Promises Forgotten
Chapter 38

I had steeled myself for coming into the office, but as I walked out of the elevators, I realized my heart was nowhere ready. I wanted to burn this whole place down and at the same time find a corner to just wallow in the pain I was feeling. It didn’t matter, though. I had work to do. I made sure that Derek was my first appointment in the morning.

We had gone over a lot of the specifics of my next steps. To say he was shocked was an understatement. He was quick to recover and followed my explicit instructions, never once asking me if this was something I actually wanted to do. It took 2 hours to get the mounds of paperwork typed, corrected and sorted, but finally it was ready. Standing up, he left the final result of our non-stop work on the table. My desk looked like a disaster with the amount of paperwork on it.

Derek kept narrowing his eyes as though he wanted to say something, but didn’t. Sighing, I rubbed my eyes.

“You’ve been making a face for over a half hour. What is it?”

“I don’t mean to pry or to be a nag. I know you have a mountain of paperwork…” He stared at my desk.

“What is it, Derek?”

Clearing his throat, he smiled softly. “You’re still married.”

My eyes narrowed and then widened. “What?” The word came across as both a whisper and a cry.

“You left before signing the papers. Evelyn signed them, but you never did. They are most likely somewhere in that pile. I just thought, I would inform you. I didn’t know how you wanted to proceed now.”

My eyes stared down at the pile on my desk. I had never signed them. I knew she had come by and signed them. I thought I had signed them before she did, but Derek did say she made a final change the day before. There was never a chance. That was when I was holed up at home for two days and then I immediately left for France.

“I just thought…I would say something.”

I looked back at Derek, who had a light smile playing on his lips. He nodded and headed out the door, closing it gently behind him. Quickly, I came around the desk and dug through all the paperwork in the pile. Finally, I found the three copies of the papers. One for me, one for the court, and one for her. Flipping to the last page of each, I saw her single signature on each of them. The last copy, though, had water marks at the bottom of the page. My thumb brushed over them for a moment before I flopped down in my chair.

My heart hammered in my chest. I was still married. It didn’t mean I still had a chance, but it was something. It wasn’t from scratch. I knew I needed to see her, but I needed to wrap up everything here first. Maybe I could start the wrap-up and head over to LA for a few days. Test the waters. If they turned up futile, I could just move back to France. That wouldn’t be so bad.

“Hey, Stace?”

She hummed over the intercom. “Can you ask Adrian to come in for a meeting?”

“A meeting?”

“Yes, an official business meeting, please. As early as he can today.”

“S…sure. I’ll give him a call now.”

I smiled. “Thanks, Stace. I appreciate it.”

Leaning back in my chair, I grabbed the three copies of the divorce papers and tossed them in the bottom drawer of my desk that I locked. It was hard to continue to focus on the paperwork that was left on my desk, but I did my best. Most of it was just things that needed to be approved or items that needed to be delegated to different departments within the company. It was three hours later when Adrian walked into my office without knocking.

“I thought I taught you better, Adrian. Knock first.”

“You asked for a meeting with me. I’m here. What’s up?”

He plopped down on the couch and undid his jacket. My eyebrow went up and I narrowed my eyes. “If this is how you show up to a business meeting, I wonder how you get anything approved.”

“What kind of business meeting would you call me for, Z? I thought Stacy was joking.”

“No. She wasn’t.” I stood up and looked out the window, my hands clasped behind me. “I need your full attention. I also want what is said in this room to be confidential until we fully decide on the details.”

I heard Adrian clear his throat. “You’re serious.”

Turning to him, my face was in full business mode. “Yes, I’m serious.” Waving at the table, I continued. “This mountain of paperwork before you I what that Derek and I worked on for hours this morning. If anything needs to be changed, we can do so before signatures are address.”

Adrian leaned over the table. “What is it?”

“I want to buy you out of DV Holdings.”

He coughed and looked up at me. “Are you f*****g joking?”

Shaking my head, I walked over to my bar and poured him a single. Handing him the glass, he downed it in one gulp. “I want to take over DV Holdings fully.”

“Why the hell would you want that?”

Smiling, I leaned on the back of the chair facing him. “Because I’m stepping down as CEO of Anderson and A. Wright Holdings.”

His face was blank for a moment. Then I watched all the b***d drain from his face. “Excuse me?” Adrian’s voice was small and higher than normal.

“I am going to step down as CEO, Adrian.”

“What the actual f**k, Z!” He yelled, standing up from the couch. “Do you know what you’re f*****g saying?”

Smiling like a kid, I laughed. “Of course, I know what I am saying. I f*****g said it, you dipshit.”

“You can’t f*****g step down as CEO! Who the hell will be CEO then? Dad? Again?”

“You, Adrian. You will be CEO.”

The next thing he was about to say died in his throat. His mouth just hung open. Shaking his head, he backed away from me and fell back on the couch. Adrian put his head in his hands.

“I can’t be CEO, Z.”

“You can and you will.”

Adrian growled. “How Z? How the f**k will I be CEO?”

“Because I’m buying you out of DV Holdings with my shares in the company.”

He opened his mouth but then closed it. His eyes were wide.

“That will make you the largest shareholder in the company. It will secure you Chairman of the Board as well as being CEO.”

“Z…” His voice was so small, but I couldn’t help but keep the smirk on my face. “Why? Not only is my half of DV Holdings not worth the shares you hold, but why the hell are you doing this all of a sudden?”

Standing up, I took a deep breath. Walking back to the window, I looked out over the city.

“I got my memories back, A.”

“What? And you didn’t f*****g tell me?”

He stood up again and walked over to me. Grabbing my shoulders, he spun me around, but stopped when he saw my face. I knew tears were falling down my face. I knew how broken I looked. The business shark mask slipped for a moment as I looked at my little brother.

“Jesus, Z. Is it that bad?”

“I can’t be part of this anymore, A. I can’t do it. The things I remembered…” My eyes closed and I looked back outside. It took a moment for me to collect myself and have the business mask to come back. “I’m doing this. If you won’t take up the mantle, A, then I will pass it off to one of the cousins. I would rather it be you. I think it always should have been you and I think Grandpa always wanted it to be you.”

Adrian shook his head, leaning against the window. “Dad won’t…

“I don’t give a rats a*s what that man thinks. He can f**k right off. If I never see him again, it will be too f*****g soon.” I spit, my anger rising.

I hated him. For a long time, I pitied my father and while I was mad at his decisions, I couldn’t hate him. He was my father and I had memories of when he was a true father to us to hold me over. Now, not even those memories would hold up. I hated him and the mere thought of him made me livid. He deserved nothing from me, and I wouldn’t touch anything that was his. Adrian didn’t need to know what he had done, but Adrian deserved to be the one to step up for the company.

“What did Dad do?”

Shaking my head, I flashed him a smile. “All the details for the transfer are in the paperwork. I intend on flying out to LA to go over some things within DV and get a better handle on what’s going on out there. Once I come back, there will be a week I’ll work with you in regard to the transfer of projects and any other issues you might have.”

“A week? Z, you took over and have worked your a*s off for over three years! You can’t just let it go in a week.”

“I can and I will, Adrian. That’s my final word on it.” Sighing, I ran my hand through my hair. It had gotten so long since France. “This will be your legacy now. I’m glad I was able to help pave the way and get rid of the corruption before you took over. Now, it is yours to build up.” I wiped a stray tear that came out of his eye. “I will always be here to help you and to look out for you. If you need me, I will be there, but you can do this. I know you can. I believe in you and if I didn’t, I wouldn’t have made this decision.”

Adrian straightened and pulled down on his jacket, rolling his shoulders and taking a breath. “I’ll need to take the paperwork and go over it with my lawyers.”

“Good. If there are any changes you wish to make, please reach out Derek. He will alter anything.”

“When do you leave for LA?”

“As soon as I can, honestly. I don’t want to be caught with my foot in my mouth at DV.”

Adrian went over to the desk and picked up the paperwork, putting it in the black folder. “I’ll get back to you with this.”

Nodding, I gave him a smile. “Congratulations, Adrian.”

He shook his head. “Congratulate me when I’m CEO and you are finally happy.”

“I can do the first. The second part though…” I looked out the window. “I’m not so sure…”