Curvy Nanny for the Nerd

29. Brady

Chapter 29

Brady

“ W e’re on track to launch in sixty days which means we need to kick marketing and promotions into high gear.” The game was officially finished and in the testing phase to make sure there were no bugs or plot holes in the game.

“We have a schedule laid out already, which you should have in your inbox.” Sierra spoke with confidence as she 0utlined the plan that had been approved for months. “Everything is on track. Don’t worry, boss.”

I let out a huff of laughter that I didn’t feel. “I always worry,” I told her. “But I trust you to do the right thing.” Strange that I trusted Sierra implicitly when I hadn’t been able to show Toni the same.

“You heard it here first, folks,” Sierra joked. “I’ll keep you updated, I promise.”

I nodded at the computer monitor where the team leads all stared back at me. “I know.” The phone screen on my desk lit up and then vibrated across the hard cherry wood. “I need to take this,” I told them and ended the video call all at once. “This is Brady.”

“Mr. Winsome, this is Serenity Woods, from-,”

“I know who you are, Miss Woods. How can I help you?”

She sighed and the hair on my arms and the back of my neck stood on edge. “I’m sorry to have to deliver this news but Toni has given her notice to quit her current position. It doesn’t have often but it does happen and I promise you I will have a replacement immediately.”

“No,” I barked angrily and instinctively. “That is unacceptable.”

“I agree but she’s quitting the agency and she plans to move out of state. There’s nothing we can do to change that fact, I’m afraid.”

She was leaving. Instead of facing me head on, she wanted to get as far away from me as possible. “This is entirely unacceptable, Miss Woods.” But it was more than that. “We have a twelve month commitment and it is still in effect. If Ms. Stafford leaves, I’ll sue you both.”

Serenity huffed out a shocked breath. “I’m not worried about me,” she growled. “I’ve dealt with men like you most of my life. But I will speak to Toni and get back with you.” She ended the call without another word and I smiled to myself, knowing Toni would hate me for it but I knew she would come around.

She had to.

I paced the length of my office, wondering what I could do to get Toni to change her mind. She’d ignored me for weeks, which was as clear a sign as any that she wanted nothing to do with me, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that this was an emotional reaction, that she wouldn’t leave if she didn’t feel something for me too.

When the phone rang and vibrated on my desk, it startled me out of my thoughts. “Yeah,” I answered right away because I knew it would be Serenity.

She sighed on the other end of the line and worry buried in my gut. “I’ve spoken to Toni and she’s willing to pay out the contract. She even offered to pay my legal expenses if it comes to that.”

“What?” Now I was really worried. Toni had mentioned that she came from money but I had no idea it was that kind of money. “Can she do that?”

“She wouldn’t have offered if she couldn’t,” Serenity said in a clipped tone.

“Why?” The question revealed more about me that I wanted Serenity to know.

“I don’t know,” Serenity said, her voice filled with sympathy. “But I’m sure we can both guess.”

Shit, she was right. Toni was leaving because of me. Because I’d said awful things to her, because I refused to open up and share my life with her. It was all my fault that I was losing her. “Thank you,” I growled and ended the call to Serenity. My heart pumped fast and hard as I flung open my office door and rushed through the mansion and up the stairs to Toni’s suite.

Empty.

Of course it was empty. It was Friday she would be on her way to her apartment. I could go to her. I could but I didn’t want to do that and more importantly I didn’t want Layla to see us fighting so I decided to wait.

Monday morning was a long way off, but what I had to say could wait until then.

I knew she wouldn’t return on Sunday evening as she had been before everything went to hell between us, but when Monday morning rolled around I was waiting for her in the living room. “Toni, a word please?”

She froze, her expression unreadable as she nodded and stepped inside the living room. Wordlessly she took a spot in front of the fireplace, folded her arms and waited for me to say what I had to say.

“I’m not letting you out of your contract,” I began. “We still have six and a half months left on our agreement and you will see it to the end, otherwise I’ll be forced to ruin you and Serenity.”

Heat flared in her gaze and anger made her nostrils flare but still she said nothing for a long time. “That’s really what you want?”

“It is,” I lied easily. What I wanted was for her to want to stay here with me and Layla, to make a life with us. But she was trying to cut and run before I could make things right.

“Fine,” she shrugged and walked away without any argument.

My brows knitted into a frown. That didn’t make sense. Toni was a woman who argued simply for the sake of arguing yet she didn’t put up even a hint of a fight.

I’m immediately suspicious but I shook it off because my cynicism and suspicion is how I got into this situation in the first place.

She wasn’t leaving and I considered that a victory. A small victory, but one that gave me time to make it right between us.