“Old,” she scoffed. “You’re barely in your thirties.”
“I’m mid-thirties,” I pointed out.
“Doesn’t matter. You’re a baby. You’ll do something great.”
I smiled at her and nodded. “You’re right as always.”
“Good. You’re learning.”
“Learning what?”
“Your wife is always right.”
I laughed. “Says the gay woman to the straight man.”
She grinned. “Figured it out?”
“Emily told me.”
“I knew you’d never notice on your own.”
“What can I say, that sort of thing doesn’t matter to me.”
“Sure. That and you’re totally oblivious.”
I rolled my eyes. “Okay, okay. I’m about to go eat shit for a few minutes, so lay off.”
“That’s fair. Good luck. Try not to swallow.”
“Don’t worry. I never swallow shit.” I nodded, waved, and headed to the elevators.
The board was called into an emergency session the night before by Bruce and me. Only part of the board was going to be present, but there would be enough people to form a quorum and to make all business official.
There was no avoiding this part. If I wanted to do what I had to do, I was going to have to get up in front of the board and resign.
Resigning from my own company was the last thing I wanted to do, and I kept thinking about all of the sacrifices I made over the years as I rode the elevator toward the boardroom.
I missed out on a normal adolescence. I was too busy starting a company as a kid to really have a lot of close friends. Because of that, I still didn’t have many close relationships, and a lot of what I did have were based on work. My life had been Valor Tech from the very beginning, even back before Valor was a thing. I worked my ass off in those early days and barely did anything but code and market that code to whoever would look at it. I got lucky and all that hard work paid off, but there were many sleepless nights where I thought that would never be the case.
Many, many good things came of Valor. I got laid, found myself, gave millions to charity, and traveled the world. People knew my name because of Valor. For every sacrifice, there were probably two or three benefits, and that was why I didn’t want to let it go.
Valor defined who I was. Running the company, or at least engaging in research and development gave me a sense of purpose. It was my whole life, and now I was about to step away from my life into uncertainty. I hadn’t been unsure of what I was going to do in a very, very long time.
I wasn’t saying it out loud, but Emily was the reason for all of this. I knew it, she knew it, and Evelyn knew it. If I was ever going to have a chance at a normal relationship with her, I was going to have to step away from Valor and give up on that part of my life. Things had gotten too bad, too complicated, too fucking broken. I could sit around and fight all I wanted, but eventually Bruce was going to somehow find a way to destroy me, or worse, to destroy Emily.
I couldn’t let that happen. Maybe a stronger man would fight harder to keep his company, but I thought I was making the realistic, most difficult sacrifice imaginable. What I was doing was honorable and noble and right. I was giving up a dying dream in exchange for love, which was something I never imagined for myself.
I always thought it was a cliché, love. I never thought that would be something I’d have in my life. I always figured people with nothing else fell in love to fill the empty hole in themselves. But now I was realizing that love was much more than just some emotion. It was a way of life, if you let it be. It was family and comfort and warmth, all of the things I had been lacking in my life up to this point. I had money, lots and lots of money, and I’d still have tons of it after I stepped down. I’d be rich for the rest of my life even if I tried to give it all away. But without Emily, I’d never have a family or children or anything that really gave a life meaning and joy.
Some people didn’t need that stuff, and that was okay. Personally, I knew that a family was what I wanted and needed, and Emily showed that to me.
The doors slid open and I stepped out. Ahead, the boardroom door was open a crack, and I could hear voices filtering out into the hall.
“...we here, anyway?”
“He had something important to say.”
“You know why. He’s finally stepping down and letting us run this company the way it should be run.”
I stepped into the room and all eyes were on me. I recognized these men, knew them and worked with them and fought against them. Bruce, with a smug grin on his face, sat on the far side of the room with his allies. I almost turned around and left at the sight of that smile, but I knew I had to eat shit and get it over with.