Chapter Seventeen

Gabriel

The noise in the conference room grates on my nerves but I grind my teeth together to avoid yelling at them to keep quiet. I'd told Kim to call a shareholders meeting and now I'm regretting it.

"Are you okay?" Gabi asks me.

"I'm fine." I say then stand up and make my way to the stage and the noise dies down. "Good morning ladies and gentlemen."

They all nod in greeting and I take that as my cue to continue since I have their attention now. Behind me is a projector and on the screen are faces of some of the employees of Emerson Cruz Group. I would talk to the rest of them much later but for now, they're the only ones I can manage.

"I called this meeting to apologize for...what I did." Bile rises in my throat and I force myself not to puke. Lucille put me in this mess and while I would never raise my hand to beat her because my dad told me only cowards beat women, but I'll make her pay for this humiliation some other way. I am going to crush Lucille Kendrick's spirit.

"It