“You.” I put my hand to my mouth to stop the sob from coming out, but it’s too late. “You aren’t leaving?” He is in front of me in one step, his hands on my face, tilting it back to look at him.
“I’m not leaving,” he reassures me, “not now, not ever.” He finally lowers his head to kiss my lips. I put my hands on top of his.
“I didn’t know that,” I admit and then laugh out through the tears.
“No shit,” he says, shaking his head. “I don’t even know what you thought you knew.”
“You are not picking a fight with me right now. Not after I spent four days practically sleepless because I was missing you,” I grumble between clenched teeth, “and then you come home and kiss my cheek.”
“You were being weird,” he replies between clenched teeth.
“You were being weirder,” I counter. I know it’s not a good comeback, but it’s all I have right now.
“When is your lease up?” he asks me. “Doesn’t matter, it’ll just sit vacant.”
“It’s over next month.”
“So do you think you can move in with me tomorrow?” He smirks at me. “I mean, I would ask for you to do it today, but it’s late. I have to feed my daughter, and then I have four days of sex to catch up on.”
“Four days?” I can’t help the smile that fills my face. “That’s a lot of sex.”
“I have faith in us,” he declares, kissing my lips. “Now, let’s go tell our daughter that you’re moving in.”
epilogue one
. . .
Stefano
One year later
“H ow are you so calm, cool, and collected?” I look over at Casey as he just stands there looking down at his phone.
“Well, for one.” He tries not to smirk. “I have no skin in this game. I’m here because they heard of me and took the meeting. And number two, I’ve been where you have been.” I look at him, my eyebrows pinched together. “First thing I did when I had money was buy the farm my ex owned. No one knew it was me. I broke it to her in the middle of the barn, where I found her fucking someone else. It was a good day.”
“So the moral of the story is?” I look out the window.
“Moral of the story is I won, one, by buying her farm and, two, by finding the love of my life, which wasn’t her.” He puffs out his chest. “Now, relax.”
I’m about to say something to him when the door to the conference room opens, and a woman comes in. “Showtime,” Casey says and I nod my head.
She’s dressed head to toe in a designer outfit. “Hello, gentlemen.” She smiles at Casey and then her eyes fall to me as she smirks.
“Kristina.” I nod at her as she pulls out her chair, putting her phone on the table.
Her brother is the next one in, who looks annoyed that he was called into this meeting. Which doesn’t surprise me since he actually has no idea what the fuck he’s even doing. “I have a meeting in thirty minutes,” he huffs, pulling out a chair, and I know he does. He’s actually having an affair with his fiancée’s best friend’s boyfriend.
I don’t bother even acknowledging him, because in walks the man of the hour. I have never in my life been more nervous, but I’ve never in my life hated someone more than I hate this man who is walking into the room next. “Gentlemen,” he greets, smiling to me. All I can do is nod instead of wanting to throat punch him.
“Mr. Laurier.” I nod at him. “How has your day been?”
“It’s been good,” he replies, pulling out the chair at the head of the table where the president usually sits. I look over at Casey, who pulls out the chair in front of him that is in the middle.
“Shall we get started?” I look over at them.
“Should we not wait for the rest of the shareholders?” Kristina smiles at me as she taps her finger on the table.
Gerald takes a deep exhale and looks bored AF and just wants this over with. They are the only three who we haven’t shared the news with. News I’m ready to share with them. News I hope shatters their whole fucking world. “I think we can start without them,” I state, looking over at Casey, who leans back in his chair. Cool, calm, and collected.
“Yes, let’s,” Casey says, smirking. “Knock them dead.”
“Well, I don’t want to drag this on, so let’s get to the point. Since your company is public, and Casey has been looking into purchasing stocks to become a majority shareholder in Laurier Lumber for a while now.” I look over at Casey, who just rocks back and forth. “I’ve met with several of the shareholders.” I put my hands on the table. “And your numbers are, well, how do I put it?” I look over at Casey. “Fictitious.” I look at the reaction of all three of them, the only one who isn’t surprised by this is the man at the head of the table. “You see, I’m really good at my job.”