but here we were. We weren't superheroes at parenting, but we hadn't imploded either. In fact, I think we've been doing a pretty damn good job!
“Very well,” Victoria said, with customary detachment as she stepped through the opening elevator doors. The main meeting room was one floor beneath Silas's office.
“One for good luck,” Myles jammed a hand against the door gap to keep them from closing then pressed his lips against mine. The kiss threatened to knock me off my feet. He smelled like light cologne and tasted like toasted coconut and heaven. “Three more,” he said between kisses, “also for good luck.”
“Mmm,” I moaned, sliding a hand across his ribs and back. We couldn't have sex when he was released from prison because I was still recovering from giving birth. I had been exercising like a mad woman to burn off the extra sexual energy. It helped, but it wasn't nearly enough. I had walked in on him once when he just stepped out of the shower, he was all wet and naked and shredded... I lost my damn mind and had to go for a jog.
Victoria cleared her throat loudly. “We have someone's day to ruin and it would be impolite to keep him waiting.”
Myles bit my lip, then pulled away, smiling. I nearly swooned at the pressure and at the look he gave me, as heat flooded down my body and threatened to catch my panties on fire. I fanned myself, then left the elevator exhaling.
“Yes!” I shook off my mounting excitement. Damn you, Myles! I shifted the briefcase I was carrying to my other hand and forced myself to focus on the task before us. “Let's do that. Whatever it was that you just said.”
It was a short walk to the main meeting room. The whole floor was awash with activity. Murrin employees bustled about, ignorantly unaware of the massive changes that were about to take place.
“Uh, hi, Ma'am. Excuse me?” The receptionist, another high school cheerleader type, this time of the brunette variety, tried to stop us from walking into the glass-walled meeting room. Marcy, the bleached-blond toddler from last time we were her was nowhere to be found. It disgusted me at how frequently Silas must go through interns. “I'm sorry, you can't go in there. It's for shareholders only.”
The receptionist worriedly riffled through her email traffic; she was probably told that all the shareholders had arrived either in person or by proxy.
“Look under 'Quill', you should find three names,” Victoria remarked, dismissively, as she opened the opaque glass doors.
Three names?
Myles saw the look of confusion on my face and only offered a sly wink in response. I felt a renewed heat take hold of me but this time it stayed up near my heart. Nicole Quill, I really liked the sound of that.
Their conference room layout was much different than that of Quill Corp. Instead of having a giant U-shaped table with a screen for presentations at the opening, theirs was a long dark wood rectangle with two rows of tables and chairs to either side. The room was easily twice as big as the one Victoria and Myles had back in their old building, and every seat was full.
The woman speaking on the far side of the room by their own bay-window-sized screen stopped her presentation at our abrupt disturbance.
“What's all this?” A thin, old man stood up and looked down his thick-rimmed glasses at us. Adam Smith. Victoria told me about him. She said that he was a duplicitous thorn in her side for years now. It made perfect sense that he would have jumped ship and switched sides toward the end.
“Greetings, everyone,” Victoria didn't bother to hide her disdain toward Adam by ignoring him, instead she addressed the group as a whole. The hushed whispering of dozens of conversations erupted all around us. Victoria had already talked with most of the people in the room, so they had some idea as to what was about to happen.
Victoria nodded for me to begin. I placed the briefcase on the nearest table, opened it, and then began handing out the stack of manila folders to everyone in attendance.
Silas was reclined in his chair at the head of the long table. He straightened with confusion and regarded us with a deadly curiosity. His eyes landed heavily on each of us as he tried to discern what our play was. We were shareholders in Murrin in the same way that he had been in Myles's company, so we had every right to be here.
The question was why would we even bother showing up?
“What brings you here?” Silas's curiosity had finally gotten the better of him. “The paperwork was signed and finalized, Quill Corp is in the final death throes of a hostile takeover. There was no way for you to stop your family's company from being absorbed.”
“We're not here to stop anything,” Victoria announced, then addressed the shareholders, “as most of you know already.”
“Ah, so you want to see how a real company is run, Victoria?” Silas finally rose from his chair. “Oh! And before I forget. Myles, I had to cancel that charity foundation you were working on. It doesn't fit with the new direction I want to take your company in. No hard feelings? Great.”
Silas met Myles's hard stare and grinned sharply, much to the unease of every other person there. It was a silent sparring match between two ex-best friends turned bitter enemies. It was Silas that broke the silence first.
“Samantha, have maintenance bring up a few plastic folding chairs.” Silas called his receptionist through the intercom near his seat, then swept a patronizing hand toward the three of us that were standing. “In the interim, please help yourself to a snack.”
“Don't bother with the chair.” Myles plucked a scone from one of the table's several pastry trays and took a bite. He made everyone wait until he chewed and swallowed before pointing at the head of the table and continuing, “We'll just take that one. It'll be vacant soon anyway.”
Silas's eyes narrowed at the thinly-veiled threat. The battle between two titans like Myles and Silas wouldn't be fought physically. They were generals in opposing armies. Silas's weapons were legacy and the pensions and security of thousands of his employees, whereas Myles fought with dangerous connections and the threat of unraveling hidden, bloody truths.
“What is that,” Silas gestured flippantly, at my stack of folders. “Bring that here!”
I refused. He would see the contents soon enough.
Having just finished handing out folders to this half of the room, I turned my back to him and started making my way over to the other side. Silas sprang forward and reached for me while I wasn't paying attention. He was too close and the heels I was wearing weren’t designed for dexterous escapes. There was no way for me to get out of the way in time.
Myles anticipated that and snatched Silas's hand out of the air. He had been walking near me the whole time just in case something like this happened.
“You shouldn't touch her. God knows where those hands have been.” Myles threatened, knowingly. Once I was done handing the folders out, everyone in the room would know exactly what their CEO had been up to this past year.
“You here to beat me up again?” Silas ripped his hand away from Myles, then spread his arms in an attempt to goad Myles into attacking him again. “You like prison that much?”
“It was transformative.” Myles stepped between Silas and I, protecting me as I walked away, then he wisely stuffed his hands in his pockets. “You'll see.”
“My brother and I, in full compliance with both state and federal law, in addition to Murrin International's own by-laws, hereby call a vote of no confidence against our current CEO Silas Murrin.”
“On what grounds, bitch!” Silas stepped to the side and jerked the manila folder from the hands of someone sitting nearby. Pages of catalogued evidence spilled across the floor. They detailed his plans of gentrification in Chicago, and linked him directly to the fires that destroyed low income housing, in addition to small businesses like my father's. There were also names and irrefutable proof that he commissioned the assassinations of others who wouldn't sell or play along.
“You want us to start with attempted murder, or should we end with that? Bribery, blackmail, coercion — It's a long list,” I snapped back at him. Because of him I'd been labeled a whore and constantly harassed for months, but for that I was content to just watch him be brought down. I wasn't going to say anything, but after all the pain and anguish he'd caused my parents, especially my mother, I couldn't help myself from speaking up.
The atmosphere in the room shifted dramatically to one of disgust as people read the evidence for themselves. Of all the time I spent researching and putting together documents in college, this was by far my finest achievement yet.
“Wait, wait, hold on a second.” Silas scooped up the papers, looking frazzled. “There has to be something we can do here, right?” He looked around the room trying to find people to appeal to. Each person averted their eyes under his desperate glare. “I—I have a lot of money. I can make everyone in this room insanely rich! We can make a deal.”
The intercom began buzzing softly by the head of the desk. When it went unanswered, shareholders' cell phones began to ring. The front desk was probably trying to reach anyone they could. The tone in the room shifted again, this time to personal concern. The word liability was being thrown around an awful lot.
Silas's vast wealth wasn't even worth a second look anymore. Everyone knew Silas was a sinking ship and they didn't want to be on it when he went down for good.
“Adam, we're leaving,” Silas called out to the elderly man as he loosened his tie. The thought of prison closing in around him must've made him feel claustrophobic.
“No. It wasn't supposed to be like this,” Adam hesitated, as he reviewed the detailed folder of evidence. His leathery face had gone ashen white. He addressed Victoria. “After Nicole's video appeared on the internet I agreed to help Silas buy Quill Corp, but I-I didn't know any of this.” Adam shook the folder indignantly. “I swear it, Victoria. I didn't know!”
“You might escape prison, Adam, but you haven't escaped me.” Victoria's threat sent a shiver up my spine.
Adam Smith was the kind of man whose whole identity was attached to his position, and his only ambition was to keep progressing. He had finally risen to the ranks of vice president under Silas, and now Victoria had made it her goal to strip that, and everything else, away from him.
Once Victoria decided on something, there was no force on earth that could change it.
“Give it up, Silas.” Myles smiled. “From the sound of things, the cops are already on their way up. I had my chauffeur drop off a copy of this paperwork to the police station after we arrived here.” Myles leaned in close to his ex-friend and lowered his voice so only a few of us could hear. “Those convicts are going to eat you alive. You're going to need to get into a fight right away when you hit gen pop. Otherwise, a pretty boy like you is going to get his shit pushed in.”
“Mr. Murrin, sir?” The frail voice of the brunette receptionist filtered in through the chaos. Her head poked into the cracked meeting room doors right beside me. I was startled at her sudden appearance. No one else paid her any mind until she mentioned that the police were in the building and on their way up to speak with Silas.
“I believe this is the end for you, Mr. Murrin.” Victoria stated with ice cold professionalism. “I hope you enjoy your lengthy stay in prison.”
“Fine. To hell with all of you!” Silas's face twisted with rage. He shoved past several shareholders and yelled at the receptionist who was waiting patiently for more orders. “Samantha have the pilot start the helicopter.”
Silas slipped past Myles and barreled toward the doors. I was standing at the back of the room, and was the only obstacle between Silas and his escape. I never liked physical confrontation, it always frightened me, but then I thought of what that son-of-a-bitch did to my Mom, and to Myles.
I would never forgive myself if I stepped out of Silas's way.
Silas was running through so many plans in his head that he didn't even see me until he was practically on top of me. There was shouting, but, even at a full run, Myles was too far away to help me this time. Silas reached for me. I didn't know if it was to strike me, shove me out of the way or take me as a hostage.
But I wasn't going to stand there and let him decide my fate. I was going to make my son proud.
I took one big step toward the charging lunatic and kicked as hard as I could. Even with heels on it was a solid hit. Silas screamed so loudly that you'd think I kicked his balls up into his throat. His momentum carried him right past me and into the one closed meeting room door. The force of the blow against the door spiderwebbed the glass, and instantly knocked Silas unconscious.
Myles swept me up into a big hug and scolded me for risking myself like that. Behind the concern there was also an intense pride in his blue eyes. Myles was impressed. “I didn't know you had that in you. Malcolm and I better stay on your good side.” He smiled warmly.
“Damn right.” I tried acting tough, but my adrenaline started to subside, and pain shot up the top of my foot from the kick. I groaned, slipping out of my heel and rubbing my foot. “Ow ow ow. I think my soccer career is over.”
Myles's smile deepened at the joke. “How ‘bout I give you a massage later?” Then he whispered in my ear with the smoothness of warm silk, “a full body massage.”
“Yes, please,” I whispered back. His sexy promise riddled me with crackling excitement. It had been far too long since he'd been able to really touch me.
Several minutes later the elevator doors opened and police flooded into this floor's foyer. They took everyone's statement, then carried Silas Murrin into custody. That would be the last time I ever saw that piece human of trash in-person. It was going to be a lengthy trial, but both Myles and Victoria were going to aggressively pursue it. There would be no slap on the wrist for Silas.
He would spend the rest of his life behind bars.