By His Vow: Chapter 60

The tension in the room around us is thick, the fear and anxiety of the people staring back at us palpable.

I get it, I really fucking do.

I wish we didn’t have to do this.

I wish there was a way that we could move Warner Group forward exactly as it is and turn it around with very few changes. But that’s not the position that Jonathan left us in.

The truth of it is that Warner Group is in trouble, and only swift and drastic action is going to save it. That and a massive cash injection from Callahan Enterprises.

Unfortunately, it’s going to mean job losses and reconfiguration.

It’s going to mean a lot of hard work, long days and nights, and a lot of fucking stress. But I have no doubt that it’ll be worth it.

Miles has solid ideas for where he wants to move this company, and I’m right along on that journey with him.

We might finally be under the same umbrella, playing for the same team, but this place will always be Miles’s baby, just like Callahan is mine.

I could insist on swallowing Warner whole and spitting it back out as a newly-born Callahan baby with the flashy branding and all.

But that isn’t Warner. It’s not what its clients want. It’s not the direction they should be moving in.

We’re going to embrace the vision of the Warner men that came before Miles and Jonathan, and while we focus on moving the corporation fully into the twenty-first century and take it places that they never could have imagined, we’re going to keep the integrity.

Warner Group isn’t Callahan Enterprises. Warner Group is our little sister, and we’re going to nurture her to make her own path in life.

Images of Tatum flicker in my mind, but no sooner have they appeared, than I shoot them down.

Now isn’t the time to obsess over my new wife.

Now is the time to focus on her legacy, even if she doesn’t want it.

Over the past few days, I’ve tried to talk to her, to warn her about what’s coming her way, but she’s shot me down every time, claiming that she’s just a manager at Warner Group and should find out what’s happening alongside all the others.

She wants to be an employee, a number.

But Tatum Warner never has been and never will be that insignificant.

This is her company, her future, just as much as it is Miles’s, and I will do anything I can to ensure she benefits from it in the way she deserves.

I’ve mentioned job losses and changing roles in the hope of hooking her in, of making her concerned enough for the members of the team that she’d ask. But she hasn’t.

She’s completely shut down.

I’ve watched it happen as the days have passed. It started when I stupidly released those images of our engagement, and it’s only gotten worse since.

I hoped that the distraction of the wedding might have pulled her out of it. Hell, I’d prayed that I could have fucked it out of her on our wedding night. But despite it being fucking incredible, I wasn’t able to bring back the girl I spent the weekend with at the cabin.

I broke her trust, and I’m fucking terrified that I’m never going to get it back again.

In just a few short weeks, she’s become such a huge part of my life, but I fear I’m going to have to live the next year of my life with this closed-off version of her.

“Good morning.” Miles’s deep voice rumbles through the air, successfully halting any quiet conversations that were previously floating around the room.

All eyes turn on him as he stands beside me at the head of the massive conference table.

All Warner Group managers stare back at him, waiting with bated breath for what he’s about to say.

I scan the faces, taking in their expressions that range from mild curiosity to abject panic.

“Thank you all so much for being here.”

Officially, the workday hasn’t started yet, but we need to lay this out before our press release hits in a few hours.

Warner Group shares are already on shaky ground, and we’ve no doubt that in a few hours, they’re going to plummet.

It’s going to be a blip, though.

A blip we’re going to work through before coming back stronger.

“I’m sure you’re all concerned with the direction the company is going to take after the loss of—” Miles’s voice cracks and his eyes land on Tatum, who’s doing her very best to hide at the back of the group. “Our father,” he continues, making her chin drop in surprise.

She only lets her shock show for a second before she locks it down as if it never happened.

Her eyes very briefly shoot to mine before she looks down at her feet, refusing to be dragged into this.

“I wish I could stand up here and assure you all that everything is great. That we knew what was coming our way and that we had a plan. I’m also not going to lie to you all and pretend that is the case.

“The truth is, our father’s death was as much a shock to us as it was to you. But it appears that his failing health wasn’t the only thing that he was hiding.

“Right now, the future of Warner Group isn’t clear. As per our father’s will, Warner Group is to be taken over by Callahan Enterprises, and together, Kingston and I will take over as joint CEOs.”

Assessing eyes turn on me, but I hold strong, refusing to show an ounce of weakness.

Yes, the future of Warner might be unsure, and some of the people staring back at me may no longer be employed by us in the coming months, but that does not mean that we will fail.

Warner Group might be in trouble, but it will not fail.

There is no fucking way that is happening.

I might not be able to offer my wife much, but I will solidify her future, her legacy.

I will give her a reason to remember our time together—me—with fondness.

I refuse to allow all of this bullshit and stress to be for nothing.

“Mrs. Callahan, can you wait, please.” My demand rips through the air as the rest of the Warner Group management shuffles out the door.

We knew that what we had to tell them wouldn’t relieve any of the stress they felt walking into this meeting, but if anything, the expressions on their faces are now worse.

My stomach knots as I consider how they’re feeling. The thought of them having to go home and tell their partners that their jobs might not be secure, of them looking at their children and worrying about providing for their families.

It’s wrong. All of it is so fucking wrong. But what can we do?

This is the shitshow we’ve been left with, and we have to make the best of it.

Tatum startles, but she doesn’t look up. For a moment, I don’t even think she’s going to follow my order, but then Miles adds, “Tatum, please. We just want to talk.”

She’s never been able to defy her big brother in the same way she does me, and slowly her movements falter and she steps out of the stream of people heading for the door.

The silence is painful, but none of us attempt to shatter it until the last person has stepped out of the room and closed the door behind them.

Tatum ignores me and turns to Miles. “I know that was hard, but you did a fantastic job,” she assures him, a small smile playing on her lips. “I also want you to know, that if you need to lose marketing managers, then lay me off to secure everyone else’s positions. You don’t even need to pay me a severance package.”

“No,” I bark. “That’s not fucking happening.”

Tatum’s shoulders tense but, still, she doesn’t look at me.

“Miles, this is about the company’s future. That is what’s important here. I refuse to stand in the way if I can help.”

“Stepping away isn’t helping,” I spit, anger fueling my words. “We need you here with us. You deserve to be standing here with us right now.”

I don’t know what it is, which words I say that spark something within her, but she finally turns her light blue eyes on me.

My breath catches as our connection causes sparks to flash between us.

“I will help wherever I can, but I am not stepping up beside you. My position within this company has been made more than clear all of my life.”

“Fuck that, Tate. Dad’s gone,” Miles says, pain lacing his voice at the loss of his mentor. “What he wanted doesn’t matter. We’re in charge and we want⁠—”

“Success.” She cuts him off with that one single word and a hard glare. “I am not prepared to commit my life to this. To you,” she says, her eyes finding mine again.

Ouch.

“Excuse me. I have a team to talk to. If I can be of any assistance, or you’d like to discuss my offer, then you know where to find me. Other than that…” She takes a step back and looks between the two of us. “Have a good day.”

We stand there side by side, shocked into silence as she spins around, her long, dark hair following a beat later and falling like a thick curtain around her shoulders before she marches out of the room.

It’s long after the door has closed behind us that Miles lifts his hands to his hair and breathes, “Fuck.”

“She’ll come around,” I say, although there isn’t a lot of conviction in my voice.

“Fuck, KC. You’re even more fucking delusional than she is.”

I stare at him with my brows raised in question.

“This is where she belongs. Why can’t she see that?”

“Because she’s lived her entire life being told the opposite. Just because Jonathan is gone, it’s not going to change all the years of her feeling like she isn’t a worthy or deserving member of your family.”

He visibly deflates at my words.

“Look, I’m not arguing with you. I agree, she belongs here. Do you have any idea how fucking good she is at her job?” His expression wavers. He wants to say yes, to say that he’s paid attention, but the truth is that he doesn’t have a clue. He’s been too lost in his own world to pay all that much attention to hers. “But as much as I hate to say it, you’re not going to reel her in like this. You aren’t going to be able to change her thoughts and feelings about her place here overnight. It’s going to take time. Possibly a lot of it.”

His eyes bounce between mine as he tries to read between the lines.

“What are you saying?”

I swallow thickly. I haven’t said the words that he knows are coming, but I already feel the regret.

My stomach knots up and my fists clench at my sides.

I always knew that holding Tatum close was going to be akin to keeping a handful of sand intact.

She slips further away every single day.

Away from her family, from her unwanted responsibilities here, from Chicago.

From me.

My heart pounds as I roll my lips between my teeth.

“You need to let her go.”

All the air rushes from Miles’s lungs and he stumbles back.

“No. I can’t do that. I’ve already lost Dad. Mom is…” A fucking disaster. “I can’t…I can’t lose her too.”

My heart bleeds for him, it really fucking does. But I don’t know how else he’s going to achieve what he wants here.

Right now, with her father’s legacy still lingering in the air around us, she’ll never agree to step into her rightful position.

She may have agreed to marry me, but only as a way to get what she really wants.

To leave.

She doesn’t want to be here.

She doesn’t want to be a part of Warner Group’s reincarnation.

She doesn’t want me.

They’re just facts we’re going to have to learn to deal with.