Chapter 14 - What He Chose
The boardroom held twenty-two people.
Outside waited hundreds of employees and reporters.
Damian entered alone.
Elena watched from home.
Mia sat beside her eating cereal.
“Is Mr. Cross in trouble?”
“A little.”
“Can we help?”
Elena looked at her daughter.
“We already did.”
The board vote lasted forty-three minutes.
Damian admitted oversight failures.
He refused to hide evidence.
He offered independent audits.
He offered to step aside temporarily.
Then he said one sentence that went everywhere by evening.
“A company worth billions is worthless if keeping it requires me to protect people who hurt others.”
The board voted.
Eleven to ten.
Damian remained CEO.
Barely.
That night, he came to Elena’s apartment.
No driver.
No suit.
Just Damian.
Mia opened the door.
“You won?”
He smiled.
“I survived.”
She hugged him.
Elena handed him a beer.
“Very billionaire.”
“I’m adaptable.”
Mia ran to her room.
For once, Elena and Damian were alone.
“You could have lost everything.”
Elena said.
“Not everything.”
She looked at him.
He continued.
“I almost married Vanessa because she fit the life I had.”
“She never asked me to become better.”
“She only asked me to become harder.”
Elena swallowed.
“And what do I ask?”
“To notice things.”
“To slow down.”
“To remember people have names.”
He smiled.
“And apparently to eat cheap Italian food.”
She laughed.
Then his expression became serious.
“I love you.”
Elena stopped breathing.
Damian didn’t rush.
“I’m not asking you for anything tonight.”
“I just don’t want to become the kind of man who hides the truth until it’s convenient.”
Elena’s eyes filled.
“You’ve had a very dramatic few months.”
“So I’ve been told.”
She touched his face.
“I love you too.”
Mia screamed from the bedroom.
“MAMA!”
They ran.
She stood beside her little desk.
Nothing was wrong.
She simply held up a drawing.
Three stick figures.
Elena.
Mia.
Damian.
Over them was an enormous pink cake.
“You scared us!”
Elena said.
Mia frowned.
“But it’s important.”
Damian crouched.
“What is it?”
“Our family.”
The room went quiet.
Mia pointed to the cake.
“We still need the expensive one.”
Damian laughed.
Elena covered her face.
Then Mia added:
“And I saved my dollar.”
That night, after Mia fell asleep, Damian asked Elena a question.
Not about marriage.
Not yet.
He asked whether she was finally ready to build the business she had once abandoned.
And this time, when he offered to help, Elena didn’t immediately say no.
She gave him one condition.
“I own fifty-one percent.”
Damian smiled.
May you like
“Now you sound like me.”
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