“If you leave, you can’t...” Cynthia frowned, and her voice cracked. “You don’t get access to the project anymore.” The words came out like a childish taunt.
In the back of Emily’s mind, she knew Cynthia was fumbling, but Emily couldn’t do this. Too much hurt already. She let out a half-laugh, half-sob. “What the hell does that have to do with anything? Why would you even bring that up? I don’t care about your stupid dating app.” When Cynthia frowned, Emily felt a smug bit of victory. It was misplaced, but she didn’t care. “In fact, that’s fine. You lock me out. You don’t own my intellectual property. If you launch with my back end in place, I will fuck you from here to New York, to keep you from using what I built.”
“Because you’re a selfish, petty bitch, who did something she can’t own up to?” Paul asked.
Emily would have slapped him, but he might like that. She shouldered her bag and shoved past them both. “I’m done. I won’t talk to brick walls.”
She stormed to her car, blinking back the tears that stung her eyelids. What was she supposed to do now?
Her phone rang, startling her. It was Antonio. She couldn’t talk to him She wasn’t in the right frame of mind to talk to anyone. She turned the device off and shoved it as far into her purse as she could. She cranked the stereo, and headed in a random direction.
* * * *
JUSTIN COULDN’T FINDhis focus. He stood in front of the board, in the investment firm offices, talking through scripted lines. He didn’t hear what he said. Meeting Antonio’s gaze jumbled his thoughts further. The other men in the room wore impassive masks, which was unnerving. Justin settled for staring at the screen and his presentation as much as possible.
Emily hadn’t returned their calls. What happened with Antonio yesterday still occupied most of Justin’s mind. The same rationale accompanied it, repeating on a loop.It was just sex. A way to get our heads back on straight. It didn’t sound right, and no matter how Justin poked at the thought, he couldn’t figure out why not or decipher the reality.
He reached the end of his presentation. “As you can see, we’re on track, and we’ll release on time and under budget.”
“Good to hear.” Grant’s tone was as flat as his expression. “It’s heartening to see you’ve pulled this off, despite the hiccup. I knew you could.”
Justin clenched his jaw, to keep from responding. He didn’t like hearing Emily referred to as a hiccup, and if Grant knew they could do it, she wouldn’t have been there to begin with. “We couldn’t have done it without the contractor help.”
Grant frowned. “I heard. Did you have anything else?”
“Yes.” Justin had been waiting for this opportunity. Hewouldpull something positive out of this affair. “Now that we’re moving into the next phase of deployment, I’d like to start shifting some of my staff’s time to working on an education piece.” He had figures and preliminary previews of the functionality. Not nearly what they’d developed, but enough to tempt the board.
“No,” Grant said.
Justin swallowed a growl. “You haven’t heard me out.”
“We’ve heard this before. It’s not a profitable component. We’ve already voted it down. The discussion will not be reopened. Do you have anything for us besides education?”
“Yes.” When the idea occurred to him last night, he told himself it was ludicrous. Not worth considering. But it didn’t leave him alone, and now it was the only right answer. “I’m tendering my resignation. I’ll stay on long enough to transition to my replacement, and be available for consulting after. You’ll have my official signed notice by this afternoon.”
The room erupted in a wave of people talking over each other. Justin didn’t process any of it. The only thing he was aware of was Antonio staring at him, lips pursed and lines creasing his forehead.
The next hour and a half was chaos, with the other members begging, threatening, and trying to bribe Justin.
This isn’t the way to negotiate.
If you want a change in benefits instead, say so.
He shot it all down. It didn’t matter at this point if they caved and gave him permission to build education—which they didn’t. He was tired of bending to their will. It was the antithesis of everything he’d built the company for.
The situation might be amusing, but Antonio never said a word, and that filled Justin with a low hum of dread.
The meeting adjourned, and Justin walked out with the satisfaction that at least one thing had gone his way. He was free. The realization was more liberating than he’d expect. Antonio kept pace with him but didn’t speak. They reached Justin’s car and climbed inside.
“Lunch?” Justin asked.
Nothing.
“Korean barbecue?”
No response.
Justin pointed the car in the direction of their favorite barbecue place. They drove in silence for several minutes, but it chewed on his nerves. “Are you going to talk to me?”