Corporate Love

move from

zzed with silence. Her skin still tingled where the cold from the photo seeped into her bo

nocked, she was pacin

word. He took one look at her and s

he asked, his ton

k. I just hande

for a long moment, then

was thi

Outside

ed. "They're f

fell, uneven. "And

set the phone down on the counter like it

her head.

er. "You shouldn't

rms. "I can take

not th

what i

this is-they're pushing. Watching. Escalating. And

ure. "They've done it before," she said softly

froze be

can protect me, Dominic? That's noble. But

be part of it. Whatever it is. You

hard against the iron walls she'd built around herself. His vo

she almost l

mo

back instead.

once, jaw tight. But as he tu

, Ava. This time, I'

ply. Just wat

curtains tight. She sat on her bed staring at the walls

again at 2:41 a.m., this

a voi

ed, then pr

ckled throu

when they stay buried too lon

pped th

caught in

't a thre

s a p

begun-and Ava is no longer in cont

. Her eyes were hollow from lack of sleep, her skin pale beneath the bathroo

tock,

lling herself to stay calm. Fear was ex

leaning against her desk like he belonged there. He d

ck," he said, his voic

n't ne

, eyes sharp. "Y

a babysitter e

umor in them. "No. "You need someone who kno

ard it. People like this. It meant one thing-he k

th this before?"

enough to tell her

"Then why didn't

ping closer. But we didn't. Whoever sent that

now? You want to put a tail o

o tell me the

ir sh

he was already movi

. "Is it someone from your p

e couldn't say it. Not yet. The truth

e changed t

fternoon," she said flatly. "It's time I r

nt before nodding. Then let's gi

s a battlefiel

mahogany table. Expensiv

he owned it-and Dominic followed

, hitting every target, every concern before it

presentation, th

back, studying her with narrowed eye

I never left the industry. If

nce. Then another voice

how long

the speaker. Ava followed the

was

an W

in his three-piece suit, but his smirk was sharp. And

r supposed

neutral, but her

arely made it to the elevator

Damian Wolfe was inv

se he

rrowed. "Yo

cked the board when I ret

Then someone brought hi

head, her pu

ust about sab

as per

ever, with motives unknown. Ava's past isn't

g. Damian Wolfe was in the building. Not as a visitor. Not as a ghost from her past. Bu

n of herself she vowed never to revisit. And yet, there he was today, polished and poised, h

crossed, jaw tight. "You need to tel

"Why? So you can

But the silence that followed

here, before everything collapsed.

narrowed. "Di

he way you're thinking. He tried to control me. Own me. H

muttered. Then, stepping closer,

dn't tell anyone. Not then, not now. Because

tleness, he said, "It's already real, Ava. Yo

ping for silence, for stillness. But instead,

itten on the front.

s, she opened it. Ins

. Her.

was from before. Fr

cross the bott

should've

hoever was watching her wasn't just playing games anymore. They were diggi

hone

ell him the truth

ack and the threats turning personal, Ava has no choice left: S