All In (22 page)

H
ow could
things fall apart so fast?

The design was divine. The plan was perfect. She’d given Marissa and her team the preview, and she knew everyone was receptive to the final plan. Her baby was about to be launched. This was her second design in a month to receive such a positive reception by the senior partners. The first being the final web design for the company. According to Maddox, it was a raving success, sure to grab some awards along the way. If the senior partners weren’t already flying high about the company’s design, they would be after seeing what she’d done for Marissa’s practice. There was a strong possibility that she and her team would have two designs vying for top accolades when the time came.

She should have known that it was all too good to be true. She should have known that she was just too happy, too willing to think things would go her way. Since when had happiness and satisfaction been anything but a fleeting folly?

The meeting started off beautifully, with smiles and shaking of hands—plenty of congratulations and excitement that electrified the room. Cass did her job and went page by page through her design, highlighting how it was going to set Marissa’s practice apart from all others. She had started moderately confident in the design. It was something she loved, a design she was proud of, and she knew she could defend every single design decision. After the first few gasps and seeing the pride in Maddox’s eyes, she’d felt like she was flying high.

Only to crash back down to the hard, cold earth.

The lights came back on when she finished, and the group clapped. That was a good start, but then that husky female voice piped in, “Well, thank you Maddox. You and your girlfriend did your company proud. The site is amazing.”

Crash. Thud. Boom.

She’d come to trust Marissa, and that had been her fatal mistake. She’d thought her manipulations were over. Cass had truly believed she and Maddox were finally untouchable. She’d had her website design. The contract was signed, the product delivered, and they were in the clear. Cass would bask in her success for a few moments, and then she’d leave. She’d take her talent elsewhere, and she and Maddox could be together. In the open. Where they no longer had to hide.

It was there, right in front of her. She’d grabbed onto the dream, and with a few simple words, one stupid sentence…it all slipped from her grasp.

The partners said nothing, acting like Marissa hadn’t said anything out of the ordinary, but they couldn’t quite hide the half second of shock before they returned to being the preening peacocks they were, espousing all the glories of this design.

But Cass knew better. As soon as Marissa and her team left the building, Hell would break loose, and she’d be on the losing end of it.

After all, she wouldn’t expect anything less. Maddox was their Golden Boy. He was the youngest COO the company had ever seen. He brought in millions of dollars of new clients every year. He’d proven himself invaluable to the company.

And what was Cass but a hotshot web designer? She was good, and they knew it, but she was certainly replaceable.

* * *

W
hen the pleasantries
faded and Marissa’s team left, she followed Marissa to her car.

“What the hell, Marissa?”

“What?”

“How could you do that to him? To me? I thought you were beyond this?” Cass questioned, not bothering to tamp down the mix of whine and annoyance in her tone.

“Beyond what?” Marissa opened her eyes wide, feigning some sort of innocence. Cass worked to suppress a desire to punch this woman in her ignorant little face.

“Destroying him!”

“I was never out to destroy him.”

“You just did. And me.”

“I did you a favor,” she explained, her face determined. The woman really believed it. The delusional bitch actually believed she was doing the both of them a favor. What the fuck?

“What? What kind of favor is that? Getting me fired? Ruining his career?”

“Yes. All of that. If he really cares about you. If he really wants you, then none of this matters. Not his reputation. Not your job. Not any of it. All that should matter is you.”

Cass flinched. The woman was insane. Yes, Cass should matter more to Maddox than his job, and she really believed she did. How crazy was this woman to think that she knew better than Cass what really mattered to Maddox? “So this is about forcing his hand? How could you do that?”

“I’ve always done it.”

Suddenly the force of what she was saying hit Cass hard. She’d been right all along. Marissa had wanted him to choose her—to be the husband she needed, not the career climber he was. In her twisted little mind, she’d manipulated all those women, not to get Maddox back for the wrong, but to help him see what he could be.

“You care about him.”

“I always have. I want him to have what he denied himself. What I found.”

“Fuck. Marissa. He did have it. He does have it. He was about to have it all, and look what you did.”

“I’m helping you, you know.”

“No, you’re not. You’re abso-fucking-lutely not helping me. We were fine. We were figuring it out. Together. I didn’t need him to make a choice. I didn’t need him to announce to the world that we’re together. I need him. Just him. And now—now you’re trying to destroy that. Get the fuck out. Just go.” Cass shouted, tears streaming down her cheeks as the high-heeled psycho-bitch got into her fancy sedan and drove away.

They say the best laid plans lead to Hell, and she was in it now.

* * *

“
M
iss Moore
, you know why you’re sitting here?” Charles Hightower stared at her from his almost black eyes, his brow furrowed like a father confronting his daughter after he caught her red-handed stealing a kiss from her boyfriend.

“Yes,” she responded, keeping her voice flat and using the fewest words possible, because what she wanted to say was in no way appropriate.

“You know your conduct is considered unbecoming of an employee here,” he growled, his sharp gaze making her want to squirm. Cass focused instead on the small mole above his eye, letting it keep her from physically responding to his intensity. She just remained silent.

Mole. Mole. Mole.

How did they come up with the word “mole?”

It’s not like the brown spot resembled the little rodent creature.

“Are you listening to me, Miss Moore?” The man’s irritation grew, his face turning redder.

“Yes, sir.”

“You know you’ll need to resign.” It wasn’t a question. It was a statement.

Was he an idiot?

He’d handed her all the power she needed. In one sentence, he set himself up for a world of hurt, and suddenly power replaced her anxiety. She was sure they hadn’t asked Maddox to resign. They couldn’t. Well, these old-school bastards were about to see what she was made of. She may be a woman in a tech company. She may be short, and her average looks may have made her seem less intimidating, but she had more mettle than they could imagine.

“Did you ask that of Maddox?” she questioned back, her eyes meeting Mr. Hightower’s before moving on to the steeled eyes of his two other partners.

“He knows where he stands,” Peter Stone piped in. Yes, Cass was sure he did. Maddox would get a slap on the wrist and return the next day to continue on as if nothing had happened. Anger and jealousy flashed for a second, but she shoved down the ugly thoughts. This wasn’t Mad’s fault. This was on these jerks who made the rules obviously thought her replaceable.

“And yet, you’re asking me to leave?” she pushed harder, watching a little doubt seep into their stern expressions.

Cass sat back, crossed her arms and waited.

“Miss Moore, you must realize-“

“No. I’m sorry, sir. I don’t realize. I don’t see your point. I see you dictating the personal lives of your employees. I see you choosing one employee over another, and I see you discriminating against a woman. That’s what I see.”

“We are just protecting ourselves. These rules are in place for a reason. We don’t want any sexual harassment suits, and this protects us. You broke the rules, Miss Moore. A blatant disregard for the policies in place. You could have cost us this account, and then what?”

Cass suppressed the desire to bare her teeth to these jerks. Her eyes danced with challenge, fury fueling the blood pumping in her veins. She was Cassidy Moore. Sure, Mad brought in the business, but you know who brought them back time and time again? She did. Her designs. The designer who put the company on the map. The designer chosen to revamp their own website. She drove her people to excellence, and expected no less of herself. How dare they think anything less of her? She’d worked hard to develop this reputation, this skill, and no misogynistic gaggle of ganders was going to take it away from her. They may fire her, but she was better than this. She was better than how they were treating her. Fuck them and their company.

“You want me to resign? My answer is no. You want to fire me? Go ahead. Just try.” She leaned forward as if to challenge any of them. She wouldn’t give them what they wanted. No way. Of course she broke the rules. Both she and Mad knew that, if they were caught, it would be a problem, but her heart couldn’t walk away from him, and she was damn well deserving of more credit than they were giving her.

Mr. Hightower sighed. “Stubborn, the both of you.”

Sure, it had been her plan to leave all along. She’d done what she needed to build her portfolio so that she could go wherever she wanted. But not this way. She wanted her future on her own terms. She wasn’t going to be derailed by an antiquated rule. Yes, she was stubborn. Stubborn to a fault.

M
addox wore
a path in the carpet of his office. Where the fuck was she?

He’d already called Marissa and bitched her out for what she did. She tried at first to play if off as an innocent mistake, but Maddox was done with his ex-wife’s games. He was done rolling over and letting Marissa destroy the potential for anything good in his life. This was his life. His job. His relationship. His everything. Fuck his job. If she destroyed his chance with Cass…

“Aaaaagh,” he growled, running his hands through his hair.

“Very caveman of you,” her soft voice carried from the doorway.

He whipped around as she stepped into his office, softly shutting the door behind her.

It took him two strides to reach her in the middle of the office, pulling her into a bear hug.

“I’m so sorry,” he whispered into her hair. God, she smelled of vanilla and woman. He loved that smell. He loved her. And she was here, in his arms where she belonged.

“Sweetie, you don’t have to be sorry. Please…Mad…you’re kind of crushing me here,” she gasped.

He let her go, a sheepish blush blanketing his face.

“Honey, sit down. We’re going to talk.” Cass motioned to the couch where she was already taking a seat.

Talking. That was good wasn’t it? Panic began to bubble under the surface as he took his place next to her. Nothing good ever came out of anyone saying they needed to talk.

“Cass…”

“No. Listen. Just listen, please,” Cass pleaded, putting her fingers on his lips. Her soft fingers that lingered there longer than just a few seconds. Heat rose between them, and as much as he wanted to grab onto her and not let her go, he just nodded.

“I’m leaving the company,” she stated in that matter of fact tone she used when she was steeling herself. Good thing she did, too, because the roar that left Maddox’s mouth would have made most people cower. Cass didn’t even blink. Why didn’t she blink? Damn woman.

“Sweetie, I need to leave. Not today, because fuck those assholes if they think they can force me out. Hell no. They’ll have to fire me, and they know if they do I’ll sue their asses off. But soon. I have to go,” she placed her hand on his tense arm, and he wanted to melt. He wanted to be that guy who calmed down at her touch. He wished he could, but no matter how much he craved her caresses, what she was telling him was unacceptable.

“No.”

Her eyes widened for a second before they narrowed. Her face turned a shade of red, and her eyes lit on fire. But Maddox didn’t care. They were a team. They worked so well together. She was not going to leave him. She was going to be here every fucking day, joking and making magic.

“What did you say?”

“No. You’re not leaving. You-“

“Maddox Paul, you shut up now. Just shut up. I love you, and I’m telling you now you’d better think about your next few sentences,” she bit out through clenched teeth.

The muscles in his neck clenched, and his jaw worked as he fought the words in his head. They wanted out. They wanted to inflict pain. Cruel, awful things. He wanted her to feel the hurt he did.

“I want out, Mad. I want away from Phil. I want away from the misogyny. I want to be somewhere that fuels my creativity, that promotes it. I talked to Sandra O’Leary the other day, and she-“

“O’Leary? From Limerick? That shithole of a design company?” Maddox reared up. She was thinking of leaving Ace, a top-tier web design company with stock options and prominence, for a tiny nothing of a design company that barely held onto it’s even smaller customer base?

“Yes, and she’s willing to offer me a partnership. I’d be building something Mad. Me. I’d have creative license and be able to put my stamp on something special. It would be all me. It wouldn’t be Ace Design’s, it would be mine.” Her eyes met his, and he wanted to reach in and be that supportive boyfriend who pulled her into a hug and made it all okay. He wished he was the guy who could say “go for it,” and mean it. But he was a selfish bastard.

“You have special here. Why would you go slumming? You want to join that joke of a firm, you’d become part of the joke. You’d-“

She jerked away, pain slicing through her face. “Fuck you. Just fuck you,” she whispered as she jumped up off of the couch.

She stormed to the door.

“I’m taking the day off.”

Then she disappeared.

She didn’t just disappear from the office that day. She’d also disappeared from his apartment. He’d brought some flowers and wine, all apologies, but she wasn’t there yet.

M: Where are you?

Silence.

He knew he’d been an unsupportive asshole in his office. He just didn’t know what to do with the bombshell she’d presented to him. She was his rock, and his biggest cheerleader. She was the design guru he could always rely on. When he was having a bad day, she was the person he turned to, and he loved having all that at home
and
at work.

It wasn’t totally noticeable at first, but then he saw her special soap missing when he went to take a shower. Then her toothbrush. Then he’d gone into his room to find her space in the drawer empty. The little things she’d left behind for when she spent the night…gone.

M: Cass…where are you? Worried. Please…

More silence.

That’s when the panic set in.

He’d called. He’d texted more. He even drove to her apartment, and nothing. Finally he went to the one person he knew would have an idea if she was okay.

“What?” Lo’s voice was curt as she answered the door, and her eyes cut through him.

“Lo, where is she?”

“Not here.”

“Lo…”

Shut up, dickhead. Get inside. I don’t want witnesses when I cut off your damn balls.”

Maddox ducked his head and stepped inside. Dan got up from the couch, shook his head, and kissed Lo on the cheek. “I’ll grab us something to drink.”

“Lo,” Maddox pleaded. “Please. Please, tell me where she is.”

“No. She needs some space. Do you realize what she’s been going through? Do you?”

“We’ve both-“

“Oh, hell no. Not both. No way. You don’t have any clue, do you? You left, idiot. You were gone for two years living your dream. You walked away from her. From us. She was devastated, Mad. From the day she met you, you were it. She tried to date, and no one was good enough. No one could ever match up to fucking Maddox Paul. She put you in a box in her head, and she knew nothing would ever happen, but you were always the high bar she set for anyone else.”

Lo nodded as she took one of the whiskey tumblers from Dan, who then handed Maddox another one.

“Lo, what does that have to do with-“

“Shhhh. You’re going to listen, you turd, because this has everything to do with it. She loved you, even if she’d never have admitted it. When you left her, left us, it almost killed her spirit. Maddox, you were her sun. Her life revolved around you. She worked hard for you. She flirted with you. She didn’t flirt with anyone. Ever. You were her biggest self-esteem boost, and her biggest self-worth killer. You’d sleep with anything with long legs and a bony frame, but never someone like her. She never felt good enough, but she loved you anyway.”

“I never-“

“I said shut up,” Lo pointed her orange-polished finger at him, and the death look in her eyes kept him rooted to his seat and his jaw clenched shut. He still wasn’t sure what the point was. “She loved you, and you all but disappeared. Sure, you’d visit from time to time. You’d blow into the office, give her hugs and kisses, and disappear again. You’d email her when you needed a boost. But then you ignored her when she told you how bad things really were. You were a selfish dick then, and you are now. We’ve gone through two years of hell, and you ignored it. You left us to the mercies of a dictator who took out his anger and his insecurities on us—and most pointedly, her. She has scraped and clawed to keep that reputation you helped build, and if she stays with this company, it will kill her. Do you know what will happen when this whole thing between you two gets out?”

He nodded. He knew. She’d lose everything she’d worked so hard to build. That reputation would go from being the golden design girl to the girlfriend of Maddox Paul who slept her way to success. “I don’t want that for her.”

“No, but it’s gonna happen unless she takes control. Did she tell you what happened with the senior partners?” Lo took a long sip of her drink. He shook his head again. He hadn’t let her. He hadn’t asked. Fuck.

“Yeah, well, they basically told her that she wasn’t as important as their Golden Boy, Maddox Paul, and that she had to quit immediately.”

“She didn’t, though.”

“Hell no, that girl may be an anxious mess when it comes to you, but she’s got some professional balls. Thank goodness. She told them that if they fired her, she’d sue their asses for gender discrimination. She wouldn’t have much of a case, but it would be enough to drag them through the mud, so there’s that.” For the first time since he’d gotten there, she grinned, but it was mirthless and cruel.

“Lo-“

“Yeah, well, then she came to you with her plan. Did you know that Limerick approached her? Did you know that she’d always dreamed of running her own design firm? She doesn’t have the capital to open up something on her own, and in walks O’Leary with a gift..and you shit all over it. The one person who holds her heart in his hand, and you do no better than those assholes in suits who tried to tell her she was less than you, that her creativity and cutting edge mind was replaceable. She had her light at the end of the tunnel and you were the selfish bastard who tried to snuff it out.”

“I didn’t-“

“Fuck you, Maddox. You did. You played upon her fears. Limerick is good. It needs someone like her to put it on the map, that’s all. They have the management and structure to be amazing, and she’s the perfect creative partner for them. If you’d get your head out of your ass long enough to look at the situation, you’d know it was true. If it was anyone but Cass, you’d be pushing them out the door.”

Maddox dropped his head to his hands.

What had he done?