by Claire Adams
“Your Honor, I know that giving over this company has been hard on my stepsister. Her father and she shared a bond I’ll never truly understand. But, the company flourished underneath my leadership. Charles Harte left me Harte to Heart because he saw a passion within me I had not yet discovered in myself, and he knew the only way I would find it was to throw me into it. He knew me that well, Your Honor, because I was his son. I am his son. While I was the CEO of the company, we not only obtained a lucrative new client, we were able to keep the company out of a hole Charles Harte was about to dig while increasing our bottom line and finding a way to help more of the people Mr. Harte wanted to in the first place. I am good for the company, and the company has been good for me. But, I cannot do it without Stella. Had it not been for her, I never would’ve learned how to fit a suit, or conduct a professional meeting, or even earn the respect of the employees. It worked when I was the CEO, and she was the VP, but it doesn’t work if she’s not there. Period.”
“So, what do you expect me to do? Hand the company over to you and force her to work there? I can’t legally do that,” the judge asked.
“No, Your Honor, and I know you can’t. I am hoping you will agree with me and give me back a company that has opened its arms to me. The rest falls on my shoulders and my shoulders alone. If anything, this was what my stepfather wanted in the first place, for me to run the company. What we had to figure out on our own was the fact that Stella and I could work together as a team. He knew she would never give me a position at the company with the way our relationship was before he passed, so he passed the company to me to create the tension necessary to bring us together. That was his plan, and it was a hell of a good one.”
“Watch your language in my courtroom, Mr. Gunn,” the judge warned.
“I’m sorry, Your Honor.”
“But, you are right. It is a hell of a plan,” the judge said, winking. “Miss Harte, do you have anything to say?”
I looked over at her and saw tears threatening to pour down her face. Her hands were trembling in her lap, and she looked as if she was on the verge of an emotional breakdown.
What was wrong with my Stella?
“May I, uh, go to the restroom quickly, Your Honor? I didn’t want to interrupt Mr. Gunn during his impassioned speech.”
I saw the pity drip in the judge’s eyes before he granted her the opportunity. She flew from her chair, straightening out her clothes while she fled through the doors of the courtroom. Stella was hurting. She was in emotional pain that was causing her physical distress, and it appeared she wasn’t getting any sleep. Maybe I had done the wrong thing. Should I go running after her? Maybe I should’ve talked to her instead of running away from her the way I did. I should’ve gone to check up on her. Why didn’t I call her? I should’ve stopped by the company to see how she was doing, no matter how much it hurt to be there.
And that’s when I realized something.
The protectiveness and the anger. The betrayal and the hatred. The loss of a compass and the lack of purpose. These were all things Stella felt when she heard the company was to be handed over to me.
This was how Stella felt during the days she was conversing with her lawyer about all this.
I wanted to run after her. To scoop her up into my arms and tell her that I understood. That I got it. That I finally understand how she felt when the company she had called home for years had been ripped from her. I wanted to kiss her hands and ask her what happened. I wanted to take her to her doctor’s appointments and make sure they were going to heal alright. I wanted to help her with her pain medication and wipe the tears falling from her cheeks.
But instead of allowing myself to careen out of control, I simply stayed seated.
“I can’t do this to her,” I said.
“What?” my lawyer asked.
“I’m sorry. You’ll be billed accordingly, but I can’t do this to her.”
“Mr. Gunn, wait.”
“Your Honor?” I asked.
“Yes, Mr. Gunn?”
“I can’t do this,” I said.
“You can’t do what, Mr. Gunn?” he asked.
“I can’t take this company from her.”
“You are not taking anything from anyone. I am siding with your argument. That stock is technically allocated properly, save for some paperwork that needs to be processed, so we can execute Charles Harte’s will. The company is yours. I am only waiting to give Miss Harte a chance to say her peace,” he said.
“I am wasting everyone’s time. Stella deserves this company, Your Honor. She has trained her entire life for it. Her education, the jobs she has taken over the years, being a paramedic and sitting at her father’s side as a child watching him do paperwork on his laptop. She breathes this company. She was grooming herself for it.”
“Mr. Gunn, it states right here in the will-”
“I know what it says, Your Honor. But, I’m no longer willing to execute my stepfather’s will. Stella Harte lives and breathes her father’s company, and it’s only fair that she gets it.”
“No.”
Every single one of us whipped our heads around to look at Stella as she stood in the doorway of the courtroom. Her back was tall, her tears were gone, and even though her eyes were dark and sunken in, I could see a flicker of the same determination I’d seen for weeks at the company.
Back when we were a team.
“What was that Miss Harte?” the judge asked.
“I said no.”
Chapter Thirty-Four
Stella
“The company is rightfully Christian’s,” I said.
“Stella, no, it’s not.”
“Mr. Gunn, you had your opportunity to speak. I have heard you and your pleas, regardless of how you’ve changed your mind. Now, sit down and afford Miss Harte the same courtesy she gave you,” the judge said.
Christian looked incredible. Even though my mind was hazy from the whirlwind of emotions I was experiencing, I couldn’t take my eyes off that suit. It hugged him beautifully in all the places I wanted my body to be, and the white shirt against the navy blue suit made his beautiful eyes stunning. He’d grown into a handsome businessman. One I had almost ruined with my selfishness and self-pity. And I was no longer going to allow him to be selfless.
This was his company, and rightfully so.
“This company has always been Christian’s,” I said. “No, he didn’t sit at my father’s side and watch him work. No, he didn’t travel with him to the office when he was a child, but what child wants to do that anyway? I was weird, and I loved my father, but who cares? Just because you get a degree and take a couple jobs in the health and wellness industry doesn’t make you equipped to run a company. But, my mistake was I thought it did. I thought my personal knowledge of the company coupled with the fact that my father’s blood courses through my veins suddenly made me apt to take over his entire legacy. But, it doesn’t.”
“Stella, don’t.”
“Shut up, Christian,” I said, smirking.
“Motion granted,” the judge said as he eyed Christian carefully.
“Was Christian fit to run a company when it was first given to him? No. I was shocked, stunned, and thought that my father handing him the company meant he somehow thought I wasn't fit to run it. Like I had disappointed him in some way. The moment I heard our former company lawyer read out that Harte To Heart Medical Supplies was going to be given to Christian, I had the last of my father ripped from me.”
I felt tears sting the back of my eyes as I steadied my hip against the desk. This wasn’t going to be pretty, but it needed to be said.
“I was using my father’s company as a way to hang onto him. To keep him alive so I wouldn’t have to deal with the fact he was gone. I lost my father and the only woman I ever considered to be my mother on the same day, and I never stopped to think Christian had lost the same. That he had lost his mother and the only person he had ever considered a father.”
I felt my
chest hiccupping and tried to calm myself down. I had to get through this speech. I didn’t know if I was going to see Christian after this, and I needed him to hear me.
To hear what I’d learned in the last couple weeks.
“I started this crusade to get the company back because I thought that giving the company to Christian meant my father trusted him more with the best of him than he did me. I thought this was my father’s way of communicating how much of a disappointment I had become to him, and I wanted to get it back so I could provide myself the opportunity to show that I wasn’t a disappointment. That I could be better. That I could be more than whatever it was I thought he had reduced me to. But, that wasn’t what happened. That wasn’t what he was planning, and it was Christian who brought that to my attention. Your Honor, Christian is a genius. He might have been wading in thick waters there for a moment, but he was made for this business, and my father knew that. But, more importantly, Christian was right earlier. My father had a plan. He knew the company needed both of us, both of our respective knowledge and skill sets, for his company to thrive. It’s why he split his personal stock in the company between the two of us the way he did, and it’s why he gave Christian the company: because he knew if he handed it to me, I wouldn’t hire him on. Because of how our relationship was.”
“So, you agree with Mr. Gunn on that, then?” the judge asked.
“Yes, Your Honor. If there is one thing Christian and I can agree on, it’s the fact that my father was a cryptic son of a bitch.”
“Language, Miss Harte.”
“Sorry, Your Honor. He always had this roundabout way of implementing a plan and then giving you time to digest, figure it out, and grow in the process. We followed his plan accordingly without even realizing it. Until now, that is. Your Honor, Christian influenced the company in a way I had never seen before, even under my father’s control. And he only sat in that seat for two weeks. Imagine what he could do in two months, or two years, or two decades! Imagine the people we could help, the charities that could benefit monetarily. It would be—”
“Miraculous?” Christian asked.
I whipped my gaze over to him, relishing in his voice. For the first time in over a week, he was talking to me. He was addressing me, looking at me, studying me with those eyes that brought me so much warmth and comfort. I locked my gaze with him, never wanting to let it go. Because I knew if I did, there was the risk I’d never get it back.
Not after all I’d done and put him through.
“Miraculous,” I said, grinning. “Your Honor, I want to drop this case.”
“It’s not your case to drop, Miss Harte,” the judge said.
“Then I want to drop the case,” Christian said.
“If you drop the case, the company defaults back to Miss Harte. If the two of you would sit down and listen to what I have to say, I think you are going to enjoy it,” the judge said.
The two of us sat back down into our seats before our eyes finally broke from one another’s. I had no idea what the judge was going to say, but in my book, this company would always be Christian’s. That office would always be his, and those responsibilities would always be done better at his hand.
“I’m so sorry,” I whispered.
“My order of this court, I hereby give the company Harte To Heart Medical Supplies over to Christian Gunn as per Charles Harte’s will.” the judge said. “Whatever the two of you choose to do with regard to who runs the company and who doesn’t, that is up to the owner. But as of this court hearing, Harte To Heart Medical Supplies is under Christian Gunn’s ownership.”
“Yes, Your Honor,” Christian and I said together.
“Good.” He banged his gavel on his desk before he went to sign the official order, and I saw Christian get up and go to the judge’s desk. I felt a slight pang of disappointment as I watched him walk away from me. Holy hell, he looked incredible in the suit he had bought, and I felt tears crest my eyes before I got up and began to exit the courtroom. I looked back, taking one last look at Christian before I left. One last look to commit him to memory.
I was going to miss him and the relationship we had developed.
I walked out of the courtroom and down the steps of the courthouse before I headed for my car. I would have to make a note to inform Christian that I didn’t know if I was coming back to the company, but I would also have to let him know that he would need to hire a new company lawyer.
It was finally done. The company was back in the hands of the person it needed to be in, and I started to come to grips with the fact that my father was gone. Maybe this was to try and get Christian and I to work things out. Maybe all of this was orchestrated by some man who had some grand plan to bring his two children together.
Or maybe this was the move of a man with wisdom beyond his years who simply knew more than I did.
All I knew was that now, I could start coping with my loss. Now, I could start coping with my grief. With my heartache and my sleepless nights and all the things that spawned the moment I had to pull the plug on my father’s life-support machines.
I panned my gaze over to the courthouse one last time before I gritted my teeth to start my car. I saw Christian come running out, his head darting in every direction. It looked like he was looking for someone, possibly the lawyer I was with.
A part of me deep down inside hoped he was looking for me.
But, even if he was, I couldn’t face him. Not the way I looked and not after everything I had put him through. He had suffered enough at my hands, and he didn’t need to endure it any longer.
So, I pulled out of the metered parking space and drove off, watching as Christian continued to look around while he faded slowly into the background.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Christian
I saw her walking across the road as I hit the doorway of the courthouse. I wanted to catch up to her. To see how she was doing. To find out what was going on with her and why she wasn’t sleeping. I wanted to talk with her and take her into my arms. To hold her and tell her that I listened and digested every single word she said in that courtroom.
I wanted to tell her how much I loved her, and how I couldn’t get my mind off her even after everything that had happened.
“Christian!”
My lawyer’s voice caught me off guard as I watched Stella cross the road. He had a huge smile on his face and was coming in for a congratulatory hug, but all I wanted to tell him to do was fuck off. If Stella drove away without me getting to talk to her, I wasn’t sure if I could ever forgive myself. I wasn’t sure if she would take my phone calls after ignoring her and I wasn’t sure if she would answer her door if I came knocking.
“You have the company back. The papers are already signed by the judge. All I need to do is officially process them so we can be done with this nightmare,” he said.
“Yeah, yeah, thanks. Thank you so much for all your help,” I said.
“What do you think you’ll do with Stella? If it were up to me, I’d fire her and hire someone better just to stick it to her,” my lawyer said.
“I have no intentions of doing that to her. If she wants to stay, I’ll welcome her with open arms. If she doesn’t, I don’t think anyone could blame her,” I said.
“You know, for a man who just won his company back, you sure as hell don’t look like it,” he said.
“That’s because I don’t feel like I’ve won.”
I turned around to find her. I darted my head in every direction, trying to see where she could have gone. I looked for her swinging cast or her sleek black hair. I looked for those green eyes that might have been watching me from afar.
But, when I caught sight of her car, the only part of it I could see were the taillights before she rounded the corner and disappeared.
“Shit!” I exclaimed.
“Don’t tell me you don’t want the company anymore. Mr. Gunn, I don’t know if I could take it.”
“The company isn’t the issue,�
� I said. “I’m sorry. Thank you so much for helping me win the business back. Bill me for your time, and send it to my office. But, as the owner of this company again, I have a lot of things I need to address.”
“No, no. I completely understand. Congratulations on your win, Christian,” he said.
“You, too.”
I raced to my car and cranked it up before I whipped out of the parking space. I followed the path I saw Stella’s car take, hoping if I drove far enough, I would see her sitting at a stoplight or something. I turned down every side road searching for her car while I ventured to all the places in town I thought she might go. I pulled into every doctor’s office and every coffee shop. I drove by every bakery and surveyed every park bench I could see from the road. I didn’t know what the hell I expected to find, but I was hoping someone would throw me a bone.
That somehow, she would just be sitting somewhere I could find her.
But, when I didn’t, my mind set itself to autopilot. While I drove down the road, I thought back to the courtroom and all she had said. I thought about how desperate her eyes looked. I recalled the haggard form that had replaced a body she had once stood tall in. The shine in her hair wasn’t from her apple cinnamon conditioner, but from the days she had gone without showering.
I felt my eyes water as I remembered back to some of the things she’d said. How she had called me a genius and told the judge the company grew better under my leadership than it ever did with her father. I recognized that same sparkle in her eye. The last time I’d felt her.
The last time I’d kissed her.
When I came to, I was pulling into Todd’s coffee shop. I sat there and wiped the tears from my eyes before I took a deep breath. I knew the moment I walked in Todd would want to talk about the case, and I knew I wouldn’t be able to talk about it without telling him everything.
The whole story.
Just as I went to get out of the car, the passenger side door opened. Todd slipped in and thrust a coffee over to me, and I grabbed it without even looking at him. I just kept staring at the entrance to his coffee shop while he kept his gaze trained on me, then he finally decided to break the silence.