I looked down at her with concerned eyes. I already didn’t want to tell her what was going on. I didn’t want it to be real, and I wanted to just stay there with her in the safety of our home.

It couldn’t be avoided, though. As much as I longed to.

"I have to go in for a lunch meeting," I informed her with a frown.

"Oh, that’s it?" she asked. Her eyes had a bit of a twinkle in them then. "You worried me. Looked as though someone had died or something."

"I just don’t want to leave you so soon," I frowned.

She leaned up and cradled my cheek. "I love you. Life can’t stop, though. We have plenty of security here."

"I know," I sighed. I kissed her sweetly. "I’m going to keep my phone on, okay? If anything at all happens, you call me, and I’ll be on the way."

"I’ll be sure to call and ask which song is best for my run," she winked.

I pecked the tip of her nose. "Eye of the Tiger."

We shared a laugh, and then I hugged her to me.

"Just be safe and be home soon," she said to me.

"I promise," I assured her.

We shared one more kiss before I headed down to the cars. As I passed the security team, I motioned for them to stay put.

I hadn’t yet hired the rest of the security team, as I wanted to ease Hannah back into that lifestyle. I already knew she was having a rough time being in the house all the time, and I didn’t want to make it worse by making her feel as though she couldn’t walk around her own house without being watched.

I would rather them stay with her than waste the trip to the office for a board meeting.

Getting in the car, I blasted music all the way to town. I needed to drown out my thoughts if I was actually going to attend the meeting. If I thought too much about Hannah, I would stay home.

While it was possible to attend the meeting in any way I saw fit, I needed to be there to make sure that the new company we were acquiring wasn’t trying to jerk us around.

Still, I longed to be home with Hannah so that I had confirmation before my eyes that she was okay.

But she was right. Life didn’t stop.

I felt that allowing it to would mean the Auction House was winning, that we were letting them ruin our lives. We had to maintain at least a certain level of normalcy. Just to have hope and peace of mind that we would be able to return to that little bit of normal we had found in the weeks after our second honeymoon.

Arriving at the office, I traveled the same path I did every day I went into the office by walking out of the parking garage, around the front of the building, and across the lobby to the executive elevator. I was already frantically checking my phone on the short ride up, worried that somehow on the walk that my ringer had cut off.

It hadn’t, it was just the paranoid thought of a nervous mind.

Letting out a shaky breath, I tried my best to compose myself before walking into the board room.

Postures all straightened when I walked through the doors.

"Mr. Thaddeus, I... I didn’t know that you would be joining us today," stated Matthew, the businessman who was overseeing the acquisition from the other side.

"Considering you’ve been jerking my employees around for a week in paperwork rather than just signing the dotted line, I saw no way around it," I stated firmly, not allowing the nerves in my stomach to show on my face.

The nerves weren’t theirs to see. They had nothing to do with business.

I sank down in my usual chair and kept the cold and detached expression on my face. Looking down at my cellphone, I texted Hannah to ask how her run was going. I thought I would feel a little better with some steady communication with her.

She texted back: It’s going; Eye of the Tiger was a good choice.

How’s your meeting?

I replied: It’s going. Maybe we can start working out together again tomorrow.

She replied: I’d like that :)

I smiled internally, but didn’t let it touch my face.

"If I could have your attention, Mr. Thaddeus?" Matthew called.

"Why don’t you earn my attention rather than requesting it?" I barked, allowing annoyance to pinch my features.

I didn’t like it when people of his status tried to demand things from me.

While I knew it was a bit bratty, I wasn’t going to take lip from a man who couldn’t oversee his side of an acquisition without causing that much of a fuss. And I wasn’t going to be disrespected or belittled in front of my employees.

I continued to text back and forth Hannah, feeling such a comfort through texting her. For a while, I forgot I was actually meant to be paying attention. I glanced up here and there, trying to keep up with Matthew was talking about.

All of it was nonsense.

They were trying to squeeze nickels and pennies out of us. I had the feeling it was because he wasn’t even the owner, so once that job was done, he was out of a job. It wasn’t me he was trying to work over... it was his own boss.

I kind of respected it, but I didn’t appreciate the waste of my time.

I went back to texting, trying to soothe not only my worry but my annoyance at that point.

"Mr. Thaddeus, I think it’s rather inappropriate that you..."

"I would really, really consider your next words," I stated, glaring up at him. "While I understand and appreciate the fact that you are just trying to give yourself more working days to earn some more money because your position is liquidated, understand that you’ve wasted enough of my time. That your next words will determine whether or not I withdraw my offer from your boss. And when he comes to me asking why in God’s name I did that, I’ll point him in your direction. And when he can’t find a more generous offer on the market, he’ll come after you in court for loss wages. So, tell me, Matthew, what was it you were saying?"

"Well, well... I-I... Well..." Matthew stammered.

I stood from my chair and straightened my sleeves. "Right. So what’s going to happen now is that I’m going to leave. I’m going to go upstairs to my office to handle some other business, and then I’m going to drive home. It takes me about twenty minutes, Matthew. And what I want by the time I step into my front door and lay eyes on my beautiful wife is a readied contract for this acquisition. No more dragging it out, no more trying to squeeze pennies out of us for time in litigation. Because if I don’t receive a copy in my email by the time I settle in for the evening with my wife, I’ll withdraw the offer and bring popcorn to the courthouse when you’re sued for the ten million dollars profit you’re about to lose your boss." Without waiting for his response, I left the room.

Generally, I didn’t get so passionate or heated when it came to business, but what I wasn’t going to let happen was that guy talk to me the way he was trying to. Not in the mood I was in, I wasn’t.

Keeping to my word, I headed up to my office. Since I was there, I might as well get a couple things done before heading out for the day. I wouldn’t take long, though, not wanting to stay away from Hannah for longer than I planned to.

As I sent off my emails, I texted Hannah and thought about how to spend our evening. I wanted to do something to make it a little special for her, even if she wasn’t ready to leave the house.

Maybe a picnic in the backyard? I sent Geoffrey a text message in preparation.

Things were going to be okay. Hannah was still texting me. She was safe.

When my office phone rang and I saw it was the conference room Matthew had been in, I picked up long enough to say, "Tick tock, Matthew," then I hung up.

It might have not been a savory part of my personality, but d*mnit if it wasn’t at least a little fun being the boss sometimes.

Chuckling to myself, I turned back to my phone and composed a suggested menu to Geoffrey and thought more on what to do to make the night in special.

It was then that my phone rang again, but that time it was Matthew’s boss.

Letting out a long sigh, I picked up the phone. My plans with Hannah would have to wait, but not for long.