A ripple went around the room. This was the kind of announcement that normally took six months of planning, not a single announcement without any forewarning.
“I will still remain the Langford Tech CFO,” I clarified, lifting my gaze to meet theirs. “But I’m choosing differently from now on. I have a wife. And we’re expecting our first child. They’re my priority, and I need to start acting like it.”
A couple phones buzzed and cameras clicked. Someone even whispered, “Is he crying?”
This moment would probably turn into a viral video, but I didn’t care. For the first time in my life, vulnerability wasn’t a liability. It was a promise.
When the meeting finally adjourned, Gage squeezed my forearm. “You did the right thing, Ethan.”
By the time I reached the elevator, my phone was vibrating nonstop. The news was already spreading faster than wildfire, but the only notification that mattered was the one waiting at the top. A text from my wife.
Callie
I saw the clip.
My pulse skyrocketed.
Her follow-up came seconds later.
Callie
That was a heck of a statement, in actions instead of words.
And another.
Callie
It meant more than you know.
It was a good thing I had nothing else scheduled for the remainder of the day because I wanted to get home to my wife. Now.
But when the elevator doors slid open to our penthouse, they revealed the one person who could shatter everything all over again.
My mother.
Margot stood in the entryway, her immaculate pearls and perfect lipstick making her fury look elegant instead of ridiculous.
“We need to talk,” she said coldly. “Right now. Before you ruin everything else.”
A cold bolt of fury shot through me. “How the hell did you get up here? Your access should’ve been revoked weeks ago.”
She lifted her chin, trying to look impervious, but the strain around her eyes was unmistakable. “It seems the staff still know who actually belongs here.”
Someone was going to lose their job over this, and she wouldn’t spare a moment of concern for whatever employee she’d manipulated to get through the doors.
I stepped fully inside, letting the elevator close behind me. “You shouldn’t be here.”
“Oh, please.” She waved a dismissive hand. “You announce to the world that your pregnant wife is your priority, you humiliate yourself in front of the board, and you expect me not to intervene?”
I hated that I was the reason she knew about the baby. Callie’s pregnancy had nothing to do with her. “Mother.”
She ignored the warning in my tone. “I’m here because you are being manipulated. If you weren’t so blinded by lust, you’d see exactly what that girl is doing to you.”
My jaw locked. “That girl is my wife.”
“She is using you,” Margot hissed, stepping closer. “Dangling a pregnancy like?—”
“Ethan?”
