Chapter 10: Boardroom
250 Words
The boardroom was ice cold.
Twenty suits stared at me like I was dirt on Aiden’s shoe.
And maybe I was.
Aiden stood at the head of the table. No smile. No warmth. Just the CEO they all feared.
“This meeting is about the leak,” he said. “Not my wife.”
“Your fake wife,” Mr. Carter snapped. “You lied to us. To the press. This scandal will cost us the merger.”
“Then lose it,” Aiden said.
The room went silent.
I couldn’t breathe. He was throwing away a billion-dollar deal. For me.
“Mr. Cross, think about the shareholders,” Vanessa cut in from the door. She wasn’t supposed to be here. “Think about your company.”
“I am,” Aiden said. He looked at me. Only me. “I’m thinking about the woman who took care of my family when I couldn’t. The woman carrying my future.”
He walked to me and took my hand in front of everyone.
“She’s not a contract. She’s not a scandal. She’s Zuri. And she’s mine.”
Mr. Carter slammed his folder. “If you go through with this, you’re out as CEO.”
Aiden squeezed my hand. “Then I’m out.”
He turned and pulled me out of them boardroom.
Behind us, the door shut on his old life.
In front of us, I had no idea what came next.
But I had him. And that was enough.
- Writer
