Page 122 of From Rivals to I Do

I smile at her and hold my hand to her face, brushing some of her hair behind her ear.

“Daddy isn’t going to come for a while,” I whisper to her. “But you have me and grandma for now.”

“I want to see Daddy,” she replies.

“I know you do. How about we call him tomorrow so you can see him on the phone?” I offer her. She nods, and I kiss her forehead before leaving the room.

I go to my room, fall backward onto the bed, and hug a pillow while I loudly groan. Reece is the last person I want to see right now, but I won’t keep

Charlee from talking to her father. Our custody arrangement has me with full custody year-round, but it was agreed he could visit on holidays and her birthday.

He’s still listed as an emergency contact for her, too, so he can stay up-to-date on her life. I just worry he’ll say something to turn her against me.

“Well, I could see you more if your mother let me,” I could practically hear him saying to her.

I pull my phone out, search for his name in my contacts, and open our last text messages. I’ve muted notifications for him so I wouldn’t be bothered by his

countless calls and texts. Instead, there are dozens of messages from him begging me to come back, calling me names, apologizing, asking to see Charlee, and

telling me how much I hurt him.

Before I spend too long reading them all, I quickly ask him if he can video chat with Charlee tomorrow night and close the screen.

Chapter eight

Chapter Eight

Ispend all morning preparing for the meeting I have with the developers for the Bridgewater project. My father was on top of this project for a while, but he

handed it to me with several other projects while he was away getting treatment. It’s a massive project. I’m confident I can manage it, but I've got a lot on my

plate with all of my contracts and projects on top of his.

When I get to my office, I see that the desk Rayne should be in is empty, which isn’t a good sign. I start getting awful feelings about today. If I fumble with

this project, my father and the rest of the board of directors might see me as a liability. While my father did start it, he is contractually obligated to act in the

company's best interest. So, if that means hiring someone else as CEO or selling it to another person, there isn’t much I can do about it.

Usually, Kerry would look at my schedule and come in early to get the conference room set up, make copies of all the documents to be shared, prepare any

files I needed, and ensure I’m on track to start. But she isn’t here, and I don’t know what I’m doing.

“I really need to thank that woman,” I mumble to myself while I struggle to figure out how to work the projector in the conference room.

Rayne finally arrives, and I quickly rush out of the room to greet her. She was fifteen minutes late on her first day, but I wasn’t planning to reprimand or tell

her it was inexcusable. But she has already given herself that talk from the sound of it.

“I’m so sorry. I won’t be late ever again,” she says as she sets her bag down by the desk. “The train was late, and I arrived as soon as possible.”

“It’s fine, really,” I laugh and take a deep breath. “Listen, I’ve got a huge meeting today. Things must go smoothly with this. I know you haven’t been trained

on anything yet, but do you think you can wing it today?”

She nods her head slowly. “Yeah, I can certainly improvise. What do you need me to do?”

I tell her about the account and explain what Kerry usually does for meetings. Rayne jumps right in to help me. She struggles with the projector at first, but we both cheer when she manages to get the screen to come down and display my slides.

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