Page 74 of Nanny for the Bossy Billionaire

“Naomi, I’m so sorry,” Dad says.

“Why? You weren’t the drunk driver who hit my Uber.”

“No, but I’m the reason we haven’t had the past four years together. If you hadn’t made it through this accident…”

He doesn’t need to complete the sentence for me to understand what he was about to say.

“Can you forgive us?” Mom asks. “We thought we were doing what was best for you. We thought if we cut you off that eventually you would change your mind. We were wrong. Now that I look back at it, all of this has been so trivial. We accept the decisions you have made and we are going to reinstate your trust fund and you’ll have access to it immediately. We would also like to be a part of your life. You know, so that when things like this happen, we won’t be so out of the loop that we don’t even know where you live and with whom.”

“Thanks… I would like that very much. Although the money will be nice to have, that’s not what I miss the most. I miss having my family. If you say you want to be in each other’s lives again, that’s all I really need.”

Tears are pouring down Mom’s face and Dad is doing everything he can to fight his back.

Mom leans down and kind of presses her body against mine awkwardly in a hug. Dad follows her lead and does the same. That’s when he breaks and starts crying too.

I don’t know what the future holds with my family, but we’re going to try to heal, and I am grateful for that.

26

REID

Today is the day.

According to the company bylaws, a board member needs to be notified in writing when they are to be voted upon. My letter came while I was with Naomi in the hospital. When I got back home for the first time after hearing she was in an accident, it was waiting for me.

The next day I sent similar letters to Eve and Mitchell Davenport each. They won’t be on their guard, because this is what usually happens. When a board member tries oust a CEO, the CEO in question, should they survive the vote, usually calls a vote to kick said board member out. So they probably think nothing of my letter. They think I’m walking up to the slaughter with nothing up my sleeve.

How wrong they are.

I am the first to enter the boardroom. I take my usual seat and board members start filling in soon after.

When Eve walks into the room, she does so with her nose in the air.

Once we are all situated, and everyone is accounted for, Eve gets to her feet.

“Good morning, everyone. Thank you all for coming.”

Everyone around the table murmurs their greeting, then Eve continues, “I don’t want to waste too much time, seeing as we all have busy schedules. So I’ll jump right into why we are all here. First of all, I would like to offer my condolences to William Packard on the passing of his father, and welcome him to the board.”

“Thank you very much.” William, who looks nothing like his father, says. “My family and I appreciate the well wishes. On behalf of my mother, I would like to thank the board for their courtesy visit to see her upon my father’s passing. She was very touched.”

“Oh, it was our pleasure. Again, we express our apologies that we were one man short. Our CEO couldn’t make it,” Eve says, giving me a pointed look.

“I went to see Mrs. Packard on my own as soon as Ernest passed. He was an old friend. I didn’t want to wait the week until everyone’s schedules aligned. So I didn’t see the need to go a second time.”

The room is silent, and my words linger in the air for a few moments.

“I didn’t know that.” Eve smiles. “Anyway, William, welcome.”

William nods.

“Now, this brings us to another piece of business. I hate to do this, but since we are all assembled, I would like to call for a vote to terminate Reid Harris asHarris Tech’s CEO and strip him of his board seat. Reason being, he has become an impediment to the company and I do not believe we can move forward with him steering the ship. Can I get someone to second the motion?”

“I second the motion,” Mitchell Davenport says, as expected.

Eve claps her hands together. “Okay, let’s vote. Those in fav—”

“Before we vote, I have something I would like to say,” I interject.

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