16. Time out

SIX YEARS LATER

GIANNA

~•~

A knock on my door pulled me away from the work I was currently buried in.

I looked up just in time to see my secretary, Ivy, walk in. “Miss Windsor, Mr. Salvatore wants to see you in his office.”

“Why?” I frowned, wondering why he didn’t call me directly and instead, sent my secretary to get me.

“He didn’t say, but he said it’s urgent.”

With a sigh, I turned off my computer. It was still early in the morning and I’d just gotten in the mood to work. I hated that I was being pulled out of it. I stood up from my chair and went outside my office.

My office was very close to Jack’s but Ivy was following behind me anyway. It was very suspicious. “Why are you following me?”

“He said I should bring you to him.” She admitted sheepishly, lowering her gaze.

I shook my head. Jack was definitely up to something. “After you then.”

She wanted to oppose me but she thought better of it when I raised my eyebrows at her. She quickly walked in front of me and knocked on Jack’s office before opening it. The office was dark as fuck as she walked in so I was skeptical as I walked in too.

Before I could question what this was all about, the lights suddenly came on.

“Happy birthday!!!” The people hiding in Jack’s office chorused while some people popped confetti all over me.

I chuckled, shaking my head. I should have expected it, but I’d genuinely forgotten that it was my birthday. While I was still trying to process the surprise, Jack appeared in front of me with a cake in his hand. There was a single lit candle on the cake and he gestured for me to make a wish.

I didn’t have many wishes. I liked where I was at the moment, but I had to do it because it was a birthday ritual. I closed my eyes and joined my hands together. ‘I hope my life remains as peaceful as it is.’

After that, I opened my eyes and blew out the candle, prompting more cheers.

“How do you always forget about your birthday?” Jack laughed as he handed the cake to someone else. “Are you that stressed at work? Or are you stressed at home?”

I laughed. “I’m not stressed. I just don’t care about my birthdays.” It was that simple. I was at my best in years. I’d finally learned to love myself after all that happened. I had moved on. I had a new life and I was content with it.

“Are you sure, Gianna? You know you don’t have to keep anything from me, right?”

“I’m sure, Jack,” I said as I looked around at his office which was now ruined with confetti. “Thank goodness you didn’t do this in my office. Someone would have caught a fist.”

Jack laughed. “I’m not stupid to stress the birthday girl on her birthday so I did it in mine.”

That was just as stupid because it was going to interfere with his work. He could have done it in the conference room or the cafeteria. Then again, men weren’t known for making wise decisions.

“Now that this is over, everyone should get back to work.” I clapped my hands, catching the attention of our employees.

“But it’s your birthday, Miss Windsor. We’re not done celebrating.” One of them complained.

“It’s my birthday. Why are you the one celebrating?” I arched an eyebrow at him. “This is just an excuse to procrastinate so get back to work immediately.”

“Yes ma’am.” He said begrudgingly and dropped the cake on the table.

“You guys can have the cake.”

Their mood significantly improved after that and they took the cake as they filed out of Jack’s office. When they were all gone, Jack looked at me, shaking his head. “You’re so obsessed with work. You can’t even have fun once in your life.”

“You’re enabling their behavior. I might have to put you on time out.”

He rolled his eyes and walked back to lean on his table which was also covered in confetti. “Now that you’re here, there’s something I wanted to discuss with you.”

I looked around the office again, seeing that the chairs and couches were also in confetti. I decided on standing. “Go ahead.”

“We’ve talked about branching out a lot, right?”

I nodded.

“Well, I was thinking we could start with Los Angeles.”

I froze. Just because I had moved on didn’t mean I liked hearing about Los Angeles. I didn’t want to know anything about that place. Then again, it was high profile, which meant I saw every mean thing they said about me even after I moved away. Some of them thought I ran away from my marriage. Some of them thought I ran away with another man and only a few people supported me because everyone knew about Bailey’s child.

Fuck. I was thinking about all that again.

“Los Angeles?” I blinked the memories away.

“Mm-hmm. It’s quite a populated place and I’m certain a lot of businesses would need our services, from actresses to regular companies.”

“Why did you think of LA first?” I didn’t want to outrightly let him know that I didn’t want to visit that place. I’d left everybody behind when I moved to San Diego. Only my sister knew where I was and visited me frequently. At least, I hoped she was the only one.

“We have a client there already and I’m sure if we do a good job, he’ll refer us. It’ll be easy to break the market there.”

“We always do a good job.”

“I love your confidence but you’re right, we always do a good job.”

I let out a breath. “Who’s this client? I’ve never heard of a client in LA.” I was trying to check if it was anyone that had anything to do with my old life. LA was a big place but I wouldn’t be surprised if I ran into someone I used to know. If it was someone I knew, I wouldn’t go with him.

“Benjamin Sawyers. Do you know him? He started his company about three years ago.”

“Oh.” I calmed down. “You’ll handle most of the work though.” I still didn’t want to risk running into anyone I knew. “My kids can be a handful after all.”

“Whatever you say, boss.”

I rolled my eyes. “If there’s nothing else, I’ll be going back to my office.”

He nodded.

As I left, I was low-key pleased by the surprise. It reminded me that it was my birthday and as I passed by Ivy’s table, I instructed her to order a small cake for me tonight. The only people I cared about celebrating with were my children.