BILLIONAIRE: Protected (A Dark Billionaire Romance) (11 page)

I was preoccupied with all of the emotional turmoil that Liam was causing me. It was beginning to affect my work and it became quite clear to me when I was at the press release. Since I had neglected the necessary preparation, I was dreading my speech. Although I had written it, it was not the best work that I could have put forth. I felt incredibly stupid for choosing a forbidden relationship with a clearly disturbed man over my career. I had to come to terms with the fact that it was possible that I had blown my only chance to sell Foodonate as a feasible stock option to the business world.

              I took a deep breath and frantically skimmed over my notes as I waited for my cue. It had been a week since my argument with Liam and we had not spoken, but I had been dwelling on it for so long that I was not as focused as I should have been. Nausea started to overwhelm me.

              The only thing that I was thankful for at that moment in time was that Carmen Nestor had demanded that Liam spent more time at HealeRx. Considering our argument, I needed space from him to heal our business relationship before I could work closely with him again. Convincing myself that a romantic relationship with him was not right was a difficult thing to do, but I was slowly coming to terms with it. There was no point in caring so deeply for somebody that did not have the same strong feelings for me. It was as simple as that. That is what I tried to tell myself, anyway.

              Before Liam had come into my life, Patrick would have been helping me prepare, making up for any of my shortcomings as much as he possibly could. I frowned. I had ruined a friendship for a man that could not even display his affection for me. With a sigh, I swam in my regrets, leading me to lose focus on practicing my speech once more.

              “Ready?” a voice asked.

              I looked up to see Mr. Hoffman. My nausea became a little bit worse. I had no idea that he was actually going to attend the event. Rarely did he attend anything for his investments that were not already raking in millions of dollars.

              “As ready as I could be,” I lied, forcing a smile.

              He frowned and sat on the bench beside me.

              “Something bothering you, Barr?” he asked, his tone laced with concern.

              I scratched the back of my neck, anxiously.

              “Just nervous,” I fibbed.

              He squinted and nodded.

              “You know, Barr, sometimes things in life affect your work,” he said, carefully. “Sometimes you just have to roll with the punches. But I'll bet that whatever it is that has you so anxious is probably not as terrible as it seems. Sometimes life throws us a curve ball. It might take you a minute to line up the bat, but when you do, everything seems to work out.”

              His words took me by surprise. They were moving, but something told me that I was not just radiating my emotional discomfort. Mr. Hoffman was not the most emotionally involved man that I knew, which led me to believe that he had more information that I would have liked for him to have had. I chewed on my lip for a moment, pondering whether or not I was just being paranoid.

              I rubbed my temples for a moment and looked back up at him. He was staring at me, rather intently.

              “What do you think it is that I'm going through that isn't so terrible?” I asked, skeptically. I chose my words as carefully as possible.

              “A little birdie stopped by my office today and asked me if I'd have a word with you,” he admitted. “I'm glad I did. Looks like you needed it.”

              I narrowed my eyes.

              “Carmen Nestor,” I scowled. “Listen, Mr. Hoffman—”

              He shook his head and interjected, “Carmen Nestor didn't say anything at all to me. In fact, I haven't even talked to that harpy of a woman in two months.”

              “Patrick?” I guessed.

              He shook his head again.

              “Phoebe?”

              Judging by his expression, I was wrong for the third time. I frowned. I had no idea who else would talk to my boss. Suddenly, it dawned on me.

              “Goddammit, Liam,” I growled.

              Mr. Hoffman waved a finger and shook his head.

              “Sometimes love makes you do strange things,” he said, softly. “Sometimes you talk about something to someone you weren't supposed to and put your career on the line just to get the attention of the person you want the most.

Sometimes you make rash decisions because it's all you have left. I had that with my first wife. I'd do anything just to see her one last time.”

              He sighed and looked wistfully into the distance. I chewed on my lip, unsure whether to be angry or relieved.

              “Don't throw away something that's worth more than all the money in the world,” he advised. He chuckled and added, “I have just about all the money in the world and I'd give it all away just to see my Nancy for five more minutes. Just to remind her how much I love her and she was always my number one. No matter how much time I spent writing checks and going on business trips, it was all for her. My biggest regret in life is not treasuring my time with her as much as I treasured throwing money at her. Learn from my mistakes.”

              He had a pained expression and a tear fell down his face. I had never seen him like that before, but I was so glad that I did. I chewed on my lip and met his gaze.

              “Do you know if he will be here?” I asked.

              He smiled and replied, “I think you know the answer to that.”

              I frowned.

              “I actually don't,” I responded.

              Suddenly, a young man with a clipboard and an earpiece walked out of the backstage door of the large auditorium. He looked from me to Mr. Hoffman and then back to me.

              “You're on in one minute,” he said, and then retreated back into the room.

              I nodded and got to my feet.

              “Looks like it's your time to shine,” Mr. Hoffman quipped, standing up with me and patting my arm, encouragingly. “If I had any advice for you, it would be to look towards the back of the audience. It might give you a little more courage. Break a leg, Barr.”

              “Is that where—”

              The man with the clipboard emerged from the room again.

              “Thirty seconds!”

              I sighed and followed him into the room, looking back at Mr. Hoffman to try to get an answer. He smiled and gave me an approving nod, but he did not confirm anything. My stomach was still in knots, but I had to do what I went there to do.

I took a deep breath and walked to the podium to wait until the curtains opened, clutching my note-cards in my hand.

              The auditorium was full. The sea of business suits was one of the most inebriating things that I had ever seen. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the young man with the clipboard giving me thumbs up. My eyes frantically searched for Liam in the back of the audience like Mr. Hoffman had hinted, but I could not see him anywhere. I took a deep breath and looked down at my note-cards, preparing myself for the most embarrassing moment of my life and the end of my career. Without Liam's support, I had no faith in myself.

              I tapped the microphone and it made a loud, ear-piercing sound. The entire audience cringed and I swallowed, nervously. I was not off to a good start.

              I cleared my throat and spoke into the microphone.

              “Can everyone hear me? You guys in the back? You can hear me?”

              “We hear you!” a woman yelled.

              “We already did sound check!” the man with the clipboard hissed.

              Sweat was pouring from my brow, but I had to continue.

              “Great. Hello everyone, I'm Aaliyah Barr. I am one of the executives at Hoffman and the company that I am working with is called Foodonate.” I started.

              The entire audience was staring at me, blankly. I cleared my throat and scratched the back of my head, referring to my note-cards again. It was not going well.

              “F-first, I think that I sh-should mention that Foodonate was one called TrashCanDo. Y-you may have heard of it,” I continued.

              Nobody responded and I assumed they had not heard of it. My eyes searched in the audience once more. Mr. Hoffman was there, but there was still no sign of Liam. I gulped and leaned closer to the microphone.

              “Looks like you aren't familiar. A-anyway, at Foodonate, we take all of that extra food that r-restaurants, gr-grocery stores, delis, and—uh—” I referred to my note-cards again, shuffling them, earning some isolated chuckles at my expense. “—convenience stores, and b-bakeries, and we make sure it is donated to a good cause. M-missions and charities sign up to pick up the f-food and businesses sign up t-to have it taken away.”

              A man raised his hand. Sweating nervously, I pointed at him.

              “Neil Burkhardt from Big Business Weekly. So are you saying that you are running a garbage company?” he asked.

              “N-no,” I replied. “The different between this and a garbage company is that this goes to a—a good cause. And it is subscription-based and entirely—er—” I stopped for a moment, choking on my words. My eyes searched in the crowd for Liam again, but I still could not see him. “—er, it is entirely tax deductible because it's—it's charity.”

              Neil Burkhardt scribbled some things down on his clipboard, but he did not seem very impressed. I was so concerned about what he was writing that I began to tremble and dropped my note-cards in a pile on the podium. Horrified, I tried to collect them and sort them, but I had lost my place entirely. If I had practiced my speech, it would have been much easier to piece together, but I had not. Panic-stricken, I searched for Liam in the audience once more. I needed a miracle to finish on a positive note.

              A sea of curious, patronizing glares was all that I could see. As I stammered, my eyes frantically danced around the crowed, looking for some beacon of hope.

              Suddenly, I found my beacon.

              Liam was standing in the very back of the room in the balcony, a supportive and apologetic smile on his face. He waved at me and gave me thumbs up, which was much more encouraging than the one the press release director had given me. I smiled and nodded at him. I could not embarrass us both. It was a brave decision, but I decided to scrap the note-cards. I knew my company and I knew how to sell it. I did not need note-cards. I just needed my own confidence and the love of a really great man. I had both and I was ready to impress a room full of America's harshest critics.

              “Subscriptions are not the only thing that Foodonate offers. There is also a one-time-only option, but it is marked up quite a bit, which encourages businesses to keep donating,” I continued. “As of today, we hit fifteen-hundred businesses in New York alone. That was just for our soft open. We project to expand that to five-thousand businesses within the first quarter. We also plan on extending back to the company's original roots in Chicago and L.A. Previous customers want our services to return and we intend to give the people what they ask for because isn't that the true spirit of the American economy?”

              Interested whispers started to fill the room and I knew that I was going to make a positive impact. Liam had a massive grin on his face and I felt my heart skip a beat. I had missed his smile. Although it took a fight to prove it, I knew that I could not be happy without him.

              A woman raised her hand I pointed at her, a much more confident smile on my face.

              “Hi, Anita West from Movers and Shakers Magazine! How much do you project to make in the first quarter?”

              “Seven-hundred thousand dollars gross,” I replied.

              The room began to buzz.

              “Follow-up. Is that after a soft open or a full open?”

              “Soft open. Our full open will not be until June,” I said.

              Several hands raised and I pointed at a man.

              “Jianyu Xu with New York Corporate Daily. Is Hoffman the only major entity backing this project?”

              I smiled and looked up at Liam. He waved at me and smiled back, making my heart skip a beat again.

              “No, billionaire Liam Manning is also involved,” I replied.

              “Follow-up. Really?
The
Liam Manning from HealeRx?” Jianyu asked, incredulously.

              I smiled and nodded.

              “The very same.”

              Several more hands shot up in the air and I pointed at a woman. She primped her hair and cleared her throat.

              “Anna Walters with Currencier Journal. How has working with Liam Manning been? He has not gotten involved in many projects outside of the pharmaceutical industry before. Do you think that has affected his ability to help you build the company?”