Pride swelled in my chest even as I felt like hunting down their publicist and telling them to buy a fucking soul.
“I thought that’s what you’d say.” Hilary gestured to Christina. “Christina insists you’re invaluable to the company. I can’t argue that you’re very good at your job, Maia, but I do have to protect my company’s reputation. Iain and I will not be the people who ruin Pennington’s. I’m afraid I will need you to make that statement.”
“No.” Maia jutted her chin. “Go ahead and fire me. End the campaign. For all your talk of loyalty, Ms. Erstwhile, please do be a hypocrite and give into the minority of irrational voices who just happen to be louder than the masses. Punish the person who has given a decade of her life and sacrificed her personal privacy for this company just to appease a couple of morons on the internet.”
I squeezed her hand, wishing I could fucking whoop with joy at the sight of Maia letting go of her people-pleasing ways to stand up for herself. Christina bowed her head to look at her shoes, but I witnessed the smile she was trying to hide.
Hilary raised one eyebrow and pushed off the desk. Her cheeks flushed red, and she opened and shut her mouth. I could practically hear Maia’s heart pounding, and I rubbed a thumb over the pulse at her wrist, reminding her I was right there.
Finally, her boss crossed her arms over her chest. “While I don’t appreciate your tone, I can’t deny there’s truth in what you said.”
“Hilary,” Christina spoke up. “This will all blow over. As soon as they see the video of Maia walking down the aisle in her wedding dress and saying her vows to her ridiculously good-looking footballer fiancé, they’ll forget everything else. And our bridal sales will go up.”
She considered this while I kept my mouth shut about the fact that I was no longer a professional footballer. That was something we’d deal with later.
Hilary glanced among us all, her expression unreadable.
“Fine.” She nodded. “No response it is, then. But I am suggesting to marketing that we end the campaign after the wedding if the conversation keeps turning back to Maia’s family.”
Maia slumped against me, and I wrapped my arm around her. “So, we’re good?” I asked.
“We’re good. But I expect you back in the office tomorrow, Maia.”
She nodded. “I’ll be here.”
“Right, well, I have a business to run …” Hilary waved in a shooing gesture.
Maia thanked her and I walked her out with Christina at our backs.
“I hope your family is okay, Maia,” her boss said as we walked toward the lifts.
“Thank you, Christina. For everything.”
She raised a dismissive hand. “I told you my reasons. And to be clear, I don’t hold anyone’s family against them.”
“My dad is a good man,” Maia said instantly, tone brittle.
Christina nodded. “I have a younger sister. I don’t know what I’d do if someone hurt her, so I understand.”
“Thanks,” Maia whispered. “I just … I hate that everyone knows their private business. I hope my aunt Shannon can forgive me.”
“Go to your family. I’ll see you in the office tomorrow.”
Guiding Maia into the lifts, I was about to tell her how proud I was of her when an arm appeared to block the doors from closing.
An out-of-breath young woman with blond hair that ombré’d into pastel pink stood there, eyes wide. “Maia.”
“Liza?” Maia pulled away from me. “Are you okay?”
Liza stepped onto the lift with us and the doors closed. I knew she was Maia’s assistant buyer and that there had been some weirdness between her and My because of Becky.
“I wanted you to know that it was me.” She pressed a button so the lift couldn’t descend.
Confused, I watched Maia note the move and ask cautiously, “What was you?”
“I was the one who told Christina about Becky emailing that journalist.”
Wait, what had I missed?
