Page 127 of Due Diligence

The elevator finally arrived and its presence signaled a crossroads of sorts. I would be at the office on Monday and so would Alex. We would have to come clean to the rest of the team. And then we would have to let them know the next few months and the reactions of the market would determine if Libra could survive.

I couldn’t think about that now. The only thing I could think about was how I was walking away from my best friend—the guy who was there the first time I got drunk (on Four Loko—and vomited outside the campus center), who high-fived me the morning after I lost my virginity at a tech conference in Las Vegas, and who sat with me on my couch while I cried from embarrassment and shame after my moms read thatVanity Fairarticle about us.

I wanted to hate him. I wanted to believe he was a villain and a monster, and that could beso simpleif that was what I chose to do. But just like I was so much more than business plans and shareholder meetings and financial forecasts, Alex was more than one malfeasance.

Sometimes, it could take us a while to remember who we were and how to reconcile that with the things we had done. Before I could forgive him, I needed Alex to do that.

Just like I had.

Chapter 35: Cass

I pulled my jacket closer to me as I ascended the steps out of the subway, wishing I had worn something warmer. Now that I didn’t have a job, my mind was wandering. It drifted to thoughts and memories as usual, replaying conversations and occurrences in stark detail. By the time the afternoon rolled around, I realized I somehow lost track of the world.

That wasn’t a rare occurrence. I could travel so deep down into rabbit holes that I would forget to keep tabs on the sunlight. I’d emerged to darkness before, wondering where the hours went.

There wasn’t much darkness in my world now that Marcus was a part of it though. I should have been flat on my back with anguish at that point. My career was off kilter. My future was uncertain. My prospects were low. And yet, none of that brought me down quite like it should have.

When I entered the coffee shop where he asked me to meet him, he was at a table in the back corner, adjacent to a wall ofpeeling band posters, flyers, and job notices. He waved at me, as if I didn’t see him. Adorable.

He stood when I approached him and brought me into an embrace when I was close. The hug lingered longer than it normally would. My body relaxed against his as I took in the smell of his cologne and the warmth of his chest through his sweater. His hand came up to rest on the back of my neck, softly patting my hair before he planted a kiss on the top of my head.

“I can’t tell you how relieved I am to see you,” he murmured before he pulled away from me. He slid a chair back for me and motioned for me to sit. “What do you want to drink?”

“Black coffee.”

“Okay, give me a second.”

Marcus slid past the table to put in my order at the counter, where he waited. As he stood there, I allowed myself a moment to study him. To memorize him. My eyes followed the bend of his knee as he tapped his toe against the wood floor of the coffee shop. His green eyes stayed on his phone, where he scrolled with his right thumb and chewed on the tip of his left. After a couple of minutes, the barista handed him my coffee and he strolled back over to the table, his focus still on his phone.

“Thanks, handsome,” I said when he put it down in front of me.

“Of course.”

“Everything okay?”

Marcus looked up. “No, it’s a clusterfuck,” he responded with a measured exhale. “But I want to put it aside for now.”

“You don’t have to.”

He shook his head. “Fuck it,” he said. “I’m going to be dealing with this for the next six months, so there’s no point in trying to boil the ocean today. Plus, this might be the last time we can see each other for a long time, so I don’t want to waste it by trying to respond to emails.”

I paused with my steaming cup of coffee just an inch from my mouth, my lips curled into an O as I blew on it. “I’m sorry, what?”

“My lawyer said it’s important for us to put some distance between us in case I get implicated in what Alex did. She said it’s a possibility you might get implicated by association.”

“Marcus fucking Fitz, you’re not breaking up with me in acoffee shop. What the hell. This is not an episode ofFriends, you jackass.”

“Are we dating?” He grinned. “This is great news. I had no idea. I’ve got to say, I’mthrilledwith this development. That might be enough to overshadow the fact that I just went from being worth nine figures to being worth basically nothing overnight.”

“Focus, please.”

Marcus’s handsome face didn’t waver. He was resolute. He was certain.

He was in love with me.

“I’m not breaking up with you. Not now, not ever. It’s going to take a lot more than an FTC investigation, the total disintegration of the company I dropped out of college to start, the demise of my only real friendship, and total financial ruin to keep me away from you.” He leaned back in his seat and tilted his head to the side. “Huh. I’ve got a girlfriend. You know, I’ve never actually had a girlfriend before.”

I paused, holding back a smile as I watched Marcus appraise me with a smirk on his face. His expression was boyish and genuine.

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