Page 33 of Return on Love

“At least she doesn’t like me. Not the way I do, obviously, because she has someone else. And every time I think of it, I want to pull my hair apart. But the worst things is, she’s hell bent on destroying my company because of her hate for me. I want to trust her, and she gave some inputs which looked good, but they don’t align with what my work needs right now. I just found out she might be playing me. I mean, she can hate me all she wants, but she shouldn’t be out to destroy what I’ve created, right?”

“You’re right. She shouldn’t. Could it be a misunderstanding?”

“Could be, though unlikely. I don’t know what to do, Princess. I’m a mess. Anyway, forget this. I gotta go. Have a lot of work to finish, thanks to her. I’m sorry for rambling on and not even asking about you. How’s the douchebag?”

“Same old. You carry on and take care.”

I think about how lucky the girl is to be loved so much by someone. I’m almost jealous. Bob never loved me with such intensity. I don’t think anyone ever did. And the way things are going, I don’t think anyone ever will. Only hate seems to be reserved for me.

I work on Saturday and meet Alex for a quick lunch on Sunday. We talk about my work, his work, our childhood. There’s nothing much going on in either of our personal relationships, so nothing to talk about there.

“Have you and Ryan taken out some swords in office yet?” he asks.

“It’s not as bad as I’d imagined. It’s good, actually. He’s not as awful as I’d thought. Or maybe he’s changed over the years.”

The conversation goes back to work and in a few hours we leave—he to sleep, and I to continue working on the presentation. The broad outline is complete by Sunday evening. I send a message to Ryan, reminding him about the financials. No response from him. Maybe he doesn’t have my number stored on his phone. Or maybe he’s just busy with Jen, his niece. That thought itself puts me in a good mood.

My phone rings and I pick it up quickly. Not Ryan. But it’s Lily. I’m always happy to talk to her, especially since we haven’t caught up all of last week. She’s been busy organizing some charity event for the firm and I’ve been busy, well, doing stuff. I need to update her on the past weekend and this whole week. I can already picture the astonishment in her voice.

I swipe up and receive the call. “Hey. All’s not right at the office,” she says.

Chapter 12

“Who’s the more foolish: the fool or the fool who follows him?—Obi-Wan Kenobi

“What? What d’ya mean, all’s not well. Are you okay?”

“Nothing wrong with me. I saw an email while I was with Gordon just now.”

Gordon is Lily’s boss and a partner in the firm. “What were you doing with Gordon on a Sunday evening?”

“Some client had come, and he wanted to meet Gordon before the official meeting tomorrow with others. So Gordon had asked me to make a reservation at this Italian place. I pulled some strings and got him the reservation even at such short notice. But I went there myself to ensure everything goes smoothly. So, I was standing right next to him when he got this email. I was so close that I couldn’t help but read part of it. And…”

“And what? You’re killing me gal? Are they firing me?”

“The partner meeting is scheduled in three weeks.”

“What! How’s that possible? Is it for something else, or will they take the funding decision as well?”

“I don’t know the details. My guess is as good as yours. But all partners, senior partners and founders are coming. I don’t think they’ll be traveling to LA again within a few weeks of this meeting.”

“Shit! That’s bad. That’s really bad, Lils.” I run my fingers through my hair and begin pacing around the room. If the meeting is in three weeks, they’ll expect the presentations to be sent to them a week in advance. That leaves me with just two weeks. Two weeks for Ryan’s team to code a new game! Is that even possible?

“Apparently, they’ve been discussing it for some days now. I gather Weber didn’t tell you.”

“I need to talk to him about this.”

“Hey, you can’t tell him I told you. I’m not supposed to know anything about it, and I don’t want to get my ass fired.”

“Then, I think I’ll just start looking out for a job,” I say, as I plop down onto the couch. “I don’t think MooreGames can be ready in this short time.”

“Perhaps Weber told Ryan about it on the Friday call. You missed it, right? He was saying something to the effect when he and Priscilla were talking to Bernard during the charity event on Friday night. Maybe Ryan’s already gearing up for it.”

“What did Weber tell Bernard?”

I can sense Lily’s discomfort, so it’s obvious he wasn’t praising my work. Weber is a fool, but I’ve been a bigger fool for trusting him and thinking he had my back. “Well, he said your work was slipshod, and that you weren’t attending weekly calls. He…”

“What?”

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