Page 40 of Billionaire's Accidental Marriage
“Well,” he said as he shifted around, “luckily for you, I foresaw this phone conversation and already tapped into a few different resources to get some things done for me.”
I blinked. “You have?”
“Mhm! Mr. Gainsley, my job is to protect you and your assets from the all-consuming storm that is the media. And with your wife running rampant without a care in the world about what’s going on? Well, it’s been taking a toll on your businesses as well.”
“I don’t care about my businesses right now. Get her name out of their mouths.”
“Now, you know I can’t do that much. But, Icanchange the narrative they’re using.”
“Whatever you’ve done, just keep doing it, and I’ll pay you whatever it costs. Just keep her safe, Langley.”
He paused. “You have my word that we’ll do all we can.”
With his promise volleying around in my head, the two of us chatted a little bit on what the situation required before we hung up the phone. And try as I might, I simply couldn’t focus on my work. Every single time I flipped open a folder or went to answer an email, it was as if my brain completely shut itself down because all I wanted to do was help Maggie and not because she was incapable.
Quite the opposite, in fact. She was such a capable human being that sometimes she stopped caring about the things she needed to care about. And throughout all of this, I wanted to show her the kind of worth and help I could bring to her life so that, hopefully, she wouldn’t demand a divorce so soon. After all, I hadn’t given up hope that things might work out between the two of us.
And what did my helping hurt, anyway? Once the media found something else to latch on to, nothing will have changed. I would still be me, and Maggie would still be Maggie. We’d still be each other’s assistants. We’d still help each other out with our businesses. And we’d still keep our schedules free and clear in case the other person needed something.
“This could still work,” I murmured to myself. “Things could go back to normal.”
But, I knew I had crossed the point of no return. Things had forever changed for me. And I knew that if Maggie really did step back, it would forever alter the landscape of our friendship, our working relationship, and our future. Because the truth of the matter was that I loved her with every fiber of my being.
“Dammit!” I exclaimed.
I heard my secretary burst through my door. “Mr. Gainsley?”
I stood to my feet. “Out.”
“But, sir, do you need any—?”
I pointed over her shoulder. “I said, get out, Stacey!”
With a squeal, she slammed my door closed, and I pressed my hands into the mahogany wood of my desk. I hung my head in shame and growled to myself as I racked my brain for any way to dispel this insane amount of electric anger that coursed through my veins. I’d never felt this way before. I’d never felt so helpless when it came to my own emotions. And yet, here I was.
“Shit,” I hissed.
The day passed by in a blur, and I managed to get absolutely nothing done. I sat there, watching the silent stack of files that required my keen eye pile up as my email kept dinging with things I needed to read but couldn’t. I had to do something. I couldn’t afford to keep going through the motions like this. I couldn’t afford to keep walking through this foggy haze of uncertainty when the one woman who held all the answers I needed wanted to keep me at arm’s length. No, I had to do something. If anything, to free me from the trance she had cast over me. So, after packing up my laptop and locking up my office, I called Maggie from my cell phone as I headed down to the parking garage.
“Mike, now really isn’t a good time to—”
I chuckled. “Just dinner. That’s all I’m calling about.”
She paused. “What?”
“You’re still my assistant, remember? I’ve got some organizational and scheduling issues I need help with. Mind coming by for dinner so we can talk about it?”
“Michael, seriously. I’m swamped, and I just—”
“Then, bring the work you’re swamped with, and I’ll look at it while you look at my stuff. Unless we no longer have that agreement between us?” I stood there, waiting for the elevator, as silence fell over the phone.
And it wasn’t until the elevator doors opened that she sighed. “Okay, what time?” she asked.
I smiled as I stepped into the elevator. “My phone’s about to die but come over anytime between six and seven. I’ll cook us up a nice meal, and we can get some work done for each other that will hopefully make us both sleep a little easier.”
“That sounds fantastic. I’ll see you soon.”
The relief in her voice filled my heart with pride. “See you soon, beautiful.”
