Jamison Reed loved everything about Christmas.
From the decorations, to the songs, to the food, and yes, even fruitcake. She embraced it all. But now, as she watched her employees enjoy the Christmas party she’d catered, a long shadow cast a damper on her holiday.
How long would she be able to keep them all employed? Thanks to what she called the great screwup of her existence, she had fifty people she needed to take care of, and going into next year, she had no idea how to do it. No, that wasn’t true. She had a Hail Mary plan, but what would she do if it didn’t work? This was what she got for believing in love. A shattered heart and a drained corporate bank account.
Her head of marketing, Becca Long, sidled up to her, carrying two cups. “Eggnog for your troubles?”
Jamie gave Becca a small smile. “Thank you. Are you having fun?”
“Of course I am,” she said, tossing her glossy dark hair over her shoulder. “I love the annual Christmas party. I love seeing who’s drinking too much. I’m starting a pool on who’s going to have the biggest hangover tomorrow. And I’m taking bets on who’s going to lose their decorum first, once the music gets pumping.” She shrugged. “There’s at least one every year who forgets that this is a work party. But, yeah, I’m having fun. Way more than you. You look worried, boss lady.”
Jamie sighed. That’s because she was worried. Her small gaming company, Cyberpunked, had been having serious financial troubles. Their latest game had done extremely well, especially as it captured an audience of strong, sassy girls. But not exceptional enough to pull them out of the red. They had an investor in the wings willing to drop a ton of cash into the coffers, contingent on the potential of the next game. They’d evaluate everything based on their demo product.
They were willing to take a gamble if Cyberpunked’s demo of the game garnered strong reviews and excitement. Only problem with that was, the demo was scheduled for mid-January and there was still a lot of testing to be done.
Jamison forced a smile for Becca. “I’m good, I promise. Just a little worried...” Becca was more than a friend though. She was a long-standing employee at the company. Over the years they’d grown close. But still, Jamie tried to shield her from the worst of it. From her epic blunders.
“If this is what good looks like, then I don’t want any part of it. You look exhausted, girl. When was the last time you slept?” The petite brunette spread her arms open in front of the converted warehouse that served as Cyberpunked headquarters. The abundance of decorations made the space look like Santa had relocated the North Pole to their offices. “This is all great and everything, and I am so grateful that you did all this for us. I know you’ve been bending over backward to take care of the team, but you have to take care of yourself too. Don’t think I missed how late you’ve been going home, or the midnight emails. Or how early you get up in the morning. I know you’re killing yourself. And it pisses me off when I think about why.”
Jamie shook her head. “No, Becca. Don’t worry about me. Don’t stress about anything. I promised to keep this place running and I will.”
“Come on, Jamie, level with me. At least tell me how bad it is.”
Jamie sighed. The truth would have everyone running for the unemployment line. “It’s not good. But I don’t want anyone to worry about it. When you guys all decided to stay, I can’t even tell you what that meant to me. So, I’m going to handle it. You just focus on enjoying your Christmas holiday. We still have a couple of days to do everything we can for the game release, but then I want everyone to go and enjoy their two-week holiday. I’ll take it from here.”
Becca pursed her lips. “You do too much. But I know you’re not going to listen to me.” Her friend crossed her arms. “At least do me a favor and promise me you’re going to do your best to enjoy the holiday?”
“I’ll definitely try,” she lied smoothly. She would enjoy her time off. It would just be a working holiday.
Becca didn’t look like she believed her, but still her friend gave her a bright smile. “If you say so. Now, you drink your eggnog. I’m going to see if I can find a single hot guy in this crowd and some mistletoe.”
Jamie had to laugh. With her good looks, Becca would have lots of takers.
“Enjoy.” If the only thing Jamie had to worry about was finding someone to kiss for Christmas, her life would be so uncomplicated. It was kissing that got her in this mess in the first place. Matter of fact, mistletoe kissing had gotten her into a lot of trouble.
She took a sip of her eggnog, letting the cinnamon do its job to perk her up. Otherwise, she’d be groaning. She’d been an idiot, letting love enter into a business relationship. She and Brandon had started Cyperpunked over four years ago before they graduated college. By the time they were ready to don the cap and gown, they’d already put out a hugely successful game.
She’d thought they were on top of the world. How wrong she was. The two of them had met at Carnegie Mellon University their freshman year. She’d been one of the few women in her engineering class, and he’d been one of the rare attractive, sociable guys. And that year they’d had nearly every class together. They’d gravitated toward each other and bonded over their love of gaming. He’d always called her his sexy, cute gaming girl. Well, that had only lasted for so long.
After school, they’d moved to New York, where the start-up community was huge and funding was everywhere. They’d had a good run, but things had eventually fallen apart and it seemed Brandon had found another attractive, tech-savvy girl, because he’d left her for one of their interns. She’d come home from South by Southwest Festival to find him gone. He’d left a note. He’d wanted more excitement out of his life. What he’d really meant was he wanted an upgrade in girlfriends.
And to add salt to the wound, instead of just letting her buy him out, there’d been a fight over their clients. Since he was in charge of sales and marketing, he’d managed to convince some of their biggest clients that he was the brains behind the shop.
His leaving hadn’t been her fault. She was self-possessed enough to know that. But putting her company in a vulnerable position, that was her fault. She hadn’t made him sign a freaking noncompete, the legal document that would have protected her stake. And she’d paid dearly for it. Not only had he taken their clients, but he’d also taken a good chunk of their employees with him. While she’d been building the business, he’d been polluting the well. When she’d fallen in love with him, she hadn’t seen him for the master manipulator he was. And it had cost her too much.
Jamie had taken the high road, and refused to address the negative comments swirling on social media and around the building. Since she wouldn’t respond, so many of them thought she wasn’t in it to win it. They also worked with him directly, so why wouldn’t they believe what he’d said? They’d eventually left with him.
With the team she had left, they’d managed to survive for the last year on the residuals from old games and revenue from some new games, but they were struggling and everybody knew it.
Especially Teched. The tech giant was breathing down her neck, eager for a takeover. They’d offered her a buyout, but she knew they would dismantle her company and fire half her employees. That was the general strategy of takeovers. She’d made her team a promise to keep the company going and she intended to keep it.
She wasn’t ready to give up yet. Their last game had been hotly anticipated and the critics had loved it. It was doing well, and had stemmed the bleeding, but she needed a major infusion of cash pronto or there was no way she could keep the doors open.
She’d