Ruin Me (Savage Bosses)

Chapter 25

CHAPTER 25

K ent

I slammed my phone in its cradle as I stared at Madison’s empty desk. Despite understanding why she decided to work upstairs and avoid how her present reinforced the boards recent thirst for my ousting, I wished she were close.

Although only a day had passed since my confrontation with Ife, Madison’s presence soothed me, and I needed calm now as Ife ignored my calls and messages. I had Omar call her on the hour, every hour and transfer the call to mine, but all I got for my efforts was a custom voice message saying until I ended things with Madison the call would not go through.

While I brooded over my love life, Hal and Mal barged into my office. I glanced at Omar whose back was conveniently facing me then to my digital calendar that showed I had the rare hour free.

I glared at the two men, suspecting my free hour was by design. “Hal,” I barked. “Brought Mal in for reinforcement?”

Hal leveled a sheepish smile at me and shrugged at Mal. “I came to apologize.”

“With a buffer.” Mal sauntered over to me and studied my glower. “Saw Ife run out of here yesterday. Is that the cause of the storm building on your face?”

“What are you talking about?” Hal, forwent the safe distance he’d kept between us to approach.

“Hmm, did she learn about you and Madison?” Mal rubbed his chin as he voiced his thought.

I switched my glare to him, silently confirming his assumption and the motherfucker laughed. “My life is funny to you?”

Mal shook his head while hugging his torso. “No, but the irony is.”

“What are you talking about,” Hal asked.

“Don’t you remember the day Madison showed up, you and I expressed interest and our boss over here declared he wouldn’t protect us from Ife’s wrath when she murdered us for touching her best friend?” Mal chortled with unholy glee.

Hal, exercising a little more intelligence, covered his mouth to hide his amusement.

“Laugh and I’ll double the beat down I gave you when you spouted the shit you said about Madison.” I cracked my knuckles to remind him I was ready to go any time and place.

He raised his hand in surrender and wiped the smile off his face.

He was still on my shit list and hadn’t redeemed himself, even if the apology he alluded to was for his insults to my future wife.

No, I hadn’t asked Madison yet. I wouldn’t be. She already made her choice when she agreed to be with me, and I would accept nothing less than her becoming Mrs. Kent Luxe.

I turned my attention to Mal whose shoulders hadn’t stopped shaking. “I can give you a taste of what I gave Hal.”

Mal straightened and shrugged off my threat with a grin while grabbing my arm. “Follow me. We can’t do much about what went down between you, Ife, and Madison, but we can help you take your mind off it for a few minutes. Plus, you’ve been a real shit today.”

“Really?” I glanced at Omar who avoided meeting my gaze as Mal and Hal sandwiched me between them and steered me to the main office elevator. “I wonder who gave you that idea.”

“The janitor I found weeping in the men’s room after you glared in his direction.” Mal pushed the button for the elevator.

“I did not.” I shrugged their arms off and straightened my suit.

“I was there. He was the reason I came to apologize to you.”

“Apologize? For what specifically?”

Hal eyed me. “Let’s get a few drinks in you first. No offense, but I’d prefer to say what I have to when you’re more mellow, and you’re nowhere close enough to that state of mind yet.”

“You risk me forgetting all about you begging my forgiveness once I sober up.”

Hal waved away my warning. “Not only will I have a witness,” he pointed at Mal, “But I’ve seen you shit faced with clients before who thought to get one over on you and you had perfect recall the next day. We’ve been working too long for you to think I’d take advantage that way.”

“Hmph.” I entered the elevator as soon as the doors opened. Not because I wanted to spend time with my legal counsel and CFO. I desperately needed that drink to get my mind off Ife’s rejection.

They took me to Refresh, the lounge bar in the downtown Luxe Continental hotel. As soon as we walked through the doors, the hotel staff perked up and met us with the first-class service famous in my hotels. They ushered us to a private room off the lounge that we could close by sliding the pocket doors or leave open to observe the main room.

We chose to leave the door open. I drank the first three drinks in silence while Mal and Hal made small talk.

Once some of the tension melted from my shoulders, I turned to Hal. “Alright, let’s hear it. Maybe this time my punch will straighten out the knot I put in your nose.”

“If you drop the hostility, you’ll hear what I have to say.”

I quirked my brow as I waited, though I couldn’t imagine what he’d say to erase the way he denigrated Madison’s and her accomplishments.

“Look, I know there’s nothing I say that will excuse what I said about Madison. I let my concern for the company blind me to being a decent fucking human being, and I’m sorry for blaming her.”

“That it?” I asked, remembering the worst of what came from his mouth.

“I should never have implied… what I did about her body or that you would have risked your legacy because of it.”

I stared stonily back at him for seconds on end.

Hal gulped his drink but held my gaze.

“Alright, put me out of my misery. Are you going to beat the living shit out of Hal or forgive him?” Mal shoved himself against his seat and folded his arms in a pout.

“Why do I think you want the former?” Hal asked.

“Because you think I’m as bloodthirsty as Kent. Although, if you had spoken about my woman the way you spoke about Madison, I doubt you would have walked out of the office.” Mal smiled. “Good thing, I’m like Kent before he met Madison. No ties but many straps.” He winked and Hal and I groaned at his corny take.

“Well, before you decide on forgiving me, I have a confession I didn’t know I needed to make until Mal mentioned Ife’s upset departure yesterday.”

I closed my eyes and squeezed my empty glass. “What. The. Fuck. Did. You. Do?”

Hal poured himself another drink from the bottles we’d ordered and swallowed the contents in one go. He repeated the action and I grabbed the bottle from his hands. “I saw Ife yesterday. She mentioned going to the house but it felt like no one had been there in months when she stopped by to surprise you. You weren’t in your office and Omar told her you didn’t have a meeting scheduled.”

“Hal…” I ground the words between my teeth.

“I mentioned you could have been in the penthouse. I swear, I didn’t mention which one.”

“No, you just told her the code to get into it.” I stood over him, shaking with wrath.

“How was I supposed to know she would catch…” His lie shriveled under the heat of my glare.

Although no one brought it up, everyone gossiped about the times my office walls turned opaque when only Madison and I were inside. It was all over the BBD site, but I ignored the chatter for Madison’s sake. Maybe everyone’s excuse for not turning against Madison was because she was an outside consultant and not an employee threatening someone’s job. As long as no one disparaged her, I didn’t address the site. A part of me didn’t because I reveled in everyone knowing she was mine.

Hal wasn’t ignorant to what Madison and I did, had even had the audacity to use her as a bargaining chip to save me from the board. He could never convince me he didn’t suspect what Madison and I would do in the privacy of our home.

“Look, Kent, I swear, the penthouse slipped out. I wasn’t thinking when I told her about it, and I didn’t even give her the code at first.”

I squeezed my fists, reliving the horror on Ife’s face and our subsequent fight.

“Kent, she tried your private elevator on her own. When it didn’t work, she sought me out and badgered me until I gave her the two codes. And before you ask me why I didn’t give her only one, she specifically asked for both. She wouldn’t leave me alone until I gave her what she wanted. What was I supposed to do? Have security escort the owner’s daughter off the property?”

“Man, leave.” Mal shook his head in disgust. “If I were in Kent’s shoes, I can’t say I’d forgive you for any of the shit you pulled. Especially because if she came to you, I know she went to Omar first and he didn’t fold.”

“I will, but before I do…” Hal turned beseeching eyes on me. “You’ve got to fix your relationship with Ife. If the board and the public see you as a united front, her presence would combat the negative press you’ve received. She’ll rebrand you as a family man and not a lady’s man, and the board?—”

“Hal, take a few days off. Work from home if you must, but if I see your face or hear your voice again in the next two minutes, I can damn well guarantee the police will arrest me for your murder, and I’ll say to hell with my public image.”

Hal shakily rose from his seat and backed out of the private room as if he were facing off a king cobra poised to spit venom in his eyes and bite him with an extra dose of the lethal serum.

If I had the ability, I would. Because of his handling of my daughter, Madison was in pain, and I was the cause. My daughter was in pain, and I was the cause. I was in pain, and no matter how I looked at my situation, there was too much hurt and not enough healing to go around while Ife refused to give me the time of day.

“Kent, man, I’m really sorry your situation is so fucked up.” Mal poured me another drink before serving himself. “If there’s anything I can do, just let me know.”

I swallowed everything in my glass. I wished I could feel the burn as the alcohol went down, but Mal had poured the smoothest cognac we carried at the lounge. I stared at my empty glass. “Because Ife walked in on me and Madison, my daughter’s cut herself off from her support network.” I shook my head, hating that I’d turned into a villain in my baby girl’s eyes.

“Maybe she just needs time.”

“That’s what I told Madison. The problem is Madison has me and her mom and dad. Ife’s alone.”

“That’s a real shitty hand you’ve been dealt. If I had a sister, I would send her to be Ife’s sounding board. Unfortunately, I only have an older brother, and he’s busy working for on the Second Family’s detail. Not that I’d expect you to want my brother anywhere near your daughter.”

“You’re right. I don’t know him, and I’d need more than you vouching for him before I’d ever ask him to look after my daughter when she’s vulnerable.”

“Do you want me to give you the name of a good therapist? I slept with… I briefly saw a therapist a few months ago. She might be able to help Ife put your and Madison’s relationship into perspective.”

I stared at Mal as an idea popped into my head. “You stayed away from Madison after I warned you.”

“I took her to lunch.”

“Because I was being a dick to her. Plus, the minute I mentioned work you forgot she existed. I knew then you were fucking with me and had no intentions toward her.”

“True, getting one over on you does entertain me. So, what does that have to do with Ife?”

“I can trust you to be the shoulder she needs until she gets her equilibrium back. You’ll listen to her problems and be the ear she needs without crossing the line.”

“What? No. What you’re proposing sounds a lot like babysitting. I’ve got my own life and playing support animal and pseudo therapist to a heartsick woman is not my idea of a good time.”

“Mal, I’ll owe you big if you do me this favor. If Ife spirals because she’s never dealt with a loss like this, I don’t know what I’ll do.”

Mal’s horror at my suggestion turned to pity. “You could mitigate her loss. Put her above Madison. You said yourself, Madison has her mom and dad. You and Ife would have each other in the fallout.”

“If only.” I shook my head. “If I choose my daughter over Madison, Madison will also lose everything for the second time, but worse. She’ll move away like she did after high school and she’ll never return. This time, she won’t have Ife to serve as a buffer for her loss. For years, Madison endured pain because of me. I can’t be the reason she goes back to that nonexistence. Please, Mal, do me a solid,” I begged, trying to protect my daughter and the woman I loved at the same time.

“Fuck me.” Mal poured himself another drink.

“Does that mean yes?”

He raised his glass. “Farewell bachelorhood. Hello CFO nanny.” He downed his cognac with a grimace that wasn’t due to the drink but the coming days as he gave my daughter what I couldn’t.