Marrying Her Older Billionaire

Matthew smiled and gave a small, sad sigh. He looked around at his office. He had a look of longing, mixed with a great deal of relief. It was a strange kind of look. Angie had seen it before. She had seen it in the faces of the children that left the village she taught at. It was the look of someone that had known only one home and would miss it, but knew that leaving this home was the right thing for their future.

He sighed again, put an arm around Angie and left the office. He walked towards the conference room and everyone followed him. As he entered, they all applauded. He had tears in his eyes and stood on the table in the conference room.

“Since these are my last few minutes as the head of this law firm,” said Matthew, “I am going to do whatever I damn well want to do. Hence, I am going to stand on this table and talk to all of my lovely employees. First and foremost… how are you?”

Everyone looked around, some amused, some confused, and there was a general murmur that Matthew took to mean, “Fine, thank you.”

He nodded and said, “As most of you probably already know, I am leaving this law firm. I am no long going to be the one in charge of things here. I am going to officially hand over that duty to my best friend and long time business partner Richard Breech, the other half of this law firm since it began.”

He gestured towards Richard and everyone applauded. Richard nodded his head humbly. Angie felt her heart skip a beat when she saw him. Her eyes did not linger. They both knew how dangerous it would be if either of them looked at each other openly in the office. The employees would see without a doubt, and the rumors would start immediately.

She turned back and looked at her dad. Richard had not looked at her either. She liked that he was able to maintain his composure, that he was able to keep a lid on things while they were together in the office. It made her feel very secure, and it gave her the confidence to do the same thing on her own. She looked at Richard and smiled for a moment before looking back at her father.

“I can’t tell you how much the last fifteen years have meant to me,” said Matthew. “Some of you have been here for the whole fifteen years. Others have been here for varying lengths of time. There are some among you that just joined this year. To these newbies, I say welcome! You are as much a part of the family as the rest of us, and we are all proud to have you guys as a part of our team. I hope that your careers are full of exciting cases and easy ones, but never both at the same time because when a case is exciting and easy to solve you can be sure that there are some high level criminals involved!”

There was a smattering of laughter followed by expectant silence. They were all waiting for Matthew to speak. Matthew had his hands clasped together and was looking at the desk between his feet. He sighed and said, “It’s not easy to do this, I must admit. I didn’t think I would ever leave this place if I’m being very honest. But, as some of you already know, my beautiful daughter just came back after spending ten whole years in Africa. I haven’t seen her in a decade and would very much like to be a part of her life. I would like to spend as much time as I can with her for at least a year, and after that I would like to do some things that I have always wanted to do. I might travel, I might enjoy myself in other ways. The world is vast, and there are so many things to explore. There are more things than any of you can imagine.

“If there is one piece of advice I can give you guys, it is that you should go out and live. Don’t make this law firm your life. Do your work, do it well, but whenever you can just go out to the park and smell the roses. There is so much out there that you can experience, if you don’t experience it you will surely be missing out. You can be sure that the world is not going to wait for you, and you can be sure that at the end of your life all of your achievements in the work place are not going to count for much. All of your experiences in this work place are going to be the things that you regret missing all of the important moments for. I think, at the end of the day, this place should be a springboard. It should be a way for you to live the life that you want to live. It should be a way for you to be able to enjoy the things that you want to enjoy. Make this job your springboard and your life will be better off for it. Trust me. I spent so many years working here. I know what I’m talking about. I may be nearing fifty years old, but that doesn’t make me dumb. Don’t make it so that you regret the things you’ve missed. And so, without further ado, I officially hand over my authority as the manger of James and Breech to my partner of fifteen years, Richard Breech!”

There was wild applause as Matthew pulled Richard onto the table and stepped down himself. Matthew was a fairly handsome man, but Richard was a movie star. He had the kind of looks that most people would kill for. And he was popular in the law firm. Everyone respected him. Everyone thought that he was the best person for the job. And everyone was prepared to bet all of the money that they had on them that he would waste no time in taking James and Breech to the very top. He was going to make the law firm the most prestigious law firm in the entire world, and there was nothing anyone was going to be able to do to stop him.

Angie looked at Richard. She was glad to finally have an excuse to look at him without having to feel paranoid or guilty. Matthew put his arm around his best friends shoulder and whispered something in his ear. Angie read his lips. He was wishing Richard luck. He stepped down to yet more applause and everyone patted him on the back. He came and stood next to Angie and she rubbed his back and kissed him on the cheek. He still had tears in his eyes. This was clearly a very emotional moment for him. Indeed, it was a very emotional moment for pretty much everyone that was involved right now.

She kissed her dad on the cheek again after seeing the tears in his eyes and rested her head on his shoulder for a moment before looking up at Richard. He cut an impressive figure at the top of the table. “So,” he said. “All of you know me. I’m the guy that you’re afraid of. I’m the guy most of you respect. Now, I am the guy that’s managing the firm that you are working at. Which means that I am your boss in every capacity. But don’t think that this means that I am unapproachable. I may have been so before, but that was only because it was not my job to be approachable. It was my job to win cases. Today, however, I am going to vow to be a lot more approachable to you guys. I am going to be dependable, I am going to be the one that you guys can trust, the one that you guys can count on to help you in pretty much any situation.”

There was more applause. He looked around and smiled. “I am proud to be the one that was chosen for this position. I am proud that my friend thought that I was good enough to take his place. I would disagree. No one can take the place of Matthew James. He is a titan, a juggernaut, the kind of man that is spoken of in hushed whispers. He is the man that came out of nowhere and managed to blow all of the more experienced lawyers out of the water. He is the man that was working at one of the most prestigious law firms in the city but left the firm to establish his own practice.