She had on a black suit, with a few small adjustments. Instead of trying to diminish the way that her baby had increased in size, the tailored pantsuit fit her perfectly to show off her pregnancy. The waist rose a little higher than normal in order, almost, to proclaim it to the world. The white tucked-in shirt and loose tie made her look effortlessly cool and chic. And her black Louboutins made her feel powerful.
She was done hiding.
She and Antonio entered the lift that would take them to the boardroom, and he respected her need for silence as she gathered herself, preparing to give the speech that she’d spent all night on. She hadn’t had much sleep, but she didn’t need it. She was running on adrenaline and need. The need to do what she should have done eleven years ago.
When they arrived, they were ushered into the boardroom where around a table that sat twenty-four, only two chairs remained empty. Micha sat at the head of the table, his face utterly impassive, hiding his every thought from her.
While the gazes of her family ping-ponged between them, Antonio gestured her towards the seat at the direct opposite end of the table to her husband.
Antonio slipped into the seat beside her and she forced herself to take in, one by one, the faces of the men around the table. She felt Micha’s gaze on her, but she needed to do this first.
Her uncles, her cousins, their sons. Three generations of Gallos and she was the only woman.
She saw expectation on their faces. A little resentment. But a huge amount of satisfaction. As if they’d all been waiting for this from the very moment of her grandfather’s last breath. They were vultures and she hated every single one of them.
Her gaze rested on her father, who sat to her right. The man for whom neither she nor her mother had ever been good enough to capture his interest or attention, until now.
We’ll put you in as CEO.
And he’d thought that would make her fall in line.
He hadn’t ever really seen her, had he? He’d never realised what she had become in spite of him. Powerful, strong, dynamic and damn good at her job. She was so much more than just his daughter. She was a businesswoman. A wife. And a mother.
And it was time to protect her family.
‘We are here to cast a vote of confidence for or against the current CEO of Gallo Group,’ her father said to absolutely no one’s surprise. ‘I don’t see a reason to delay. I shall start the vote. No confidence,’ he said.
And one by one, up the length of the table, votes were cast.
No confidence, no confidence, no confidence.
And through every single vote, Maria held the gaze that Micha had locked on her. His expression, almost one of boredom and unchanging, until Antonio’s vote.
Full confidence.
Micha didn’t lift his eyes from hers, but he did blink. He hadn’t expected that, Maria realised with a spike of sadness for the friendship they’d once had. For the Three Musketeers that they’d once been.
But then it was her turn and every single set of eyes in the room looked to her in rabid expectation.
From a very young age, Micha had become adept at hiding his feelings and he doubted that anyone around the table would see anything more than a kind of lazy boredom. But beneath that outward display, was seething, gut-wrenching tension.
From the moment she’d left for the airport, he’d been reeling. For years he’d clung to the belief that she’d have done anything for Gallo Group. That she’d always have chosen it over him. But he realised in the silence left by her absence, that she’d been right. Hehadn’tgiven her a choice. Not really. He’d not had the confidence to trust that she’d pick him, and selectively he had chosen to frame that choice in a way that had set her up to fail. Because then and even now, he’d not really ever felt that she’d pick him. And no, she hadn’t fought for him, but he hadn’t fought for her either. He’d surrendered to his fears and she’d deserved better than that.
Now, his eyes locked on the woman he’d given his heart away to more than eleven years ago and wished he could go back in time to fix it.
‘Maria?’ her father said. ‘As CFO, how do you vote?’
‘With my family,’ she replied, and his heart flatlined.
From the corner of his eye, Micha saw the sickening smirk on her father’s face. He opened his mouth to say something, but Maria cut him off.
‘With Micha Rufina. My husband, the father of my child and the best CEO Gallo Group could have after Gio. With Micha Rufina,’ she repeated before adding, ‘the man I love.’
Gasps of shock and cries of frustration echoed out across the table at the same time as his heart soared back to life. He felt the pump of blood round his entire body and he would have sworn on a Bible that he’d heard his blood whoosh in his veins.
She loved him.
Beneath the table he fisted his hands to stop himself from sweeping everything aside and rushing over to her to take in his arms.
