inley wanted to be tonight. Instead, she ha
g against the marble hallway, her brain had shifted from reckless impulse to calculated sabotage. If Haiden wanted t
partment of her Birkin, the one even Arthur didn't know about-and called a ca
any, but she had something better: her name. The Blackwell name still carried weight with the old-guard directors, the ones who remembered her
But she didn't need p
it to the 68th floor, the executive suite where the board kept its private conference room. A late-night strategy session was scheduled. She had seen the ca
tor doors
the city lights. Finley walked straight to the walnut double doors of the boardroom.
plus two women who had clawed their way onto the board-sat around a massive oval tabl
e head of the ta
wall screen. His eyes landed on Finley, and for a fraction of a second, something flickered t
is voice flat. "This
doors swing shut behind her. "Closed? You're discussing
She understood every line of it. The valuation was aggressive, the debt structure risky, but not c
?" She pointed at Haiden, her voice rising to a dramatic pitch. "He locked me in a penthouse. He froze my accounts. He treats me l
-Sterling, head of the audit committee-cleared his
stranger sitting in my grandfather's chair, making
ry slowly, he stood up. His towering
and deadly, "you are going to le
her chin.
ne. He tapped the screen twice, then turned it to face the
club, drunk, screaming at a paparazzo, her dress halfway up he
his tone clinical. "Her grandfather has spent millions on rehab. She is not
erling looked at Finley with pity
m, not the cause. That she had been playing the fool for so long, no one believed she could be anything else. But th
ard," she
rabbed her arm, his grip like iron, a
ng on the polished floor. She grabbed the edge of
le silence as Haiden hauled her out
un her around and slammed her against the glass wa
That video is now on every board member's phone. If you ever pull a stunt
iness. She had lost this round. But she had learned something important: Haiden was prepare
compartment of her mind, next to the finan
her with disgust. "The car is waiting. You're going back to L
. Finley didn't fight this time. She let him lead her,
en shoved her into the backseat and climbed in aft
reflection stared back at her-the smeared mascara, the snarled hair, the hollow e
ndon acquisition. The frozen accounts. The video. Haiden
king. She twisted off the cap, but the pressure made the bottle erupt. The cap flew out of her grip, and the glass bottlet was shallow but stinging. She pressed her palm against it, cursing under her breath. Ha
head against the cold window. The pain was minor, but it woul
omething to do with the little
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