She nodded, not noticing the tension that exuded from him as she chewed on her fingernail with a scowl still on her face. “Of course I did. We sent out that update two days ago. We thought it would get the excitement going, and the response has been phenomenal.”
He muttered a curse under his breath, which caused her to turn her head.
“I know, right? Why would they do that? Don’t they realize that agreeing to come only to change their mind is really suspicious? I can’t even imagine what the guests are going to say when they find out. This could really blow up in our faces.” Her face flushed red, and she groaned as she dragged her hands down her cheeks. “What am I supposed to say?”
Noah couldn’t utter a single word. He’d assumed that Jonathan would have told Jane right after their meeting, but apparently,it hadn’t been at the top of his list. His meeting had been on Monday, and today was Thursday. She’d sent out the update on Tuesday.
He should be livid—utterly and completely rageful that his employees had messed this up for him so badly. But all he could feel was worry. For Jane. For himself. For his charity. For his relationship. What was this going to mean in the long run?
Jane was right.
If he didn’t show up after saying he would, then the people who trusted his company would start to look closer at the fact that they didn’t know the identity of the generous man behind the mask. But if he did show up, then Jane would be let in on his biggest secret. Both options would mean his life would change.
She glanced over at him and offered him a small smile. “You know what? This is all my fault. The email they just sent says that there was a mistake in the first response. I knew it wasn’t likely that whoever it was would come. And yet I just accepted the email at face value. I should have just waited until the night of to announce to everyone that we’d be having a special guest.”
Emotion brimmed in her eyes, and Noah wanted nothing more than to tell her everything right here and now. If he did, maybe she’d understand why he couldn’t come. It wasn’t just about a secret he was keeping from her, anyway. This was about keeping his second life a secret from people who would want to hurt or manipulate him. Trusting people was hard these days.
He reached over to her and took her hand in his. She looked so upset, and he needed to take away that pain, seeing as he was the one who caused it. “Maybe…” he hedged, “they will change theirminds again.” That definitely wasn’t going to happen, but he was her boyfriend, and it was what he was supposed to say.
Jane scoffed. “Honestly, the flip-flopping would be worse than just leaving it the way it is.”
“Don’t be so sure about that.” Noah cleared his throat, dropping his gaze to their interlocked fingers. “This is business. And businessmen realize when they’re in jeopardy of losing something special. If changing their minds on this gets the uproar you think it will, they might have no other choice.” He prayed that she wouldn’t hear the lie in his voice. Jane would get over this. She’d move on to something else. The event was still a month out. Eventually, she’d forget about this embarrassment.
And if she didn’t?
Well, he wasn’t willing to think about that.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Jane fumedwhen she read the email she’d received last night. It had been two weeks of back and forth with the representative of The Wounded Heroes Project. Two weeks of her trying to express how it would be in their best interest to have the whole board present—including the CEO.
Two weeks of not only pleading for them to reconsider, but also using logic. News had spread throughout the invitees that the CEO would not in fact be unveiling himself. And she had lost track of how many times she’d received emails demanding that she change things.
This wasn’t up to her. She wanted to scream at the computer—at the entitled people who thought they could just threaten her so she would bend to their will.
If this experience had taught her anything, it was that the entitlement of this demographic of people was far above and beyond what she’d given them credit for.
Not only were the guests making demands, but the one person they wanted to see refused to come out of hiding.
She glared at her computer. They weren’t going to change their minds. They have policies in place that prevented the CEO from attending—whatever that meant.
“You okay?”
Jane’s head snapped up from where she sat at her official desk. The Wounded Heroes Project had finally given her space to do her work. It wasn’t the biggest space. In fact, it was more like a closet than anything else, but it did have some natural light from the rectangular windows overhead.
Noah was leaning against the doorframe, his arms folded and looking just as handsome as ever. Her heart did a little flutter at the look he was giving her—like he wanted to kiss her until her legs buckled and she couldn’t hold herself upright anymore.
The only sign that he was concerned was in the crease between his eyes. Everything else about him screamed just how much he adored her. When she shook her head, that smirk on his lips faded, and he strode into the office. “What’s going on? It’s not the event, is it?”
“What else could it be?” she huffed. “They’re not listening to me.”
“What do you mean?” His voice took on a more guarded quality. It was uncharacteristic, and she paused to stare at him with confusion. Was he dealing with something, too?
Jane shook off that thought. Noah had a protective streak in him. Whenever she was upset, he’d come to her aid and do what he could to comfort her. When she’d first found out that the CEO wasn’t attending, he’d tried to make her feel better. But the longer this dragged out, the more irritated he seemed to become.
She could understand that irritation. She felt it, too.
Jane snapped her laptop closed and huffed out a breath. “This Thomas Dalton, whoever he is, told me that I need to stop reaching out about this issue. The decision has been made. It doesn’t matter how many times I tell them that the guests they depend on for donations are upset. They won’t give in to my request.”
