Chapter 8 - Six Weeks Later
Emily turned thirty in the factory.
There were no chandeliers.
Someone hung a crooked HAPPY BIRTHDAY banner above Assembly Line Three.
Her employees gave her a chocolate cake shaped vaguely like a refrigeration unit.
“It looks like a coffin,” Alexander observed.
Emily elbowed him.
“Don't insult the cake.”
“I was describing it.”
“Quiet.”
Carter Manufacturing was still alive.
More than alive.
The restored Northstar prototype had passed independent certification.
Three major companies wanted licensing agreements.
Emily rejected Alexander's first investment proposal.
And his second.
She accepted the third.
Not because it offered the most money.
Because it gave Carter Manufacturing control.
Alexander had expected that.
She suspected he deliberately made the first two unacceptable so she would enjoy rejecting him.
Their relationship had become strange.
Coffee.
Arguments.
Late dinners.
No kissing.
Alexander had imposed the rule.
Emily hated the rule.
Which was probably why he maintained it.
Mason remained under investigation on fraud, conspiracy, and corporate theft allegations. His attorneys insisted he had committed no crimes and characterized the dispute as aggressive but lawful business competition.
Daniel had entered a cooperation agreement.
Vanessa returned to Chicago.
Robert retired as CEO.
And at 3:00 p.m. on Emily's birthday, the Carter board unanimously elected her to replace him.
She sat alone in her new office afterward.
A knock sounded.
Alexander entered carrying a small box.
“No diamonds,” Emily warned.
“Terrifying assumption.”
She opened it.
Inside was an old fountain pen.
Emily recognized it immediately.
Her mother's initials were engraved on the side.
She stopped breathing.
“Where did you get this?”
“Katherine gave it to me after my first company closed its Series A funding.”
Emily touched the engraving.
“She said I should return it when someone needed it more.”
Her eyes filled.
“Alexander…”
“There’s a note.”
Emily unfolded the tiny paper.
The handwriting was her mother's.
Power isn't what you can take.
It's what you can protect without owning.
Emily pressed her lips together.
Alexander moved toward the door.
“Wait.”
He stopped.
“You're leaving?”
“You look like you need a minute.”
“No.”
Emily stood.
“I've had six weeks.”
His eyes met hers.
“Six weeks for what?”
She walked around the desk.
“This.”
She kissed him.
Alexander froze.
For approximately half a second.
Then his hands settled gently at her waist.
The kiss was warm and restrained and somehow more intimate because he was clearly holding himself back.
Emily pulled away.
“That rule was stupid.”
Alexander's voice was rough.
“It was an excellent rule.”
“I hated it.”
“That was part of its charm.”
She kissed him again.
A knock interrupted them.
Robert opened the door.
They jumped apart.
Robert stared.
Emily stared back.
Alexander cleared his throat.
Robert slowly looked at him.
“Forty-five.”
Alexander sighed.
“Yes, Robert.”
“My daughter is thirty.”
“I am aware.”
“You proposed to her at her wedding.”
“I am painfully aware.”
Robert pointed two fingers at his own eyes, then at Alexander.
“I’m watching you.”
Emily groaned.
“Dad.”
Robert left.
Alexander looked at her.
“I think that went well.”
She laughed so hard she had to sit down.
But their happiness lasted exactly eighteen hours.
The next morning, Emily arrived to find reporters outside the factory.
A leaked document had appeared online.
It suggested Alexander's company had secretly negotiated to acquire Carter Manufacturing.
The date was six months before the wedding.
Emily read it twice.
Then a third time.
Alexander's signature was at the bottom.
Her stomach dropped.
He arrived twenty minutes later.
Emily threw the document onto the conference table.
“Tell me.”
Alexander looked at it.
His face changed.
“You signed it.”
“Yes.”
“Six months ago.”
“Yes.”
“You were trying to buy Carter before Mason.”
“No.”
“Your signature says otherwise.”
“It was an exploratory authorization.”
“For acquisition.”
“For partnership.”
Emily stepped backward.
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because the proposal died before reaching your father.”
“That's not an answer.”
“No.”
He rubbed his jaw.
“I considered acquiring Carter's cold-chain division.”
“Northstar.”
“I didn't know Northstar existed.”
“How convenient.”
His eyes flashed.
Emily hated herself for repeating Mason's word.
But she continued.
“You told me you started buying our debt to protect us from Mason.”
“I did.”
“But you were interested in Carter before that.”
“Yes.”
“So part of this was business.”
“At first.”
Emily laughed bitterly.
“There it is.”
“Emily.”
She stepped away when he approached.
“Don't.”
Alexander stopped.
Her eyes filled.
“The worst thing Mason did wasn't stealing from me.”
“I know.”
“He made me question whether anyone could want me without wanting something I owned.”
Alexander's face tightened.
“And now I find out you did.”
“I wanted an asset.”
He paused.
“Before I wanted you.”
The honesty hurt.
Emily looked away.
“I need you to leave.”
Alexander didn't argue.
He walked to the door.
Then stopped.
“I won't tell you what to believe.”
Emily said nothing.
“But I will give you every document from that negotiation.”
He looked back.
“Even if they make you walk away from me.”
Then he left.
Emily stared at her mother's fountain pen.
May you like
For the first time since the wedding, she wondered whether Mason had been right about one thing.
Maybe Whitmore men really did know how to make love look exactly like a business deal.
