The Wife's Resolve

Chapter 9: Protecting the Family

Across town, Damon was just waking up at his desk. He had not intended to sleep in his office, but he knew he needed to give Valerie some space. His neck was stiff, and his anger was still seething. Last night, he sent an email to personnel to fire Elena for unprofessional behavior. He knew Davius would be upset, but that was the least of his problems if he did not fix Elena's mistake last night. Damon changed his clothes and tried to prepare for the day, but his mind was elsewhere.

"Nicoli," he yelled. His head was pounding.

The door opened, and Nicoli entered, "There is an intercom you don't need to yell."

"Don't tell me what I need to do," he yelled, "get me some aspirin and coffee."

Nicoli went to speak, but thought better and shut his mouth and turned, "Yes, Boss." he settled with and left the office.

Damon sank into his desk. This behaviour was not him yelling at staff, grabbing Elena, or not going after his wife; what was going on with him? He slammed his hand down on the desk.

Nicoli re-entered the office and placed the coffee on Damon's desk, and held out an aspirin. "Rough night, boss."

"I don't want to talk about it," Damon said reluctantly.

"Me either," Nicoli stated, "but I should tell you, your wife told me this morning that she was not sure if she was going to the charity gala."

"Get me a new phone," Damon ordered.

"Boss," Nicoli questioned with a raised brow.

"I smashed my last night, I need a new one," Damon added when he pulled the pieces out of his jacket pocket and threw them on the desk. "I need it as soon as possible."

"But you don't want to talk about it," Nicoli asked.

"That is correct," Damon huffed.

"Fine, I'll get you a new phone, but this afternoon. In the meantime, what do you plan to do about your wife?" Nicoli asked directly, trying to get Damon to focus on the bigger picture.

"Not sure that's any of your business," Damon flatly refused to answer.

"May I suggest?" Nicoli tried to offer a suggestion.

"No, you may not!" Damon flatterly refused, "I know how to handle my wife."

"If you say so," Nicoli laughed. No one handled Valerie.

"Get out," he ordered.

Nicoli went back to his desk. Damon was being stupid. Valerie would not just sweep this under the rug. If he did not take it seriously, there would be trouble. He felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. Pulling it out, he smiled when he saw Valerie's name. He looked up and saw that Damon was busy, so he left his desk and went down the hall to the conference room. He took the call, "Mrs. Dare." He said.

"Don't start with me, Nicoli. Is he there?" She asked without any friendliness in her tone.

"Look, Mrs. Dare. I don't know what happened with you two last night, and frankly, I'm sure you had your reasons."

"Yes, I did, Nicoli. I don't have time for this. I called him five times," she practically shouted. " I don't have time to play games with either one of you. Can you just tell him that Elena was here. She signed all the papers. The problem has been taken care of for now."

"No," Nicoli outright refused.

"No, seriously, Nicoli!" she reacted.

"First, you need to talk to Damon, and I am not letting you avoid that," He said smugly. He was enjoying this, though no doubt if she told Damon about it, he might regret it later.

"He's the one not answering me," she complained.

He just laughed at her, "That's because what happened between you two last night caused him to smash his phone into the pile of pieces it is on my desk. Seriously, though, he does have a landline. You could have called the company."

"So this is my fault," he sounded even angrier, and that was not going to help the situation.

"I didn't say that, and don't take your fury out on me," he joked, trying to lighten the mood. He could hear her exhale loudly.

"Can't you just tell him, it's finished?" she barely whispered into the phone.

"Sorry, no," was the last thing he said before he hung up the phone. He stood and walked back to his desk and began working. The phone arrived by courier, and he brought it to Damon. He looked terrible, and it was obvious to Nicoli that he still had not talked to Valerie. Damon looked up and pushed a file towards him.

"I am looking into increasing security in the office. I want you and Donivan to oversee these changes. No one besides the three of us should be aware of any of these changes. I expect you both to get it done before the week is out in the evenings, so no one knows. I don't even want Darius to know about all the changes. I have identified what pieces of information senior staff can have. Look it over and see if you see any problems or if you can think of anything else that should be added, do so, and you don't need authorization from me to handle it."

Nicoli took the file back to his desk and began looking it over. He was impressed that Damon was tightening security more, and while he did not know why some particular elements were being added, he was not going to ask either. With all of the issues they were having with the business lately, extra security would certainly help. Two hours later, the phone rang. "Mr. Dare's office," Nicoli spoke.

"Transfer my call, Nicoli," came the same irritated voice from earlier.

"My pleasure, Mrs. Dare." Nicoli said as he placed the call on hold and transferred to Damon, "Your wife is on the phone," was all he said before he jumped off. He watched Damon talk for a few minutes, then went back to the file.

Damon tentatively spoke, "Valerie."

There was silence on the other end. Valerie cleared her throat, "Davius and Elena were at my office first this morning."

"Is everything taken care of?" he asked.

"She signed the papers, if that is what you are asking?" she replied bitterly. Damon could hear the anger and hurt still in her voice.

"That's not what I mean," he replied.

"Imagine my surprise. Damon, what the hell happened last night with Elena, and don't you dare tell me nothing. I saw the bruise on her arm, and though she covered for you, it was easy enough to put two and two together with the way Davius's eyes shifted away from me when I asked her about it."

"It's not what you think," he responded hesitantly.

"What is it you think I think?" she partly demanded.

"Well, neither scenario in my head plays out well for me," he sighed. "You probably either think it passion or a threat, and it was neither."

"I did not think it was passion," she whispered, and he was relieved to hear it. "I did think it was a threat, considering she was so unwilling to sign it yesterday. She held that she was forced to sign."

"It was an accident. We had three men end up in the morgue last night. My nerves were already shot when I returned to my office, and when she was in my office, I lost it. I grabbed her arm and asked her why she was there. She started screaming I think and Davius appeared. I let her go and told him to take her home. I apologized to her for the incident."

"But then you fired her," Valerie pointed out.

"I figured you would want that. She had no reason to be in my office," he said with certainty.

"Mr. Dare, when I asked for it, I wanted it, but now what about Davius?" she asked.

"What about him?" he huffed.

"Surely he won't accept this," she reasoned, "she is going to be his wife."

"Then he should learn to control her," Damon added, "after they are married, I told Davius we could revisit the topic."

"Of course you did," Valerie laughed. It might be a small victory, but she was glad to see that Damon did, in fact, take real action against this breach of trust. "What time will you be home?" she asked.

Damon laughed, "What time will you be?"

"On the way right now," Valerie said.

"Be there in 30," he laughed and hung up the phone. He looked up and saw Nicoli was still working. He hit the intercom, "Nicoli, I am on my way out. Hold any business until tomorrow or get Donivan to help you. Do not bother me tonight."

"Yes, Boss," was his only reply.