When Family Became a Place I Couldn’t Return To novel Chapter 19

“Years of longing, burned out in a single night. From now on, the past is over.”

Brody stared at the screen. That was the only thing Nelly had posted all year. The date caught his eye. It was the anniversary of their son’s death. People had left comments, trying to comfort her. Maybe they thought she was finally coming to terms with the pain, finally moving on.

But Brody felt this sharp pang deep in his chest. For a second, he couldn’t breathe. It was weird. He never felt anything when it came to Nelly. Or at least, he told himself that.

He remembered what Jessie had said. She’s sick…

His head was spinning, and a kind of restless frustration started to creep in.

The next morning, Brody had Alan take Sheila home while he dropped Carrie off at preschool. He wanted to go home and see Nelly, but on the way he got an urgent call from work. He had to turn the car around.

It was the project Nelly had been leading. Something had gone horribly wrong.

“What’s going on?” Brody asked as soon as he walked into the conference room.

Everyone was standing with their heads down, silent and tense, barely even breathing. It took a while before anyone spoke, and when they did, their voice was shaky.

The client was refusing to sign the contract. They were furious about Garland Inc. switching out the project manager without warning.

Brody flipped through the paperwork, his face getting darker by the second. This was their biggest contract of the year, one they’d fought hard to win. If they lost it, the financial hit would be bad enough, but if news of a dispute got out, the damage to the company’s reputation would be so much worse.

“Mr. Garland, please, don’t worry. Legal is already working on a plan,” one manager said in a rush.

“Yeah, Josh is still talking to the client. We’ve drafted some incentives to try to calm them down…” another added.

“Uh… Well…” The two managers glanced at each other, totally lost. They’d prepared for every possible question, except this one.

At Garland Inc., everyone was just a cog in the machine. Brody never bothered with employees’ personal lives, never cared why anyone left. No one except Alan even knew about his connection to Nelly.

“We… we weren’t that close to her. Honestly… we don’t know,” one of them finally admitted, his face red from holding it in.

Before he finished, Brody tapped his finger on the table. The sudden sound made everyone jump.

“Not close?” Brody repeated, his voice dripping with contempt. “Is that how you treat important members of your team? Like they don’t matter at all?”

His voice trembled, just a little. It felt like he was holding back something explosive. Everyone stared at the table, holding their breaths, waiting to see what he would do next.