The Proposal

Chapter 12

Beyoncé's POV

Few Days Later

It has come the time to alert Parkwood that Ki is leaving and I know it's going to shake the company tremendously. She's loved by all, not just the immediate teams she interacts with, but every department — from HR to accounting. Hell, even the cleaning staff adore her.

Thinking about what transpired this week, it took a day for me to process Ki's perspective and forced me to really look within. Although we've moved past the blowup, I'm still mindful of how much I hurt my wife's feelings during the meeting. It still tears me up thinking that I was the cause for her tears and from that day, I vowed to never make her feel that way again. That was the wakeup call I needed to change as a businesswoman, and I'm grateful that Ki showed me my blind spots as a leader. I never wanted to follow my father's footsteps as a business leader, and unfortunately I was becoming the very thing I tried to run from.

I purposely scheduled a meeting when Kierra would be out of the office and used our largest space in the building so that every Parkwood employee could attend. We also had a zoom setup for those on the east coast.
Once the time came, I threw my blazer on and headed to the elevator to make the announcement. Alyssa was already in the room to help prep with the light breakfast refreshments. I said hellos as I entered and made it to the front of the room. My company is fairly small so there were probably about 60 people in the room.

"Hi everyone, thank you for coming down for this emergency meeting. I know we're in the middle of a lot of deadlines since all of our artists have albums rolling out this year, so I appreciate this time." I scanned the room as I talked so that I could make eye contact with everyone.

"So...the reason why I called this meeting is to announce that recently Kierra Sheard has decided to resign and next week will be her last week with us." I said, trying not to cringe from calling my Baby by her maiden name and not mine. Gasps were heard throughout the room and I knew this was going to hit hard for everyone. Shoot, I'm still sad about it my damn self. I've tried to reason with her all week but she's still adamant about quitting for the sake of our marriage. And trust me, I don't want to lose her at all but I'd much rather lose her as an employee before losing her as my wife.

"What?!"

"Oh my God"

"Oh noooo!!"

"Y'all I know this is hard news for us all but she'll forever be a part of the Parkwood family. She's still Koryn's manager so she won't be a stranger to us." I said.

"Well if she's still her manager why is she quitting?" Megan asked. I wished I could tell Cousin to shut up but I know she's asking the question everybody is thinking.

"Kierra has other career pursuits and to avoid any conflict of interests, it's best that she manages independently from Parkwood." I explained.

"Does this mean she can do the remix of Koryn's song now?!" Megan asked.
"Right, like that remix is fire and no shade to Queen, but the remix with Kierra would blaze the charts." Ashley said.

Suddenly the room filled with sounds of agreement and murmurs, quickly overwhelming my senses.

"Guys, I haven't discussed any next steps with Kierra but we shall see. And please don't get in that group chat, the one y'all think I don't know about, and start gossiping that she'll be on the remix." I said, specifically looking at Dave and Megan's messy asses. Everyone looked absolutely shooketh when I said that, making me laugh, "Don't worry, I can't see anything, I promise."

"Your laugh says otherwise so we are about to delete that ASAP." Megan said. I shook my head and got us back on topic.

"Now Megan, as private as I am, I wouldn't dare invade anyone else's privacy. Anyways, I think it'll be a nice touch to throw a surprise party for Kierra so please don't spill the beans or even let her know you know it's her last week. She wants her exit to be as lowkey as possible but I want her to feel the love. The party is happening next Friday so if our east coast crew can make it, I'll arrange the hotel & flights. Just connect with Alyssa after this meeting." I said.