Chapter 20

Damian

With all the stress and panic of the baby shower and trying to be the peacemaker between two warring families, I haven't put as much focus on the lawsuits as I should have.

I'm hunched over the desk trying to figure out the best way to make everyone happy, when Robyn knocks on the door and says Amelia is here to see me. She says it hurriedly, and I realize she's trying to get it in before Amelia storms her way in, looking at her assistant with a scathing look.

"My office!" Amelia squeaks.

I chuckle. "What are you doing here, my love? You should be at home resting."

"I've done that. Got bored." She sinks into the couch before frowning. "Wow, this sofa is comfortable. I can do work from here. Keep an eye on you."

I shake my head in exasperation. "Do you need to be keeping an eye on me? Or are you here because your workaholic tendencies got the better of you?"

Amelia pouts, and if it wasn't so adorable, I would have confused her with someone else. "I'm well up to date with every episode of trash TV that exists, my ass hurts from sitting on it all day, and I wanted to come here and see your face. Sue me."

I smirk. "Is that so?"

She gives me an innocent look. "What else would it be?"

"That we've got the lawsuit coming up, and we have a meeting with all the lawyers today? Don't think that I don't know that you have access to my calendar, Mrs. Garrett."

Her mouth drops open in mock surprise. "Was that today? Huh. There you go."

"You're a terrible liar, Mila," I say with a laugh, turning back to the computer. "But, maybe it's good that you're here. We can work out an angle on this together."

I head over to the sofa and hand her the folder I've been given from Ernest and the lawyers we've hired specifically for this case.

"Got this earlier today," I murmur, sitting on a chair opposite her. "Look, we have three options. One, keep fighting for the damn land. I don't think it'll go anywhere, and we're fighting a losing battle. Two, we keep the land in MVM possession without doing anything to the land, keep it as a reserve, but what are we gaining from that? Or three…" I take a deep breath. "…Sell the land to Douglas Bright, who can then decide from there. He has dealt with this stuff before and has a good relationship with a lot of tribe members up and down California. I honestly believe that he wouldn't get half the amount of shit you've had from all this."

Amelia glances at me over the top of the documents. "That's because no one trusts that I can do it. This won't be the last time that we have this sort of problem, so we need to learn from it. We're hotel owners! This is what happens when you want to build hotels in places where there wasn't a hotel before!"

"Amelia," I say evenly. "We can't win this fight, so it's about preparing for the biggest impact. If we continue with this case and don't settle out of court, we're going to be slammed with bad press. For months. It'll affect everything else MVM try and do! You know it the same as I do."

I lean back in the chair and rub my hand over my face, not excited about saying the next bit. I hold my hands up in warning, hoping to avoid my hormonal, pregnant girlfriend from either overreacting or having a baby on the sofa. "Honey…"

"Damian," she growls, her eyes narrowing. "What is about to come out of your mouth?"

I wince. "Just…" I brace myself. "It would be financially irresponsible of me right now to merge my restaurants with MVM."

The folder in Amelia's hand drops to the floor as Amelia stares at me open-mouthed in pure shock. "You're… you're cancelling… the…" She gulps. "Holy shit, Damian. You're canceling the acquisition?"

I close my eyes, already feeling the oncoming migraine. "I'm sorry, but I can't risk my staff or the reputation of everyone involved. We won't, but God forbid we win the court case. We'd have protests! No one would consider promoting or patronizing a company that has proven that we'll do whatever we can to get money."

"It's not about the money," Amelia snaps.

"It is. That's what they see anyway. You think anyone else cares that it's the place where your parents got married or where your husband proposed? No. That's sentimental shit that Victor would have never accepted. He forced his grandson to work a job to his death purely because he didn't want a woman in control, Amelia. He kicked me out of the family because I threatened to tell the press all about MVM! He completely snubbed my mother, Brooke, and my older sister, Clarice, in his will." I lean forward. "He would have fired your ass the second he learned you were pregnant, Amelia. There is no room for sentiment here in this office."

"You're wrong," she says coldly. "There is room for sentiment here, and it's because I am sitting in it. Not Victor. Victor was a cold-hearted, misogynistic bully, but he is dead. He doesn't get to control what we do now."

I close my eyes and take a second to start again. "They will call you weak," I say softly.

"They already do."

"I know you aren't a weak person, but you need to show other people your strength. Being in control of MVM doesn't have to mean you need to hide who you are, you just need to—"

"I don't need to be told how to run a multi-million-dollar company from a man," Amelia snaps. "You don't understand what it's like, and you never will. You will never be judged as harshly, treated as badly, or have demeaning comments about you sprawled everywhere. If I show a hint of weakness, it is jumped on in a second to tear me down. I can't admit that I'm pregnant without making it seem like my role as a woman is taking higher priority than my role as a woman in charge."

I clench my hands into fists to stop from yelling. "Yes," I say through a forced smile. "Yes, I know. But, what I'm trying to say, is that this isn't the fight you should be focusing on. This is fighting the people that you work for and everyone else. Focus on building us up from the inside out. We'll sell the land to Bright, use the funds to donate to a Native American preservation charity, and—"

"That's performative."

"Yes," I practically yell. "Yes! It is! But you know what we're not doing now? Doing anything. We've dug our own grave, and we're now helping them fill it in from inside the hole!"

I stand up, purely as somewhere to put the energy that's racing through my body. "We sell the land to Bright, donate to a charity, have an internal audit where we go through every single fucking employee ever hired by MVM, and we find the shit and replace it with diamonds. Then Blake Restaurant Group would love to join forces with MVM. But right now, I'm remembering why I was glad when I was out of the goddamn clutches of Victor Garrett and the hold he has over the entire goddamn world."

I lean on the back of the chair and exhale loudly as Robyn knocks on the door.

"Yes?" Both Amelia and I call out at the same time.

Robyn gives us both an apologetic smile. "I know this isn't good timing, but Eleanor is here to see you, Amelia."

Amelia's face falls even more than it had during my outburst, and I drop my head back on my neck. "I'll go," I mutter. "I should talk to Melody from PR anyway."

"No," Amelia barks. "Stay. You need to stay." She doesn't move, but she nods for Robyn to let her in. "Damian, sit down, and shut up."

I remain standing, but I'm still fired up from the conversation we'd had, so I gladly shut up.

Eleanor's already tense when she walks in, immediately clocking mine and Amelia's positions and our expressions. I soften at the look of fear that Amelia is trying to keep out of her eyes, and I instead shift to sit next to her, keeping one eye on Eleanor.

"Amelia," Eleanor starts, and Amelia immediately bursts into tears as if she'd said more than just her name. I'm probably partly at fault for that after our heated discussion a few moments ago, but it makes Eleanor feel bad enough that she sinks into the chair I'd left and takes Amelia's hand. "Oh, sweetheart, I didn't mean to scare you."

Eleanor throws a glance at me, but I don't say anything. She clears her throat and smiles weakly.

"Damian… the way you acted at the baby shower was…" I brace myself, but she gives me a gentle smile. "…was so wonderful. I-I… understand. It took me by surprise, but I can see the amount of love between you two."

I soften and take Amelia's hand, squeezing softly.

"I apologize. To both of you. It was… an outburst that should never have happened. I am so sorry that your baby shower was ruined, Amelia. I will host another one for you that won't be ruined by my stupid mouth. And I know she won't apologize, but I'm sorry for Audrey, too. She shouldn't have even been there, although I'm sure it would have been hard for Brooke to stop her."

"Ain't that the truth," I mutter.

Amelia sniffs and goes to wipe her nose on the sleeve of her jacket, but I grab a tissue before she can. Her lips twitch at my frown. She blows her nose before turning to Eleanor, steeling herself against the conversation.

"I can assure you that I'm carrying Jackson's baby, Eleanor," she says firmly, not able to lift her gaze from one of the stripes on Eleanor's pants. "It was only recently when I—"

Eleanor waves her hand. "I am so sorry for accusing you of that. That was unfair. It threw me. The whole…" She winces. "Er… the whole idea." She glances at me. "No offense, Damian, but this whole thing came completely out of left field. It wasn't even a thought that there was something going…" She scratches her cheek in confusion. "Again, no offense, but… have I got it right? You two are in a…"

Amelia gives me a watery smile before nodding slowly at her former mother-in-law. "I know," she whispers. "It's weird."

Eleanor leans forward and pretends to whisper. "You know he's Audrey Garrett's son, don't you?"

We both break into a laugh, and it eases the tension in the room enough that we relax.

"I know," Amelia says, wiping the tears off her face. "I just thought it would be nice to help family relations, you know?"

Eleanor winces. "Oh, it has not done that."

I screw my nose up and shake my head as Amelia looks at me for an explanation. "Mom's doubled down her efforts. She's trying to find proof that I'm entitled to compensation if it turns out the baby is actually mine and you've been lying."

Amelia rolls her eyes and turns to Eleanor. "Don't worry about her. The baby will come out looking exactly like Jackson, and Audrey will still be trying to claim my daughter is yours up until her twenty-first birthday."

"It's the infertility issues that has her convinced," Eleanor says softly. "You know, we'd been told early that he might have trouble conceiving."

Amelia nods, and she gently rubs her fingers over her growing bump. "We were convinced we wouldn't, either. We weren't trying, but I was never entirely strict with birth control because I didn't think we had to worry." She takes in a ragged breath. "But, uh… Jackson didn't want kids," she whispers. "He was pleased he couldn't have kids."

Eleanor looks stunned. "What? He always said—"

"He thought he'd pass on his genetics, and he didn't want to do that to a child." Amelia circles her arms around her belly and gulps. "Yet, here she is."

I reach over and slide my arm over her shoulders, keeping her close. There's a somberness to the room that wasn't there previously, and I'm suddenly terrified of the direction this could take. Amelia has been wrestling with not only the fact that she's having Jackson's baby who isn't here, but she's having Jackson's baby when he wouldn't have wanted to be here. It's information I wish I'd had before now.

Robyn interrupts us again. "Sorry, Damian, you have a meeting in ten minutes."

I nod once and smile apologetically at Eleanor and Amelia. "I will send you the notes. Eleanor, can you take Amelia home, please? She needs to go back to resting."

Eleanor nods eagerly at being put to work, and, after a quick kiss to Amelia and an encouraging hand to my aunt's shoulder, I leave the two women to it.