“You told me to date. Meet a guy. Well, I did one better. I married a guy. I live with him. I have a partnership with him. I have a deep friendship with him that’s probably more than most marriages start with. Was the marriage to appease you? Initially, yes. Because in the end, not only do I want this job more than anything in my life but I’m also exactly the person you need at the helm. You know this. You admitted as much back when you threw out this whimsical new requirement.”

“Gloria will do just fine at the helm. I’m having the paperwork drawn up as we speak to make her the president of Marks International Hotels.”

I felt her words like a punch to the throat. Oxygen stopped flowing, and my brain went offline for a moment, as if my system was hit by a bolt of lightning. As I reeled, I had to will myself to suck in air… in, out, in again. I did my best to tamp down the panic exploding in my chest and rationalize with her.

“Don’t do that, Angelica,” I said quietly, earnestly. “You know that’s not a smart long-term move for the business you’ve spent your entire adult life building up.”

“What wouldn’t be smart is to reward someone who has tried to deceive me.” Her voice was icier than I’d ever heard it, even when she’d sat across a conference table from the most cutthroat adversary. “How long did you and your husband agree to keep up the charade? Until after my funeral? Then an easy divorce and you own my company, your husband has his business, and I’m left looking like the biggest fool in history?” She shook her head, her jaw locked. “That is not how it’s going to go.”

“You’d rather leave your legacy in the hands of the second-best person and put your decades of hard work at risk than have the best, most capable candidate ensure that your vision is fulfilled?”

“The only thing more important than my company is my reputation. Once I’m dead, I won’t be able to protect it. I can’t have you and your marriage of convenience shatter it.”

“What would you have had me do, Angelica? What choice did you give me with your unfair, half-baked decree?”