He lifted his hand to his temple, massaging it, trying to keep a vein from popping. Then, a sadness that defied description spilled into him, numbing his pain for a moment. She didn’t say no. Just like Regina hadn’t said no during that interview, when asked about the open relationship he’d shared with her. That no had opened the door to dozens of other questions, and Regina had been all too happy to respond. Was Elena any different? He had thought so. But now…there she stood. The pulse on her smooth neck visibly spiked, and he watched how her fingers trembled as they drummed at her waist.
“We’re done, Elena. You’re either fired or promoted. Whatever it is… I can’t see you again,” he managed to say, even if each of those words weighed like a boulder in his lungs. Even if they had the power to hollow out his chest and carve a hole in his heart.
If he fooled himself and kept Elena around…there was no going back.
***
Elena watched him storm out of the office, and her stomach sank. Touching it, she pressed her fingers into her flesh as if she could stop the nausea from getting worse. No such luck. The bile floated all the way up her throat.
“Well, that was a bit dramatic,” Imani said.
She turned around to find Devon’s stepmother rolling her eyes and leaning back on her seat. “Very,” Elena said after she swallowed hard.
“Now, let’s talk business.”
“I can’t. I can’t talk business and accept a position that Devon and Matthew both want,” she said. Being the CEO of Wilder & Co. hadn’t crossed her mind until Imani suggested it. Would she be good at it? Yes. Would she enjoy it? Hell yes.
Matthew sighed and loosened his tie. “Ells, hear me out, my mother may have a point. Strategically. If either myself or Devon are calling the shots, the other one will have a hard time listening.”
“That’s the understatement of the year,” she said, and clicked on the button to switch the electric blinds on and pull them up. The sky cleared up, and a few rays of sunshine entered the room.
She’d unintentionally hurt Devon, and that had cost her a lot. But he’d refused to see that she wasn’t the bad guy here. That pained her from the inside out. How could he expect her to acquiesce to his demands after helping her come to terms with her past, flourish sexually and stand up to her brothers.
He only cared about what she wanted and deserved if it didn’t inconvenience his plans. And Elena deserved so much more. How ironic that Devon had been the key to her discovering just how much.
Emotions welled up inside, and tears burned hot behind her eyes. She blinked them back. “Look, don’t get me wrong. If circumstances were different, I’m sure—”
“If you hadn’t gotten involved with a man?” Imani asked. “Oh, dear, how many decades have gone by since I last heard those words? Do you have any idea how far we’ve come? Why is it that men always get their way? They mess with us in such a way that we end up making less money or giving up jobs and making it all about them?”
Elena looked away from Imani’s intense, piercing green eyes and glanced at the view outside. The sun shone brightly over the high-rise buildings—a yellow circle of hope cloaking all the concrete beneath. There was bitterness in Imani’s voice, and she didn’t dare disagree with her. How could she? But she didn’t like being caught in the middle, all things feminist aside. “If I say no, do Devon and Matthew still have a shot?”
Imani gave her a long glance before answering. “Not at the CEO position.”
She barely kept up with the beats of her heart. Could she do this? Hell yeah she could. “Okay. I will accept to be the CEO. But I have one request.”
