Oscar Wilde once said, “We are each our own devil, and we make this world our own hell.” He was right. I had created my demons a long time ago.
When my father died, I became the CEO of a multi-billion-dollar industry, and I focused on ensuring my father’s legacy never fell. I loved my father, dearly—he was the one who made sure Jacob and I were shielded from our addict mother—but I wanted to do better than he did.
I was old enough to remember my mother’s selfishness and neglect, and from a young age, I promised myself I would never be like my dad, chasing around a woman who inflicted maximum damage everywhere she went. I would never put my family through that.
I often wondered how my father got himself into that position in the first place. Certainly, he didn’t show up at the nearest insane asylum and pluck her out of the bunch. Something had to have happened for him not to realize the woman he loved was the same kind of woman who would cheat on him and lock her sons outside in the cold, just to name a few significant offenses.
I wasn’t going to pretend that my mother wasn’t the reason for my commitment issues. Anyone within a thousand-mile-radius of me could point that out. I hated the woman for it, too. The damage she inflicted on me and my father was immense. Luckily, Jacob couldn’t remember most of it, but she still robbed him of having a mother, whether or not he could remember the bad stuff.
I’d never minded the personal hell that my devils had created for me until now. I saw the look in Avery’s eyes after she’d heard my phone conversation. I hurt her, and I lost her. I’d led her on, trying to hang on to the first authentic woman I’d ever met who could be worth my trust and more than just casual sex. I’d been guarded for so long that I didn’t know if a commitment to Avery would work.
One thing was certain: she had a massive effect on me. She was different. I never once heard her mention my wealth, or pry into my business other than noticing how chained to work I was. Every other woman I’d encountered—inside or outside the office—saw a wealthy CEO and treated me as such. When I thought back to my pursuit of Avery, I realized all it took to win the woman over was food, not money.
It was so much more than that, though. Without even trying, she proved she wasn’t the type of woman I should be afraid of committing to. She wouldn’t be the type to hurt me as my mother had. I knew that because she was fighting the same battle my father had fought when he was trying to keep his sons from his druggie ex. She was living the same life he did.
Even with all of this knowledge, I couldn’t manage to keep my particular demons from ruining it all for me. I destroyed what was probably my only real chance at happiness. Call me crazy, but something about her sang to me from the first time I laid eyes on her, and that was a fact I couldn’t look away from, no matter what the reasons for subconsciously blowing it all up.
Had she overheard half the conversation between my prying brother and me, and then figured out I was a piece of shit for not wanting more than sex? Yes. Half of that conversation was enough to let her see the asshole I truly was. Maybe that’s why I let her walk out the door without any further explanation.
The worst fucking part was when she left. She hugged me and thanked me with all sincerity. She held nothing against me. She only realized what I thought I knew at the time—it was never supposed to be anything more than us enjoying each other’s company for a little while. So, why couldn’t I let it go? The weight of regret that hung around my neck was suffocating.
“Fucking hell,” I muttered at my desk while I rubbed my forehead. “Focus, Jim!”
Damn it. I sat up and stared intently at the spreadsheet in front of me. I needed to straighten things up with this fucking gaming company. I was not in the mood to deal with this shit today, and that’s precisely what this was. Bull-fucking-shit.
I’d finally agreed to meet with Julia and the woman’s college-aged husband today. I’d put their asses off long enough, and now it was time to face the bitch and to listen to her stupid as fuck demands. A fun bonus? She was bringing fucking lawyers with her.
I had already handled Greg with Dunlap & Son as soon as I got back. It didn’t take much convincing to let them know the millions of dollars they’d lose with the three companies Mitchell and Associates owned, and if they left us, they lost that investment too. So, for Greg to keep his cheap-ass Rolex and all the fun toys that went along with being one of the world’s youngest multi-millionaires, he’d be dumber than he looked if he left Mitchell and tried another company. He was only doing this because his sister called crying after I refused to fuck her. Thank God she brought her husband and lawyers because the double doors to my office were never going to welcome her ass in through them again.
I stepped into the elevator and hit the button to get me down to the tenth floor. This was the floor where we had the largest conference room available to entertain two assholes, a manipulative witch, and their army of lawyers.
I walked past the glass walls, seeing dark suits and one shrew, served up ripe and ready in a red dress of all colors. To my left, heads were popping up and then ducking after I made eye contact with them. Shit. Right. Expression! I must’ve looked like I was going to fire the whole goddamn floor.
I let out a breath and relaxed before walking into the room. “Janice, darken the windows to give us our privacy from others on the floor, please.”
“Absolutely, Mr. Mitchell.”
An exasperated sigh came from Julia, staring at me while sitting upright like this battle was already won. “You’d think your staff would’ve given us the privacy we needed when we first walked in since you’ve kept us waiting for fifteen minutes, not to mention the additional two weeks since your return from London.”
“Janice, send for Alex, please, and you may leave,” I said, looking down at the portfolio she’d prepared for me. It took only a cursory glance for me to determine this was going to be over a lot sooner than anticipated. This whole thing was a waste of my time, and if I wanted to waste my time, I’d be scouring the United States for Avery. All that time with her, and I never even asked where she lived. Good God, why pine over something I’d fucked up from the beginning?
“Just Alex?” Julia answered. “What happened to your acquisitions team?”
I leveled her with the stare that Avery informed me was my scorched-earth look. “There is no need to waste their time. Alex requested to be present, or I wouldn’t be wasting his time either.” Fuck, Jim, lawyers are present. Watch your fucking words. “Allow me to rephrase that.” I mustered a smile. “The acquisitions team is not available at the moment as they are working with another partner. Alex will be here shortly.”
“And the powerful executive caves under the pressure of the lawyers,” she snapped.
“The last time we spoke,” I looked at the tall, lanky, overgrown child, wearing his comic book shirt, sitting between Julia and his gaming-company partner, “you and your associate requested that we refer to you with first names only, is that still what you prefer?”
“Brad is my husband,” Julia said before the blond-haired guy spoke up. Jesus Christ, he and his buddy looked like they’d just rolled out of bed. How could she take this shit-stain seriously? “He and I are Mr. and Mrs. Jones.”
“Very well, Mr. Jones.” I looked at his annoyed expression. “That is what you’d like to be called, correct?”
“Actually, Brad is just whipped,” the other bed-head spoke. “We’re fine with you calling us Mark and Brad. Remember who bankrolls your stuff, Julia.” He’d said her name as if he resented the fuck out of her. I guess I had more in common with these doofuses than I thought.
I pinched my lips together and closed my eyes at the mismatched pair, and I wished with all my heart that we could be recording this shit for Collin and Jacob to see with their own eyes. Alex walked in just in time. “All right. Five minutes early. Let’s get this meeting going. Brad, Mark,” Alex acknowledged them as he sat to my right. “Julia,” he finished in a dry voice.
“Getting directly to the point,” I said before Julia could respond to my Vice President and best friend. “Your company desires to withdraw from Mitchell and Associates’ investment. At first, I thought this was a joke, but here we are.”
“We’ve changed our minds about that,” both gamers said in unison.
“What? Don’t listen to them. They’re children.” Julia clamped her mouth as soon as she admitted what she thought of her husband.
The shock on Julia’s face was priceless. These goofy little sons of bitches had ambushed her. I officially wished we had this exchange on tape now. Judging from the look on their faces, I had a feeling this was going to be fantastic.
“Children?” Alex said, clasping his hands and stretching them out on the desk. “That is quite a bold statement, considering your marriage and their wealth.”
“If you’ve changed your mind, may I ask why we’re in the presence of your lawyers?” I asked.
“Yeah, Jules. Maybe we can use them so Brad can get that divorce from your gold-digging ass.” Mark cut off Brad by glaring at him with a look that was mixed with fear and confusion.
What a bunch of dip shits.
“I’m not trying to be rude,” I started, “but can we not bring personal matters into the business at hand?” As much as I loved what was happening to humiliate Julia, I wasn’t one to fuck around when it came to business. This unprofessionalism was wildly inappropriate, and it was ultimately affecting my business. And that, I would not tolerate. “Now, Mitchell and Associates are willing to grant your exit from our company. We are sad—”
“Dude. Come on, Mr. Mitchell,” Brad said, elbowing Julia as she tried to stop him. “We can’t lose you guys. If we lose your company, we lose the largest sponsors out there.”
“I understand that. It is why I was genuinely confused about why you were leaving. We were covering all of your public relations and your marketing, as well as all advertising for you. We were also pitching you to even more investors and pushing you out further to more of the online gaming community. Due to our efforts, the gaming community has now taken more of an interest in your product as well.”
“We believed when we reached this agreement,” Alex said as I watched Julia squirm next to her man-child, “that it would help not only gain you money, but you would also be able to work on development with our hired staff, the building we just acquired for you to work wi—”
“We don’t want out, goddammit.” Mark slammed his fists on the table and stared at Julia. “Tell us what we need to do to make this right.”
“Our offer was pulled after your letter of rejection. So we must draw up a new one,” I said, eying Julia. “Mitchell will offer half a million as an advance now, to start. We will also keep the same agreements with investors, et cetera. After the advance, we expect seventy percent in earnings for Knights Aware. Will this work?”
Alex looked at me with some fear. This was a bullshit offer—an insult, really—to these two. An advance? No one took advances, and Mitchell and Associates never gave them. It was a goddamn joke, and I couldn’t give a shit. They insulted my company and had the nerve to cross me.
“We’ll take it,” Brad said.
“Damn it, Brad,” Julia snapped. “Can I speak for a moment?”
“No. You’re the one who told us to back out,” Mark said.
“Well, who the hell told you it was a great idea to take an insult for an offer to come back? We’re here for more money last I checked,” Julia argued back.
“Greg told us we were stupid for pulling out,” Brad said.
Julia rose in a fluster while I covered my mouth, trying to keep my shit together. Nothing had ever happened in this room that had given me more pleasure than this entire exchange.
“I’m so done with you, both of you!” She seemed to have hit a level of outrage that was reserved for fifty-year-old men who were stuck in traffic. “My brother told you that?”
“After he spoke with Mr. Mitchell and decided not to pull your family from investing in this company. He said to stop listening to you. You’re costing us money, Julia.”
“What the hell?” she said, and I watched the woman almost melt where she stood. “You know my brother stole my family’s company from me. Why would you speak to him behind my back?”
“Again,” I said, “personal matters aside. Do you agree to our terms?”
“Yes,” both gamers said at the same time.
“Alex, have Alicia draw up the new contracts. I’ll sign them this evening.” I stood. “Thank you, gentlemen. Good day.”
I walked out of the office while Alex dialed Alicia to print up the new agreements.
“James,” I heard Julia snarl from behind me.
I kept walking. There was no way in hell this nut was going off on me on this floor and in front of half of my employees that I’d never met.
“What?” I said, jerking my elbow from her as I quickly stepped into the elevator with her on my heels.
“What the hell was that?”
“What are you doing?” I hit the button to take us to the lobby level. “And why are you following me after trying to fuck my business over? Should’ve thought that shit through, Julia.”
“This is crazy,” she said.
“This is crazy?” I questioned. “You have gone off the fucking edge. Was this because I wanted nothing to do with you as a married woman?”
“No—I…I have no idea. You disappeared on me all week in London.”
The elevators opened, and I stepped out, Julia following me. “You may wait here for your husband. I believe you’re finished?”
“I’m not even close to being finished with you,” she said.
“I believe you played your best hand, but, please, be my damn guest in trying to finish me, Julia. Will that still be Mrs. Julia Jones, or the former Mrs. Julia Jones. Best to go beg for your husband back.”
“Why, because he wouldn’t listen to me? You gave him a bullshit offer, and you know it. You offered him less than half of what your team offered the first time? Really? And now a shitty advance for him to sign with you? What the hell?”
“The new terms are with your team of lawyers if you’d like to go read what your husband is signing for your future.” I glared at her.
“You’re a bastard, Jim,” she lashed out.
“And here I believed myself to be a fine ex of yours who escorted you off my upper floors and directed you to the exits personally.”
“This is the end of us. You know that, right?”
Jesus, she’s all over the place. “I understand completely.”
I stepped back into the elevator, leaving her staring, mouth agape, as I hit the button to bring me to my office on the top floor. I was elated to be rid of her and was now even more motivated to find the one woman I couldn’t shake. If only there were second chances. If only life were that kind.
