I lingered in front of Evelyn’s desk, not wanting to go through with it.

I hated this plan. I hated every part of it, even though I couldn’t see a better way out. I hashed it out with Evelyn all the night before, and Emily even came up to offer her opinion. Neither of them wanted me to do it, but they both understood why I felt like I had to. As far as I could tell, there were no other good choices. No matter what I did, someone got hurt and something got destroyed. This was just the path that hurt the fewest people, and even gave me some measure of revenge.

Still, it was a disgusting and worthless thing to do. I was going to hold my nose and go through with it, but that didn’t mean I was going to like it.

“You’ll be okay,” Evelyn said.

“I know. I’ll get through it.”

“He’ll gloat. He’ll be an ass. But you’ll survive.” She grinned at me. “And then you’ll get your revenge.”

“I can handle the gloating and shit,” I said. “It’s the fact that he’s going to think he won that bothers me.”

“That’s okay, Carter. This is just one small thing in a larger plan. Once this is over, you can go on living your life and leave this all in the past.” She shrugged. “Who knows, maybe you’ll start a new company as good as Valor or better.”

“That’s unlikely,” I said. “I’m too old these days.”

“Old,” she scoffed. “You’re barely in your thirties.”

“I’m mid-thirties,” I pointed out.

“Doesn’t matter. You’re a baby. You’ll do something great.”

I smiled at her and nodded. “You’re right as always.”

“Good. You’re learning.”

“Learning what?”

“Your wife is always right.”

I laughed. “Says the gay woman to the straight man.”

She grinned. “Figured it out?”

“Emily told me.”

“I knew you’d never notice on your own.”

“What can I say, that sort of thing doesn’t matter to me.”

“Sure. That and you’re totally oblivious.”

I rolled my eyes. “Okay, okay. I’m about to go eat shit for a few minutes, so lay off.”

“That’s fair. Good luck. Try not to swallow.”

“Don’t worry. I never swallow shit.” I nodded, waved, and headed to the elevators.

The board was called into an emergency session the night before by Bruce and me. Only part of the board was going to be present, but there would be enough people to form a quorum and to make all business official.

There was no avoiding this part. If I wanted to do what I had to do, I was going to have to get up in front of the board and resign.

Resigning from my own company was the last thing I wanted to do, and I kept thinking about all of the sacrifices I made over the years as I rode the elevator toward the boardroom.

I missed out on a normal adolescence. I was too busy starting a company as a kid to really have a lot of close friends. Because of that, I still didn’t have many close relationships, and a lot of what I did have were based on work. My life had been Valor Tech from the very beginning, even back before Valor was a thing. I worked my ass off in those early days and barely did anything but code and market that code to whoever would look at it. I got lucky and all that hard work paid off, but there were many sleepless nights where I thought that would never be the case.

Many, many good things came of Valor. I got laid, found myself, gave millions to charity, and traveled the world. People knew my name because of Valor. For every sacrifice, there were probably two or three benefits, and that was why I didn’t want to let it go.

Valor defined who I was. Running the company, or at least engaging in research and development gave me a sense of purpose. It was my whole life, and now I was about to step away from my life into uncertainty. I hadn’t been unsure of what I was going to do in a very, very long time.

I wasn’t saying it out loud, but Emily was the reason for all of this. I knew it, she knew it, and Evelyn knew it. If I was ever going to have a chance at a normal relationship with her, I was going to have to step away from Valor and give up on that part of my life. Things had gotten too bad, too complicated, too fucking broken. I could sit around and fight all I wanted, but eventually Bruce was going to somehow find a way to destroy me, or worse, to destroy Emily.

I couldn’t let that happen. Maybe a stronger man would fight harder to keep his company, but I thought I was making the realistic, most difficult sacrifice imaginable. What I was doing was honorable and noble and right. I was giving up a dying dream in exchange for love, which was something I never imagined for myself.

I always thought it was a cliché, love. I never thought that would be something I’d have in my life. I always figured people with nothing else fell in love to fill the empty hole in themselves. But now I was realizing that love was much more than just some emotion. It was a way of life, if you let it be. It was family and comfort and warmth, all of the things I had been lacking in my life up to this point. I had money, lots and lots of money, and I’d still have tons of it after I stepped down. I’d be rich for the rest of my life even if I tried to give it all away. But without Emily, I’d never have a family or children or anything that really gave a life meaning and joy.

Some people didn’t need that stuff, and that was okay. Personally, I knew that a family was what I wanted and needed, and Emily showed that to me.

The doors slid open and I stepped out. Ahead, the boardroom door was open a crack, and I could hear voices filtering out into the hall.

“...we here, anyway?”

“He had something important to say.”

“You know why. He’s finally stepping down and letting us run this company the way it should be run.”

I stepped into the room and all eyes were on me. I recognized these men, knew them and worked with them and fought against them. Bruce, with a smug grin on his face, sat on the far side of the room with his allies. I almost turned around and left at the sight of that smile, but I knew I had to eat shit and get it over with.

“That’s right.” I said to the room. “I’m stepping down, effective immediately.”

There was a general murmur. Nelson Pitts gave me a sad look, shaking his head, and a few of the men wanted to know why. I slowly walked to the front of the room and waited for silence to fall over the group.

For his part, Bruce didn’t say a word. He didn’t celebrate or do anything other than smile at me, that smug and empty smile. In some ways, that was almost worse.

“This has been a long time coming,” I said. “Valor has grown a lot, and I haven’t been as central to the company as I once was. I created it, established it, and grew it all on my own. I did more for this company than any one of you ever will. But there comes a time when life changes, and I knew that we’ve reached that point. I’m no longer needed at Valor, and it’s time to let someone else take over guiding this ship.”

“What about your shares?” Bruce called out suddenly. I still had a controlling share in Valor, and even if I stepped down from my position, I still was a board member.

“I’m going to sell them off,” I said. “I will retain a twenty percent stake, but I will no longer have a voice on this board.”

More murmuring, I could tell that everyone was surprised at this turn of events. They likely figured I’d step down, but not that I’d sell off my stock and give up my controlling stake.

“Please,” I said. “There’s more.” Silence fell again and I pointed at Bruce Walker. “As you all know, this man hates me. He has campaigned against me tirelessly for years to have me removed. Now, he has finally succeeded.” More murmuring, this time angry from his camp, but I spoke louder.

“He employed a scorched earth policy and obtained some materials which he has been using to blackmail me. I’m stepping down in large part because of that blackmail.”

“Lies!” one of his allies called out.

“Slander, it’s all slander,” someone else said.

“Gentleman, please,” Bruce called out. “He’s just upset that he finally lost.”

Some laughter from his camp.

“I can’t prove it to any of you,” I said. “However, you all know Bruce. You’ve all worked with him closely over these years. Ask yourself, really ask yourself: how far will he go to get what he wants?”

I let that sink in for a moment, looking over every member one after the other. Finally, I landed on Bruce and that smug smile.

“What comes next is your fault, Walker,” I said. “And it’s going to hurt.”

The members began to talk loudly at that point, but I wasn’t listening anymore. I dropped my letter of resignation on the table and left the room as the roar of the board followed me out.

“Carter!” I turned back and saw Nelson following me to the elevators. “Carter, wait. What are you doing?”

“Exactly what I said I’m doing.”

“Is it true? Is he really blackmailing you?”

I nodded. “Yes.”

“We can get through that. Let me help you.”

“Thanks, Nelson,” I said, smiling. He had always been a staunch ally and a good man. “But I can’t do it. If I were you, I’d start selling off your stock as soon as possible.”

“Why?”

I checked my watch then smiled at him. “Because I have an interview with a reporter at the New York Times in twenty minutes, and it’s not going to go well for Valor Tech.”

The elevator doors dinged and opened. He said nothing as I stepped inside. I smiled at him as the doors closed, and felt vindicated.

* * *

“How much of this is true?”

Paul Bush wore wire-rimmed glasses, a clean white oxford shirt, and pressed khakis. He shook his head at the documents, his eyebrows raised in astonishment.

“All of it,” I said. “As you can see.”

“Why would you give this to me? It’s decades worth of financial documents and more . . . the sort of stuff I shouldn’t ever see.”

“I want the world to know what Valor has been doing all these years.”

“There’s nothing illegal in here, from what I can tell.”

“No,” I agreed. “There’s not.” I looked at Evelyn.

“You’ll find some interesting things happening in some interesting gray areas,” she said. “Things regarding people’s privacy.”

Paul shook his head, clearly blown away. “I don’t understand why you’d want to destroy your own company, Carter.”

“It’s not my company. This morning, I sold my majority share and as of an hour ago, I stepped down from my position. For all intents and purposes, I’m a private citizen now.”

Paul rubbed his eyes. “This is going to take a while.”

“I understand.”

“And it’s going to reflect poorly on you.” He paused. “Personally.”

“I know that, too,” I said, smiling.

“So why do you seem so happy about it?”

“Because I’m going to torch this fucking place and take what I really want.”

Evelyn couldn’t help but smile on that, but it only made Paul that much more confused.

“Okay, okay. So you want to bring this company down for whatever reason. I’m sure you’re breaking some kind of law, but we’ll see about that. Either way, you’ll be sued like crazy and are probably going to spend years in court and spend millions on defense. Okay, fine. You said there was one more thing I should know?”

“Oh, right,” I said, grinning. “Evie, do you want to tell him or should I?”

“Our marriage is a sham!” she blurted out.

Paul stared at her then looked back at me. “What?”

I cracked up and Evelyn leaned back in her chair, releasing a deep breath. “Oh god, I’ve been wanting to yell that for so long,” she said. “It’s been, what, a couple months? Feels like forever.”

“Oh thanks,” I said. “Being married to me isn’t so bad.”

“Yes, it was,” she said.

“You two aren’t really married?” Paul asked.

“We are,” I said. “But we only married because I needed to start looking more responsible in the press. It was a publicity thing.”

“Jesus,” he said. “You’re really shooting yourself in the foot here. I feel like I should turn off my tape recorder.”

“Wait, there’s more,” I said, grinning huge.

“Seriously, Carter. Think about what you’re doing.”

“I’m in love with Evie’s daughter, Emily.”

He gaped at me. “Your stepdaughter?”

“I guess so,” I said. “Since the marriage was a sham, we never saw each other that way.”

“So you’re fake married to her mother, but really in love with this Emily girl?”

“That’s right. That’s for real.”

“This is some twisted stuff,” he said, shaking his head. “You know I’m not a gossip columnist, right? I can leave the relationship stuff out.”

“Don’t,” I said. “Give the story to someone that does that sort of thing if you have to.”

“Are you sure you want this out?”

“I’ve never been so sure of anything in my life.”

“Okay then.” He shook his head and closed up the files, putting them into a neat pile. He stood up. “I’m going to head out and go through all this. Someone will be in touch with follow-up questions about the, uh, personal stuff. And I’ll be in touch about this stuff.”

“Sounds good, Paul. Thanks for coming out on short notice.”

“No problem.” We shook hands and he left. I watched him go and knew that my old life was dead, very dead and gone, and nothing would bring it back. Not anymore.

I went full nuclear. Not only did I resign, but I also went public with my relationship stuff.

“How do you feel?” Evelyn asked.

“I don’t know,” I said. “Fine, I think.”

“There’s a lot of fallout coming your way.”

“I know that.”

“Let me go get her so you two can talk.”

“Thanks.”

Evelyn stood up and left my office. Emily was out in the lobby, waiting to be let in. I called her right after I resigned from the board and she came straight over, wanting to talk to me about it, but I had to meet with Paul first.

Now it was finished. Everything was out in the open and I couldn’t do a damn thing about it. From the beginning, I thought all that I wanted was my company back under my control and to defeat Bruce.

Instead, I found something so much more important, something I didn’t even know that I needed.

She came into the office, looking nervous.

Emily was what I needed. As soon as I saw her, I knew the truth. I needed more out of my life than just an office and money and power. I needed a person, a partner, a woman, someone that drove me crazy and made me want to be better. She made me want to do the right thing, both for her and for the world.

“Are you okay?” she asked.

Instead of answering, I walked around my desk, took her hips, and kissed her.

She kissed me back, her hands lingering on my face. Slowly we broke apart and I smiled at her. “I’m perfect.”

“Mom told me.”

“The world is going to know now.”

“I don’t care about that. What about your company?”

“Not mine anymore.”

“But you built it. You founded it.”

“Doesn’t matter.”

“Carter. It matters.”

“No,” I said to her. “It doesn’t. All that matters to me is the future, and Emily, you’re my future. Do you understand? You’re my future. I couldn’t have everything, not in this situation. It was my fault that I let it get to this point, and I couldn’t let you and your mother suffer for my past mistakes. I did what I had to do to make it right.”

“Carter,” she said softly. “Are you sure?”

“I’m very sure. There’s going to be a huge media frenzy soon, but I promise I’ll keep you safe. We’ll hole up in my mansion, ride it out together.”

She laughed. “Who says I want to be locked in that stupid house with you?”

I grinned at her, kissing her again softly. “Too bad. You’re mine now, and you always will be.”

“Yes, sir,” she said, laughing.

I couldn’t have what I really wanted without making sacrifices. Maybe that was difficult for me to see before, but it was plain as day to me now. I had to sacrifice my company if I was going to have Emily.

Releasing financial information about Valor was more for my own revenge, though. There wasn’t enough in there to prosecute anyone, but there sure as hell was enough to embarrass the whole company. Stocks were going to take a huge dive and the company might never recover after all of this comes to light. If Bruce hadn’t taken all those papers and notebooks from my room, I probably would have had enough to get them all thrown in prison.

As it stood, I was going to have to be okay with embarrassing the fuck out of them and watching them all squirm.

It didn’t matter now, though. I was done with Valor, done with it all. I had Emily and whatever future we had together was completely up to us.

I was starting a new life with her. I was starting the only life I needed.

“Come on,” I said, taking off my tie and tossing it aside. “Let’s get out of here.”

“Wait,” she said. “Think you’ll ever come back?”

“Nope. I’m done with this place.”

“What about my mom?”

“I’ll get her a better job. Don’t worry about that.”

She sighed. “You’re an ass, you know that, Carter?”

“Sure am.” I grinned at her. “Come on.”

We walked out together, leaving my office. We walked past Evelyn, waving, and headed down the hall, the same hall I’d walked through thousands of times over the years. We passed break rooms, meeting rooms, cubicles, places that I had a million experiences, some of the best days of my life.

I kept my eyes on Emily and I never once looked back.