Page 45 of Knocked Up By the Silver Fox

I followed Allen to the boardroom with anxious energy fluttering in my chest. Beth and I had barely spoken for days now. After the gala she took the week off, and I'd been so swamped with unnecessary things the board threw at me all week, I didn't even have time to spend with Abby, which I knew was a problem. Beth had become a fringe concern and I hated it. By the time I was able to call her in the evenings, she was too tired to talk. And I felt like I was losing my mind.

When I walked into the boardroom she was seated along the wall in one of the spare chairs. She wore a white sweater and dark red leggings. Her hair was down loose around her shoulders and she didn't smile when she saw me. I would never have known she was pregnant if I hadn't seen her in that fitted gown last weekend. She was carrying it well so far, though I knew she was still early on. And my God, she was more radiant than the first day I laid eyes on her.

"Well, William…Beth…" Carl stood at the head of the table and addressed us, and Beth stood and waited for me to join her. Allen ducked out of the room and it was just meand my accusers. I stood at the head of the conference table, trying to keep my cool, though I could feel the anger radiating from every corner of the room. The board members, usually the calm, collected decision-makers of our firm, were now a pack of wolves circling, waiting for me to slip up. They fired questions at me, one after another. I argued each point, but one name kept repeating.

Nevil Banks. He was like a plague, infecting everything we had built. And Beth—Beth and I—had made it worse. I ran my hand over my face, trying to mask the frustration that had built up over the last hour of back-and-forth accusations.

"Will, you need to get a handle on this," Carl barked. "We're hemorrhaging shares, and you're sitting here like you don't care. The board can't make decisions with all this uncertainty swirling around."

I wanted to retort, to tell him I did care, that I was doing everything I could to fix this, but the words stuck in my throat. Every accusation felt like a slap, and worse, they were right. My relationship with Beth—our relationship—hadn't just been a personal failure, it was now a liability to the firm.

"Will, if you don't put an end to this soon, you're going to be out of a job," Janet, the head of legal, chimed in coldly. "Nevil's circling like a vulture, and you're letting it happen. You're the one who should have seen this coming. If you don't fix it, we'll have no choice but to vote you out."

I glanced around the table, seeing faces I'd worked with for years, faces I had trusted, now looking at me with thinly veiled contempt. The weight of the room bore down on me.

"Beth," Janet continued, now shifting her attention, "you're to take a one-month leave of absence. No contact with any clients, no company business. Your actions—whether you were directly involved or not—have done enough damage. You'll stay out of the spotlight until the shareholders' meeting in March.After that, if the dust hasn't settled, we may have no choice but to terminate you."

Beth's face went pale; her usual confident demeanor cracked for the first time. She was as shattered as I was at hearing that. I could see her hands trembling slightly, but she remained silent, her eyes flicking to mine, almost pleading.

"Wait, you can't—" My voice rose before I could stop it. I was trying to protect her. She didn't deserve to be treated like this. "Beth hasn't done anything. We don't know if she?—"

"Enough!" Carl slammed his palm on the table, cutting me off. "This isn't about what we don't know, Will. It's about what's happening right now. The company is at risk, and you're too distracted to lead us through it."

I took a deep breath, forcing myself to calm down. I couldn't argue with them—not here, not now. If I didn't play my cards right, I'd lose everything.

I was livid, my anger boiling over. "You're all so damn quick to point fingers!" I shouted, standing up.

Beth's hand landed gently on my arm, pulling me back down. "Will, calm down," she whispered.

"You think I don't care? You think I'm the one letting this fall apart?" I shouted, eyes wild. "I'm doing everything I can, and you?—"

Before I could say anything more, Beth moved quickly, her fingers tightening around my arm, pulling me away. "Will, stop," she whispered urgently. Her voice was steady but insistent. "You're not helping yourself." I jerked my arm, but she held firm, her presence grounding me, reminding me of what was at stake.

"Let go of me," I hissed, but she didn't. Instead, she stepped closer, her eyes meeting mine.

"You're going to make it worse if you keep this up," she said quietly, her words cutting through my anger like a blade.

I didn't want to listen, but I could see the panic in her eyes. The same panic that had been in mine earlier. She was right. I was losing control, and if I didn't walk out now, I'd never recover from this.

With a sharp exhale, I let her guide me toward the door, my blood still boiling but my head starting to clear. She stopped just outside the boardroom and shut the door behind us, and though they could see everything, she placed both of her palms on my cheeks and looked me directly in the eye.

"I love you," she said firmly, "but we have to do things the right way."

Right way? Was that what she thought I was failing at? Why she rejected my proposal? She thought I was handling this the wrong way?

"Beth, I?—"

Her lips cut me off, brushing over mine. It was a very soft kiss but insistent nonetheless, and I let my hands rest on her hips. I was acutely aware that the entire board was watching, probably planning my termination while Beth's lips were on mine still, but I knew Beth was only trying to help me.

"It's going to be okay," she said quietly.

"They're giving you the shaft. It's not right. You don't deserve this." I shook my head, ready to go back into that room and fight for her honor, but she put her hand on my chest and sighed.

"Will, I promise. Things will be okay. Please, take a deep breath. Try to stay calm. Do it for me…Do it for the baby," she said, and my heart pinched.

"For the baby," I repeated, and looked down at her hand on my blue button-down. There was so much more at stake than just my position as CEO or the integrity of my board, or Nevil Banks…I got lost in the chaos of it all and the stress of holding it all together was a weight I hadn't handled very well.

"I'll call you later, alright?" Beth breathed in deeply and took a step back. "Go on…"

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