Page 200 of Pure Recklessness

Oscar respected my wishes and we travelled to the office in silence. Throughout the whole journey, I turned everything over and over in my head, wishing that I’d handled the situation differently. That’d I’d done better.

I should’ve known that Pandora would’ve found a way to fuck with me.

It wouldn’t surprise me if she’d jumped on a plane to London when she saw me with Ellie, so she could worm her way onto tonight’s guest list and plot my downfall.

But as much as I hated Pandora, especially for what she’d done tonight, ultimately the buck stopped with me.

I’d let Ellie, my brothers, my family and the entire team down.

And I knew there’d be consequences.

When we arrived at the office, photographers and press swarmed outside, calling my name.

After taking a deep breath, I stepped out of the car, did up my suit jacket and strode into the building without giving them a second glance.

Once everyone had arrived in the boardroom, I fielded their questions to give them a clearer picture of my relationship.

I hated having to share personal details. What Ellie and I had was special. Private. But I knew the team needed the facts to formulate a plan.

‘And that’s everything you need to know,’ I said, waiting to hear their verdict.

‘Well,’ Melissa said. ‘There’s multiple HR issues here. You violated a policy that you implemented, failed to disclose the relationship and you had authority over Eleanor’s pay, performance and assignments, which is a direct conflict of interest. If you’d come to me when the relationship started, we could’ve avoided this.’

‘I’m well aware that I fucked up,’ I barked. ‘I don’t need to be reminded of my failures. I need solutions.’

‘Of course, sir. Sorry.’ Melissa winced. ‘The good news is that it wasn’t solely you who approved Eleanor’s work. It went through multiple layers of management and other people were involved in working on the project. We’ll of course need to do a formal interview with Eleanor, but I video called her briefly on the way here and she was adamant that she didn’t feel pressured to consent because of your position and assured me that everything was consensual, which is good.’

‘Although I wasn’t made aware of their relationship, I know that Ellie spearheaded the development of this app and any promotions or opportunities granted to her were based solely on her work performance,’ Seb said. ‘All four of us approved the idea and gave it the green light.’

‘That’s true.’ Heath huffed.

I ground my jaw. Heath was my brother and I loved him, but if he hadn’t kicked off tonight, we could’ve dealt with this calmly away from the press and photographers. Despite that, I still couldn’t blame him. This was my fuck-up, not his.

‘From a legal standpoint, our main concern would be sexual harassment claims or claims from employees who feel they were put at a disadvantage because of any special treatment you gave to Eleanor. But it sounds like that shouldn’t be an issue given that she entered the relationship willingly and came up with the project idea,’ Alison, who was head of our legal team, added.

‘And what about that guy who was fired for fraternising with staff? Could he bring a case against us, in light of Blake’s actions?’ Heath asked.

‘I’d like to see that creep fucking try!’ I shouted. ‘What he did wasn’t the same. At all!’

‘Agreed,’ Alison said. ‘That was different. He was fired due to a genuine sexual harassment complaint.’

‘That’s a relief.’ Heath exhaled.

‘From a PR perspective, people value authenticity,’ Calista added. ‘If you’re honest, acknowledge that you shouldn’t have concealed your relationship and show them that you’re a human who made a mistake, people will be more understanding. For example, you could explain that you know you broke the rules, but you can’t help who you fall in love with. That kind of thing. You are in love, aren’t you? No pressure, but that would definitely help!’

‘Yes,’ I said without hesitation. ‘I love Ellie.’

A collective gasp echoed around the room as everyone’s jaws dropped.

Declaring my love for Ellie for the first time to a room full of employees and my brothers wasn’t exactly what I’d planned, but I meant every word.

I loved Ellie. With all my heart.

‘You love her?’ Heath frowned.

‘Yes. We’ve been living together. For months. That’s how serious it is.’

‘Wow.’ Oscar’s jaw dropped. ‘Bro. That’s wild. I did not see that coming!’