“Choose your next words very carefully.” Enzo’s threat is unmistakable.
Damon looks between the three of us again, and for one unguarded second, I see the look of someone watching their entire world collapse. “You’re all protecting her. All three of you.” His gaze lands on me. “Are you fucking her?”
He still loves her. That’s the worst part. He still loves her, and he’s watching us take her away.
Fuck. There’s no way he could know.
I should deny it. My brothers don’t even know. But I’m not a liar, so I keep my mouth shut. Instead, I meet his eyes and watch him process the truth I don’t speak.
“That’s what I thought.” Damon shoves back from the table. “So that’s how it is. She spreads her legs, and suddenly, I’m the bad guy?”
Ansel stands so fast, his chair rocks back. “Get out. Now.”
“Gladly.” Damon grabs his tablet. “But don’t come crying to me when she shows her true colors. When she gets bored and moves on to the next successful guy who can give her what she wants.”
The door slams behind Damon hard enough to rattle the glass walls.
Remy sits perfectly still, staring at her laptop like it might provide an escape route.
Ansel moves to the chair beside her. “Remy, are you okay?”
“I should resign.” Her words are barely above a whisper. “This is exactly what I was afraid would happen. I’m causing problems between you and your friend. Destroying relationships that matter.”
“No.” All three of us say it simultaneously.
I take the chair on her other side. “Damon is destroying his own relationships. You’re just refusing to be his scapegoat.”
“Breck’s right.” Ansel leans forward. “What happened today wasn’t about you. That was about Damon’s inability to take responsibility for his failures.”
Enzo crosses his arms. “He’s undermined you since day one. And we made excuses for him.”
Remy looks up, and I see tears. “He is your best friend.”
“Hewas.” Ansel doesn’t sugarcoat his response. “But friendship doesn’t mean blind loyalty. It means holding each other accountable. You didn’t destroy anything. Damon did thathimself when he stopped pretending to be the person we thought we knew.”
She swipes at her eyes, wiping away tears that have escaped. “I still feel like this is my fault.”
“It’s not.” I reach over and squeeze her hand briefly before letting go, maintaining the professional distance she needs. “None of this is on you.”
Ansel stands. “Take the rest of the day off. Go home, decompress. We’ll handle the Geneva situation and everything else.”
Remy shakes her head. “I have the implementation review at three.”
“I’ll handle it.” Enzo waves a hand dismissively. “I wrote half the code anyway. Go home, Remy. That’s an order.”
She looks between the three of us, then finally nods. “Okay. Thank you.”
After she leaves, the three of us take a minute to decompress.
Ansel speaks first. “We need to talk about Damon.”
“We don’t need to talk.” Enzo pulls up something on his tablet. “He’s a liability.”
“It’s not that simple.” I stand and move to the window. “He knows things about this company. About us. If we fire him, and he gets vindictive?—”
“Then we deal with it,” Ansel responds. “But we can’t keep him around just because we’re afraid of what he might do. That’s giving him power over us.”
Enzo nods. “Agreed. Let’s give him two weeks. If he doesn’t get his shit together, then we’ll fire him.”
