41. Jackson

"Iswear on Tiana's life, Mandy, if you drop that box, so help me God?—"

"I'm not going to drop it," she laughed, sidestepping my home office desk. The assorted non-valuables inside rustled, and within a second, her wide eyes met mine. "It's not that fragile, right?"

I wanted to laugh, but I wanted to mess with her more. "That box has the main system for Infinius in it," I deadpanned.

"Oh my God, I should put this down," she said, her voice rising in pitch as the panic set in. "Jack? Jack, take it, please, I don't want to wreck it."

I laughed as I plucked the cardboard from her hands. "So gullible."

Her wide eyes turned to slants. "Seriously? What's in there, then?"

I shrugged, popping the top open and pulling out a silver medal. "Just my participation awards from middle school." I slid the ribbon around my neck, the fake silver jingling. "This one was from… basketball maybe? I was so bad at sports."

Mandy slapped my shoulder playfully. "Why do you even want these in the new office?"

"I like having my accomplishments on display."

"Your seventh-grade basketball participation award is important enough to be on display?" She mocked, twisting the plastic medal around my neck as she inspected it.

"I don't want my employees to feel overshadowed."

"Angela's going to make fun of you," she said as if that was any point at all.

"Angela already makes fun of me. I can take it," I grinned. I popped the top of the box back on, labeled the side with a Sharpie, and set it into the To Movepile by the door. This was going to take way longer than I thought, but I was hoping I'd be in the new office by the end of the weekend.

————

The new campus was buzzing with life as I walked through the halls, Mandy padding along behind me as I pushed the crate of boxes toward the elevator.

We had a meeting in thirty minutes with security, lawyers, and Harry. Supposedly he was actually going to turn up for once, and I could tell by the way Mandy fiddled with her wrists and fingers that she was dreading it.

As much as I didn't want to put her in that position, her presence was necessary. If Harry wanted to keep this out of court, she was going to have to negotiate the terms of that agreement on her own.

"Hey," I said, dragging her attention back to me as we stepped onto the clear glass elevator. "Do you want to see something top secret?"

She cracked a grin, a little chuckle seeping out. "How secret is top secret?"

"Well, it's not technically secret. More of an off-limits thing."

"Off limits to everyone, or off limits to me?"

I pressed the B button and presented my card to the scanner. The doors closed in front of us, the elevator purring to a start and beginning to descend. "Off limits to everyone except me and a select few engineers and programmers. The list is about six people long."

Her eyes widened as she realized where we were heading, straight down to the lowest floor. "Only six people?"

"Not including myself."

The elevator slowly came to its smooth halt, the doors parting in front of us to a small room with a door. I pushed the cart forward and to the side, out of the way.

"You're not planning on, like, murdering me down here, right?"

I laughed as I stuck my key in the lock of the door, twisting three full rotations to the right and once to the left. "I guess you'll just have to trust that I'm not."

I pushed the door open, bright, faux-natural light leaking through. In an almost completed circle around the edges of the room, the supercomputer whirred, little wires embedded into the glass floor leading to the center of the circle where a pillar encased in glass sat, a locked door on the front for ease of access if we needed to do repairs.

"I was wondering what this room was," Mandy said, her voice quiet from the shock as she took it in. "The blueprints for it looked so strange."

"Well, now you know."

"Yeah." She blinked, her eyes struggling to decide what to focus on. "So, what is it?"

I laughed and stepped across the glass, toward the second most important object in the room besides Mandy. "This, princess, is Infinius."

————

Showing Mandy the room where the most important bit of tech in the entire company sat wasn't exactly on my list of plans for the day, but I was glad I did it. If she had any lingering doubts on whether or not I trusted her completely, I hoped showing her that swayed them.

Plus, it put her in a slightly better mood for the meeting.

She breathed out a shaky breath as she adjusted the collar of her jacket, her eyes searching mine for the confidence to go in the room. "I can do it. Right?"

"Of course you can," I grinned. "And if he says a single fucking word other than ‘okay', we take him to court and drain him for every penny he's worth, and then some."

"I don't want to ruin his life," she mumbled.

"You might after this."

"Why?"

"We've, uh, done some more digging," I sighed, taking her hand in mine and giving it a squeeze. "Do you want to know now or in there?"

"Now, obviously."

I bit my lip, trying to figure out the right words to say. "There's a reason your profits were down the last few months before I hired you," I began. "And I think a part of you suspected it for a while. The financial reports you gave my team…"

Her gaze went straight through me as the puzzle pieces lined up in her mind. "He was stealing money, wasn't he?"

"Technically, embezzling is the right term?—"

"Shit," Mandy hissed. She pressed her palms into her eyes, her breathing spiking, her lower lip quivering. "How?"

"Overcharging clients. Pocketing the excess. Harry's work email has had quite a few complaints sent to it from your clients about how the amount they were asked to pay was significantly more than the amount given to them on their invoices."

She leaned into me, her forehead against the lapel of my suit jacket. "I'm going to kill him, Jack. I can't go in there. I'll stab a pen into his throat?—"

"Shhh, my little murderer. You're not going to kill him," I chuckled, pushing her back from me and wrapping my fingers gently around her wrists. I pried her hands from her eyes, little bits of mascara stuck just below her lashes. "You're going to stand up for yourself, show him you're the better person. Lie a little and show him that this hasn't affected you in the slightest. You're strong, Mandy. You can do it."

She sniffled as I wiped away the clumps of mascara, making sure she looked pristine. If she looked it, she'd hopefully feel it, and she needed to feel it.

"You've got this, princess."

————

"If we take you to court, Harry Voss, you would easily get twenty years at a minimum," I drawled, leaning back in my absurdly comfortable chair. I was so happy I'd splurged on that. "We are willing to work out a deal with you, and for that, you should be grateful."

Mandy sat beside me, one hand on the arm of my chair, her knuckles white from squeezing it.

"My client would like to know the terms of the deal before he agrees to anything," Harry's lawyer said. She crossed her arms over her chest, her eyes wandering between me, Harry, Mandy, and my lawyer, Andrew, who sat on the other side of me.

Andrew clicked his pen and leaned forward. "Ms. Littleson would take over any existing clientele Mr. Voss still has. Ms. Littleson would also gain complete control of the company, and Mr. Voss would forfeit any rights he has to it, including any assets or board privileges. A payment plan would be put in place directly from Mr. Voss to LV Interiors to cover the amount of the embezzlement, which, as it stands, looks to be just over one hundred thousand dollars. The money will then be given directly back to the clients that were overcharged during Mr. Voss's time at the company."

Harry's lawyer looked at him, leaning close to whisper in his ear.

"Oh, and one more thing," I said. My lips twitched up as I caught Harry's answering sneer that spread across his face. "You'll sign an NDA. You won't speak to anyone about my and Mandy's relationship, the situation we were put in, or even mention our names. It's outlined in the paperwork more thoroughly but do know that if you break the terms of the NDA, the entire agreement crumbles. We'll come after you for every penny you're worth, which after this, seems to be… well, not much."

"Jack," Mandy hissed.

"Her restraining order will still stand. You will keep away from her and your only contact will be in lawyer-sanctioned meetings to discuss this agreement moving forward," I added.

Harry's jaw twitched as he turned to his lawyer, whispering back to her.

"Mr. Voss would like to adjust the terms," she sighed.

"Then he can see us in the courtroom," I deadpanned.

"Just fucking sign it, Harry," Mandy said, cutting the answering silence. It was the first time she'd spoken since we'd walked in, and just hearing her voice lay into the asshole made my heart swell. "You're not going to get a better deal. It's this or prison."

Harry formed his lips into a thin line, his eyes glued on her. "Fine," he sighed, plucking the pen off the table in front of him and pulling the papers to him. "I'll sign it. You're welcome, Miranda."

"It's Mandy," she snapped.

————

The weight of the meeting was well and truly gone by the time Mandy and I made it outside. The late afternoon sun was beginning to set, and it was unseasonably slightly warm. The snow was melting, spring was beginning, and just knowing that this was another season I'd have with her was enough to set my heart alight.

Everything felt so unbelievably right. More than I could have ever imagined, even more so than ten years ago. I could die happy right now. We'd gotten our justice with Harry, we'd taken each other on for real this time, both of us all in.

I revved the engine of my Harley, warming it up as Mandy got on the back. Her arms wrapped around my waist, palms flat against my torso, her body pressed against my back. It felt like our world had come full circle.

There was one thing I still needed to do though. One thing to make it right, and I'd do it for real this time. Not for the press, not for our reputations. For us.