Page 54 of Just Can't Fall for the Enemy

“Tanner?” Guy asked.

I stood, forcing my expensive chair to give way with a squeak. “No.”

Jill froze, gritting her teeth. “No to what exactly?”

“No to ourauthenticpartnership. No to all of you. No to everything.” I dropped my napkin on top of the $500 bite of steak. “This isn’t what I want.”

“Tanner,” Ben said. “There’s no going back from this. Are you sure?”

“I’ve never been more sure in my life.” I gave Guy a salute and tossed a stack of hundreds onto the table to cover my team’s meals. “Thanks for coming all this way, but the deal’s off.”

“You can’t be serious,” Jill said.

“I’ve never been more serious. Come on, Ben.” I turned my back on the table and started walking away.

“That’s it?” Guy said. “No explanation whatsoever?”

I turned to face him. “I shouldn’t have to explain that subscribers and money aren’t the most important thing in the world. Integrity matters more.Peoplematter more. I lost sight of that once, and I won’t do it again.”

“Then you’ll fall into obscurity,” Guy snapped.

“Maybe. But I’ll fall being who I am. Goodnight, everyone.” I strode for the door, looking over my shoulder at the table.

Jill watched me leave with a fury in her eyes I’d never seen before. She huffed a moment, smoothed her expression, and leaned over to whisper something to Guy. To my amusement, he waved her off without a glance.

She scowled, stood, and stomped away, heading for the curved stairwell to the lower level rather than following us. Just before she disappeared from sight, she sent a seething glare my direction. It seemed she wouldn’t be getting her millions after all.

Ben hurried past me and reached out to hold the door. We passed through to the elevator, where we stood alone as the doors shut. Then my brother stood there, staring at me with wide eyes. “I can’t believe you did that.”

“I don’t need a lecture about rudeness right now. Sorry about dragging you all the way here for nothing, though.”

“No, I mean the choice you just made. Tanner, this is huge. I’m so proud of you right now.” The smile on his face couldn’t be wider. Ben looked at me with the same pride I’d seen in my mom at the hospital last night. Before I knew what was happening, he pulled me in for a hug.

I stiffened. Our family had never been super close, and we rarely hugged. But I slowly put my arms around him too. “Thank you.”

“I’d better step it up now, or you’ll become the favorite son.” He pulled away and chuckled. “Actually, since Emily and I have produced the first and soon-to-be-second grandchildren, I may be safe for a while yet.”

“You’re probably right about that.”

He cocked his head. “Speaking of grandchildren—any word from Sophie?”

I swallowed. Nothing at all. It seemed she truly had moved on.

“I see,” Ben said.”What are you going to do? Does she know you deleted that episode?”

“No idea. I didn’t delete it for her, though. I did it because using that video was wrong and I’m not that kind of guy.”

“You’re right about that.” He paused. “Although this was a big oops, so it may require a bigger apology than deleting your mistake.”

“I’ve already given her a tree. I don’t think I dare give her anything bigger than that.”

“A tree?” He looked confused. “Dude. I meant abigapology. You don’t have millions of subscribers for nothing.”

We reached the ground floor, and the doors opened with a ding. As they did, an idea struck me. A perfect, wonderful, glorious idea.

“You’re right.” I threw an arm around my brother, who tensed as I had a moment ago. “So right. And brilliant and an excellent big brother. Not sure if I’ve mentioned that before.”

He sighed. “What do you want this time?”

---