by Esme Beal
The board members all looked at one another. Queen excused herself without a single word. She’d never looked as smug as she did.
What… What is she talking about?
“Mr. Webb?” Jon said to me.
“If there’s nothing else, this meeting is adjourned.”
Everybody excused themselves from the office, filing out one by one. Even though they weren’t saying anything, I could still feel the uncertainty from each one of them.
I stood next to the window and looked out onto the city.
“Ashton.”
I turned around and saw Jon standing there.
“Jon… What are you still doing here?”
“Is it true?”
I sighed a soft breath through my nose and closed my eyes.
It can’t be true…
“Ashton, if what Queen suggested was true—”
“I know. The CEO of the company getting involved with a convicted felon wouldn’t exactly be the best PR in the world.”
“When I told you to find an Omega for yourself, this wasn’t exactly what I had in mind.”
“I suppose I should’ve just picked someone from the lineup you gave me.”
“That would’ve been what’s best for the company…”
I could always trust Jon to be honest with me, even if he told me the truth I didn’t want to hear.
“What do you think the board will do?” I asked. “This isn’t serious… is it?”
“It’s a bad reflection of the company,” he said. “The board is always doing what it can to maximize profits.”
“But I’ve built this company from the ground up. This is my company—”
“And now you have investors and a board to answer to. They’re part of the reason the company was able to grow so much.”
“Yeah, I know,” I muttered.
“If what Queen said was true, the board might ask you to resign.”
I scoffed at his suggestion.
“All of my hard work,” I sighed. “Down the drain because I decided to lay with an Omega from the Southern Block…”
“There is one other option. An option that would allow you to maintain your position.”
“I know. You don’t even have to tell me. There must be some other way, Jon.”
I looked into his eyes, searching for the answer I wanted to hear but there was nothing. He sighed and shook his head softly at me. It was the answer I knew was coming but didn’t want to hear.
“How much time do I have?” I said.
“The board will convene in a few days to discuss this matter. If you’re stepping down, forced or not, they’ll want to move as quickly as possible to replace you.”
“Ridiculous…”
I looked out the window and stared into the distance. I wondered what Noah was doing right now. I thought about pulling my phone out and calling him. But I knew I needed to speak to him face to face. It was the only way I could get the truth from him.
“It’s your decision to make,” Jon said as he put a hand on my arm.
His voice didn’t provide me the same kind of comfort it usually did.
In the blink of an eye, I faced a decision I thought I would never have to make.
Chapter 20
NOAH
Eunice huddled all of the young children in the shelter together so she could tell them a story before dinner time. While everybody else was getting ready to eat and retire for the evening, the young ones had to be corralled so they could actually be put to sleep after dinner.
I stood by her side and watched as she read from the storybook. As energetic and entertained as the children were, they stayed in place and were engaged, hanging on every word Eunice gave them. The excitement in their eyes was enough to make me smile. I listened right along with them until Eunice finished.
“…The end…” she sighed.
The children are murmured to one another, a wave of excitement washing over the small crowd as they started to jump up and down.
“All right, all right,” she said with a laugh. “Everybody into the dining room now. It’s time for dinner. And then after that, it’s time for you to get to bed.”
“Can you read us another story?” one child pleaded.
“Yes, can you? Please!” another added.
“I don’t know,” Eunice said. “I’ll have to think about it. Only if you eat all your vegetables and behave at the dinner table.”
“All right!”
The children all rushed out of the small playroom and headed into the dining room. Eunice let out another deep sigh of relief and shook her head at me.
“They’re a handful,” I said.
“They are. But that just comes with the territory. Spending time with them is better than the alternative.”
“And what would the alternative be?”
“Not spending time with them.”
Eunice and I shared a laugh.
“If it’s too much for you, maybe I can read a story to them tonight.”
“Are you sure about that? They can be quite a handful.”
“A handful I’m used to at this point. I don’t do the voices with the stories like you can but the children still seem to enjoy it either way.”
“Don’t you have plans tonight?”
“Plans? I’m sure they can wait.”
“It doesn’t seem like they can…”
Eunice looked over my shoulder. I turned around and saw Ashton standing next to the entrance to the playroom.
“Sorry,” he said. “I didn’t mean to come in unannounced.”
“It’s fine,” I said with a laugh.
I walked up and greeted him with a kiss. I put my hands on his waist and held him. He wasn’t looking back at me.
Something’s wrong…
I looked into his eyes and saw what I didn’t want to see. His usual unwavering confidence seemed to be missing.
“Ashton,” Eunice said. “It’s a pleasure to have you here. We’re just getting dinner started. I can leave a spot open for you, though from what Noah is telling me, I don’t see any reason why you’d want to have dinner here…”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Ashton said with a soft smile on his lips. “There’s something I wanted to talk to Noah about first.”
“Of course. Take your time. Noah…”
Eunice excused herself. I didn’t have to hold anything back any longer.
“What’s wrong?” I said. “Tell me what’s wrong.”
“We… We need to talk. Alone…”
I gave him a nod and followed him out of the shelter. We walked just outside the front entrance.
The sun had just gone down in Snow Falls. The streets were beginning to empty but there were still people lurking in the alleyways. That’s just how it was in the Southern Block.
Ashton had his hands in his pockets as he stared out into the streets.
“We had a visitor today,” he said. “At the board meeting.”
“Queen.”
“…You remembered.”
“After what she said the other night at dinner, I couldn’t forget something like that. I wasn’t worried but seeing as how there’s something wrong, it seems like she’s the only one who can be up to it.”
“You’d be right.”
“What did she say? She can’t possibly do anything to hurt you. It’s just like you said. There’s nothing she could do as an investor.”
“But the board does have some say, even if I’m the CEO.”
“Ashton…”
He looked at me like he was having trouble staring at me.
“Can I ask you something?” he said.
“Of course. You can ask me anything. You don’t have to ask me.”
“Queen mentioned something… about you.”
“About me?”
I raised an eyebrow, curious as to what Queen could possibly say.
“She said that you’re a criminal,” he said. “Said that you were convicted of a crime.
I didn’t want to believe it. I suppose I could’ve looked it up but I wanted to hear it from you.”
It was all coming out at once. I blinked my eyes, unsure I’d heard him correctly. My mouth opened slightly but nothing came out.
“Is it true?” he said.
I could see the hurt in his eyes. I looked away from him and sighed.
I can’t…
I didn’t want to tell him but there was no way I could hold anything from him.
I nodded softly. He frowned slightly and shrugged.
“What happened?” he asked.
“It’s not something I’m proud of,” I said. “It… It happened a long time ago. It was after high school. I… I was at a bakery. I asked the owner if he had some food to spare. That was when I was just starting to spend time at the shelter. The owner yelled at me and told me to get lost. Told me he wasn’t running a charity.”
I sighed as all of the memories came back to me.
“I guess my emotions got the best of me. I came back one day. I just started picking some stuff out. It wasn’t for me. It was for some of the people in the shelter. That’s not a good enough excuse though. Not for the owner of the bakery. Not for anybody. I got caught and the cops cuffed me right then and there. Put it on my record.”
“You were trying to steal bread for the shelter?” Ashton said. “That’s it?”
“No,” I said with a laugh. “I got out and… I did it again.”
I scoffed because of how ridiculous I probably sounded.
“I had a prior, so they weren’t as lenient on me. Spent a good amount of time in jail. Judge said I had to learn my lesson. Didn’t want to hear any excuses. Honestly, no excuse was good enough for me to do what I did.”
I sighed a breath of relief.
“I’m sorry I kept that from you,” I said. “There was no reason for me to do that. I should’ve been honest with you from the start.”
“You didn’t keep it from me.”
He put his hands on my arms and looked into my eyes.
“Are you sure that’s all it was?”
“I’m sure,” I said with a nod. “You’re not angry with me, are you?”
“Angry?” he said, the smile on his face growing despite the concern still in his eyes. “That was a long time ago. I could never be angry with you for something like that. I would’ve done the same thing myself if I were in your position.”
“The reality is that I did it. I’ve got a blemish on my record. Not something I’m proud of.”
Ashton sighed and his hands dropped from my arms. From everything I knew about him, I knew he would be understanding. But the concern in his eyes hadn’t gone away. And it started to twist my stomach into knots I wanted to ignore.
“What’s wrong?” I said. “Ashton?”
“Queen knew exactly what she was doing,” he said. “When she told the board that you were a convicted criminal, they immediately objected to us being together.”
“But they’re just the board of directors. They can’t possibly influence your personal relationships.”
“They can when it starts to influence business. I talked to Jon. It doesn’t matter when or why you did what you did. Once the papers learn about this, and Queen will be more than willing to talk, it’ll be all over the front page. People won’t be willing to listen to the facts. That will be bad news for the company.”
“Then what’s going to happen?”
“Jon said that I only have one of two options. I can resign my position as CEO from the company.”
I shook my head in confusion.
“You can’t do that,” I said. “There has to be another way.”
“There is. I… I can stop seeing you.”
As soon as he said it, my heart sank inside of my chest. I knew how grateful I was to be with a man like Ashton. Every moment was a blessing. Now that it could possibly be taken away from me, the pain was worse than anything I’d ever felt before.
“It’s all right,” Ashton said as he pulled me close.
I buried my head into his chest, wanting all of our sudden troubles to go away.
“I’m not going anywhere,” he whispered. “I’ll be here for you. I’ll be here for our child.”
No…
I gently pulled away from him and looked up into his eyes. Those kind blue eyes, so intense… I saw a man I’d be willing to do anything for. And now it had come to that.
“What are you saying?” I said.
“I’ll step down. There’s no need for me to be in charge any longer.”
“Ashton—”
“I have enough money saved up. You and our child will live in luxury for the rest of our lives.”
“I can’t ask you to do that.”
“What kind of an Alpha would I be if I gave you up? What kind of a man would I be if I walked away when you needed me most?”
“And what kind of man would I be if I allowed you to do that? Ashton, you’ve worked hard your entire life to get where you are. I can’t ask you to throw it all away. Not for me. Not even for our child.”
“Noah—”
“No,” I said, shaking my head. “I… I won’t make you do that.”
“If there’s no other way, I have to do it.”
“I won’t let you.”
I stopped listening to him at this point. It all felt like some terrible nightmare. He pulled me close and squeezed his arms around me but none of it went away. I held him tight just the same but I knew I had to let him go.
“I’m going to do this,” he said.
“Wait…”
I released him from my grip and took a step back.
“At least think about it,” I said. “Think about what you’re doing. I don’t want you to make the wrong decision. Not for me. Not even for our child.”
His throat shifted with a swallow.
“Okay,” he said with a nod. “Maybe tonight—”
“I’m spending the night at the shelter. Eunice needs my help.”
“Okay…”
I’d never seen him look so disappointed before. I watched him get into his car and slowly drive down the street. It felt like my heart was going right along with him.
“Noah.”
I heard Eunice’s voice behind me.
“Noah, I thought you’d left.”
“No,” I sighed. “I’m still here.”
“You want to help me with dinner? The kids are wondering where you are.”
“I’m right here,” I said, forcing a smile onto my lips. “I’ll always be right here.”
Chapter 21
ASHTON
I sat at the bar with my fist resting against my cheek. The glass sitting on the bar was empty. The bartender couldn’t fill it back up soon enough.
The redhead sitting next to me was silent. I shifted my gaze toward her. She shifted her eyes toward the ceiling, thinking about all of the details I’d just given her.
“Wow…” she sighed.
“Wow,” I said. “That’s one way of putting it.”
“I’m sorry. It’s just a lot to take in.”
“I know, I know. I’m not blaming you, Donna. It’s not your fault. You’ve always been there for me. You’re here for me now. You know what you being here with me makes me realize?”
“What’s that?”
“Noah was the only person in my life besides you. And most of the time we spent together was in my office doing work.”
She giggled and shook her head. I raised my head up in curiosity.
“What’s so funny?” I said.
“Do you remember how the board wanted you to find an Omega for yourself? How I laid out all of those pictures for you to find someone special?”
“How could I forget? It’s the reason I even decided to go looking in the first place. It’s the only reason I was fortunate enough to run into Noah… What about it?”
Donna looked at me with a tight-lipped smile. Even though she worked for me, I could trust her to be hones
t.
“I wasn’t doing it just because the board recommended it,” she said. “You know I care about you, Ashton. I want you to be happy. You deserve to be with someone. And from what you’re telling me, Noah is the one. You wouldn’t have been fated to him otherwise.”
“So I should be with him then? That’s what I figured all along. The company isn’t worth giving him up—”
“Hold on a second. That’s not what I’m saying at all.”
“But—”
“I only said that I want you to be happy. Not my boss. Not the rich CEO I happen to work for. Not the miserable millionaire I see every day.”
“Miserable?” I said, raising an eyebrow in curiosity.
“Well, miserable might be too strong of a word. But your demeanor has been noticeably more pleasant ever since you’ve been with Noah.”
“Then you are telling me to leave the company behind and stay with Noah.”
Donna sighed through her nose, that tight-lipped smile still on her face.
“What about your wife?” I asked. “If you had to give up everything you were good at, everything you worked hard for, would you do it for her?”
“Without question. My wife is more important to me than anything. I would find a way to make it work.”
“Then I don’t see what the decision is.”
“But… I’m not in charge of a multi-million dollar corporation. Webb Enterprises and Technology… That’s your company. You built it with your own hard work, your sweat. Now they’re pushing you out because you just so happened to be with a criminal.”
“A criminal,” I sighed. “A man steals a loaf of bread to feed some homeless and he’s the most evil man in all of Snow Falls…”
The bartender finally refilled my glass. I swallowed the liquor down and motioned for him to fill it again. In a rundown bar like this, in the suit I wore, I expected to draw more attention to myself. But it seemed like everybody here was just trying to drink to push their troubles away.
“I have a responsibility,” I said. “Not just to Noah but the child on the way. I can’t just leave him alone to raise that kid by himself. It wouldn’t be right.”
