Page 101 of Rebooked For Us
Ruben let out a slow breath.
“Dena.”
She ignored him and walked around the table, stopping beside me.
“Good morning, Skye.”
I stood.
“Good morning.”
She squeezed my shoulder before taking her seat.
“Let’s get started,” Dena said.
“And why the fuck is she here? When she gave her shares, she gave up all this shit too. Always in your feelings. You got that soft shit from her.”
“Ruben, please kiss my ass. I built this law firm as it stands today with you, brick by brick. It was my family name ringingbells in the streets, not yours or your father’s. You’ve spent this whole marriage thinking you chose me when the truth is my father begged me to take your hand. Now let’s get this over with, I’ve got a date.”
At Ducane’s nod, the firm’s general counsel, a tall, unbothered woman named Patricia, opened a folder of her own and began reading the resolution into the record. Removal of Ruben Simmons as managing partner, effective immediately. Formal names, formal language, none of it sounded like what it actually was, which was a son closing a door his father had spent thirty years standing in.
“All in favor,” Patricia said.
Hands went up around the table, one after another, senior partners who’d clearly known exactly what this meeting was before they ever walked in. Dena’s hand went up without hesitation.
Then it was my turn.
I felt every eye in that room shift to me at once. For a second, the version of myself who used to make herself small in rooms like this tried to surface. But I refused to let it.
I glanced down as my wedding ring caught the light.
I smiled.
I wasn’t that woman anymore.
I raised my hand.
Ruben didn’t look at the vote. He looked at me the entire time, praying that if he stared hard enough, he could make it not count, make me disappear back into whatever category he’d filed me under the first time he decided I wasn’t worth acknowledging.
I didn’t look away.
“Motion carries,” Patricia said, and just like that, it was done.
Ducane came and stood behind my chair, one hand on my shoulder, the other trailing warm along my neck.
Ruben’s jaw set, watching his son choose me and love me out loud. In that moment, I felt bad for him. He’d never know a love like this.
Finally, he stood, buttoned his jacket with hands that weren’t quite steady, and let his eyes move once, slowly, around a table full of people who were no longer looking at him like a king.
“Congratulations,” he said to no one and everyone. “You got everything you wanted, I guess.”
“No.” I finally spoke, surprising even myself with how even it came out. “I just got what was already mine. There’s a difference. I’ve always felt bad for you. Something is broken, and until you get that right, you will never ever have access to my family. You can’t run me off this time. Enjoy the rest of your miserable little life.”
“Ducane, this girl has warped your mind from day one. You thrived without her, and here you go, just giving her the chance to take us for everything we have. Be careful.”
“And Miss…”
“Mrs…”
