BOUND BY HIS TERMS

Hart'

Do not fold. Do

into the boardroom of Vale Industries, a room so sterile and cold it could h

le table. Across from me, Jaxon Vale leaned back in his seat like a man

smooth it nearly cloaked the venom b

ine to remain upright. "But then I re

just slightly. "Ne

like it was radioactive. Because in many ways, i

ast six months, the cracks had deepened, investors pulled out, collections delayed, and

it felt more

g the document. "Your name stays. Your team stays. But o

ecome a

ower. And twelve months to sa

no. Walk out with my pride in

E with blood. I would n

ign

odded. "Good. You will report

elt more like free fall. I tried to remind m

age from Eva, my best friend and b

t telling me?? Lila

swer. Because

k and satin, wondering when survival had begun to taste like surrender.

nock shatter

door to fin

e you do

u missed something in the contract. A cla

ne. "You came here. Personall

gate certain m

tter judgment

already knew every corner. Like he

my laptop. A single folder blin

is t

legacy. And

s, tech schematics, and something

You were already tr

iral. You are not just a desig

to him.

for this deal since the day I watched you on that

ld hav

whispered, "Wha

like I was a puzzle h

Now we

ot sleep. And

to a battlefield. Some congratulat

er, fury in her eyes. "

was n

s time to not s

l it," I said.

o longer recognized the wom

headquarters for our first joint meeting. The

side a digital display of HART

n the screen. "Are you ready

ers. "I am ready to

proval passed t

with executives, I rea

ossiers on me befo

ed Royce Dane, watched me with the s

n told him flatly. "She i

e that, the

the girl beggi

ir sharpe

r ga

n on a boa

ht, something shat

tudio to find the

left t

ad left a fol

si

copy of my

highlighted

ever ag

t exist in the

r

sional and personal, to Vale Industries until

exactly had I signed? A sudden noise behind made me whirl around. A sha