“Well, be that as it may, Ina did nothing wrong,” I insisted. “She’s an excellent employee who happened to be put in an impossible situation by her boss’s poor judgment.”
“That’s very noble,” Patricia said dryly. “But it doesn’t solve our problem. We have an employee who was in a romantic relationship with the CEO. The optics are terrible.”
“I don’t care about optics.”
“Well, you should.” Alex’s voice was cold. “Because we do. The board has a responsibility to shareholders. And if this becomes public—if there’s even a whisper that the CEO was playing favorites with someone he was sleeping with—people will want answers. Investors will lose confidence.”
“Then we’ll deal with it,” I said. “But firing Ina won’t protect the stock price.”
“This isn’t a request, Dane.” Patricia’s voice was ice. “The board has the authority to make these decisions.”
“I own fifty-one percent of this company.”
“Of a public company,” Alex corrected. “Which means you have a board of directors who have a fiduciary duty to all shareholders. And if we determine that your personal life is affecting your judgment to the detriment of the company, we can vote to remove you as CEO.”
I was about sick of that threat.
“Look, we’re not trying to be the bad guys here. We’re trying to protect the company you built. But you need to understand the position you’ve put us in. You need to understand what’s at stake.”
I looked at Norma, who had been silent through most of the meeting.
“Dane didn’t admit to actually dating Ms. Lavin,” Norma said. “He said it stopped being just for show. That could mean anything—that they became friends, that the lines blurred, that there was chemistry but no actual relationship. Right, Dane?”
She was giving me an out.
All I had to do was lie.
Again.
But I was so fucking tired of lying.
“No,” I said. “We were actually together. We are together.” I looked directly at Patricia, then Alex. “Heidi’s campaign worked so well that I fell in love with my assistant. Which, if you think about it, is exactly the point of Cupid’s Arrow. Finding connection in unexpected places.”
“That’s a lovely sentiment,” Patricia said. “But it doesn’t change the facts.”
“You’re not firing Ina,” I said and I used my big boy voice that meant I wasn’t messing around. “Because she did nothing wrong except have the misfortune of working for someone who fell in love with her.”
The tension in the room was suffocating.
Norma cleared her throat. “I might have a solution.”
Everyone turned to look at her.
“The matchmaking department,” she said. “We’ve been talking about separating it from IT, giving it its own budget and leadership.”
“What does that have to do with this situation?” Patricia asked.
“Ina would be perfect to run it.” Norma pulled up something on her laptop. “She knows the company inside and out. She knows the matchmakers. She understands the business and the mission. She has the organizational skills to build a department from scratch.”
“You want to give her a promotion?” Alex’s voice was incredulous. His face was so red I was worried he would blow a gasket. “After all this?”
“I want to give her a job she’s qualified for,” Norma corrected. “A job that removes any conflict of interest because she’d no longer be reporting to Dane. It’s a job we need to fill. It makes sense to hire someone who can hit the ground running. She’d be a department head, same level as Heidi and Lucas and Henry. Completely separate from the CEO’s office.”
I could see where she was going with this, and a small spark of hope flickered in my chest.
“That’s still a conflict of interest,” Patricia said. “She’s dating the CEO.”
“According to company policy, dating between employees in different departments is permitted as long as it’s disclosed to HR and doesn’t affect business decisions,” Norma said. “We have three couples currently working here who are in different departments. It’s not unusual.”
