The Billion-Dollar Divestment

"I've fallen in love with someone else." My fiancée stood in the dead center of my office, her voice clipped and entirely too confident.

The tip of my fountain pen hovered over the final page of a massive merger agreement. "Who?" I didn't bother looking up. "Weston." I completed my signature and snapped the leather folder shut. "Understood." I pressed the intercom button on my desk. "Get legal on the line.

Draft the engagement termination papers." Her jaw dropped a fraction of an inch. "That's it? That's your entire reaction?

Harrison, do you even care?" "You made a choice." I finally looked up, keeping my gaze as dead and cold as concrete.

She glared at me, her voice dropping to a defensive chill. "I'm signing the marriage certificate with him today." "Congratulations." Three days later, she paraded her courthouse wedding across every socialite circle in the city.

That same night, I called an emergency board meeting. My private attorney immediately severed the liquidity of the three core trust funds backing Daphne's family empire.

Less than two hours later, her prized unlimited black cards were frozen solid, and she was hammering my voicemail like a hysterical lunatic. "How dare you cut off my personal funds?!" "It's a business decision." I stood before the floortoceiling windows of my penthouse, looking down at the city grid glowing below.

She actually thought I was just stepping out of a marriage contract. But capital doesn't care about feelings. It only calculates the cost.

Chapter 1 Daphne marched into my office on seveninch stilettos while I was in the middle of signing a merger agreement. She didn't bother knocking.

The sharp clackclackclack of her heels against the hardwood floor was deliberate, demanding my attention. My secretary, Riley, couldn't stop her.

Growing up together meant she'd never needed an appointment to walk into my space. I was the CEO of my family's empire, the sole heir.

She was the heiress to her family's corporation, their only daughter. Our families had been tied together in business for over two decades.

We practically grew up sitting at the same mahogany boardroom tables. I finished the last page. Only when my fountain pen lifted from the paper did I bother to look up.

She stood rigidly in front of my desk, her makeup flawless, her red lips pressed into a tight line. She was waiting for me to speak first.

I didn't even bat an eye, simply shoving the eightbilliondollar acquisition file toward Riley. "Give me a reason why you barged in here without an appointment." I leaned back into my leather executive chair.

She took a deep breath, tilting her chin up. "I've fallen in love with someone else." The nib of my pen scratched a nearly invisible line on the paper.

I slammed the solid black folder shut, my gaze sweeping over her like she was a worthless scrap of trash. "Perfect. Take your new toy and get out of my sight.

Legal will email the engagement termination and total divestment agreements to your father's inbox in half an hour." The air in the room flatlined.

The tight, confident mask she wore cracked. She probably rehearsed a whole script for this.

She expected me to ask who the guy was, how long it had been going on, or if she'd even thought about the billiondollar ties between our families.

She probably braced herself for a screaming match. I didn't give her one. Instead, I stood up and pulled the heavy oak door open for her. "Are we done here?" I asked.

She stared at me. "Harrison, do you seriously not give a damn?" I held her gaze. "An engagement takes two.

You made your choice, and I'm honoring it." Her chest heaved with a sharp intake of breath. "Did you stop caring about me a long time ago?" The words barely left her lips.

I didn't answer. Words like love and feelings were cheap currency in our world. We got engaged when she was twenty and I was twentytwo.

The engagement party took over an entire luxury hotel ballroom, swarming with financial reporters hyping up the ultimate corporate merger.

Everyone assumed walking down the aisle was inevitable. Even I accepted the bottom line. She was spoiled rotten from day one.

As her father's only heir, she got whatever she pointed at.

She was used to the world orbiting around her, used to standing in the spotlight, used to other people cleaning up her messes. I operated differently.

From the second I took over the company at twentyfour, I calculated every cent of capital and negotiated every cutthroat deal myself.

My family gave me the throne, but they didn't hold my hand. That's why my first reaction to her confession wasn't blind rage. It was a cold, hard assessment. Assessing the fallout.

Assessing the risk. Assessing the cost. This worthless alliance should have ended years ago. She thought she was chasing some Hollywoodstyle romance.

To me, she was just stupidly kicking away the corporate umbrella that had sheltered her entire life, eagerly jumping into a dumpster fire of imminent bankruptcy.

She stood frozen in the doorway. "His name is Weston," she suddenly added.

I gave a single nod. "Noted." She visibly paled. "You're not even going to ask who he is?" "You picked him. I assume you did your due diligence." My voice stayed flat.

She let out a short, bitter laugh. "You're exactly the same. So brutally rational it makes me sick." "Thanks." She searched my face, hunting for any sign of a crack in my armor.

She found nothing. I learned a long time ago that emotions are a liability. Especially at the negotiating table. Chapter 2 She spun on her heel and marched out.

Her stilettos hammered the hardwood, striking with twice the force as when she entered. The heavy oak door clicked shut.

I stood frozen in the center of the room before dropping back into my leather chair. The floortoceiling glass wall across from me reflected my face. Flat. Unreadable.

Almost unrecognizable. Riley, my assistant, knocked twice before slipping in, eyeing the door like it might explode. "Boss, Daphne…" "Get legal on the line.

Draft a public statement terminating the engagement.

Keep the phrasing strictly objective." "Right." He shifted his weight. "What about the corporate partnerships?" I flicked my gaze to the stack of files on my desk.

My family's empire was currently bankrolling the three core projects keeping Daphne's family afloat.

A broken engagement meant an immediate reevaluation of every single dime. "Keep the freeze in place," I said. "Understood." Riley backed out. The office went dead quiet again.

My phone buzzed against the mahogany. A text popped up from Daphne. [ Are you seriously this unfazed? ] I stared at the glowing screen. Then I flipped the phone face down.

By eight o'clock that night, I was still locked in the conference room grinding through a new venture pitch with the investment team.

As the room cleared out, an Instagram notification flashed on my screen. It was her.

In the photo, she was sitting in the passenger seat of Weston's heavily financed Porsche, leaning against his chest.

The guy was wearing a clearly rented designer suit, grinning at the camera like a degenerate gambler who just hit the jackpot. [ True love is priceless.

Finally free from family politics. ] The comment section was a war zone.

Socialites offering fake congratulations, frat bros hyping him up, and dozens of people tagging me, waiting for the fallout. I tapped the photo, zooming in on her face.

She was smiling. A genuine, sickeningly sweet smile she never bothered to wear at our corporate galas. I doubletapped the screen, leaving a like. Then I closed the app.

Riley walked in to drop off the final briefs just in time to catch my glowing screen, his entire body going rigid. "Boss…" "Hand me the files." He shoved the stack toward me, his jaw working as he tried to find the right words.

I flipped open the top folder and dragged my pen across the signature line. "From now on, anything regarding Daphne's personal life stays off my desk." "Got it." The automated office lights snapped off one by one.

Night swallowed the city beyond the glass. I leaned back in my chair and pinched the bridge of my nose, closing my eyes.

It wasn't that I never factored in the possibility of her walking away. I just didn't expect her to blow up the bridge with dynamite.

But she picked her lane, and now I had to execute mine. A broken romance was between two people. A shattered alliance was between two empires.

I wasn't going to gamble my family's entire legacy on her temporary lapse in sanity. And I sure as hell wasn't going to let her reckless detour disrupt my momentum.

I grabbed my phone and shot a text to my father. [ Engagement terminated. We strategize tomorrow. ] The reply came through almost instantly. [ Acknowledged. ] No reprimand.

No emotional breakdown. That was our bloodline's absolute standard. By dawn, Wall Street group chats were already dissecting Daphne and Weston's public stunt.

The narrative was spinning out of control. Rumors of our families severing ties were trending. Speculation about the joint ventures going bellyup dominated the feeds.

I muted the notifications. I drove to headquarters. The morning sun blasted through the windshield. Gripping the steering wheel, a cold realization hit me.

From the second the ring went on her finger, the entire financial sector priced in our lifelong union. She was the only one who decided to bail out of a moving vehicle. Fine by me.

At least the crash happened before the wedding. I didn't have to navigate a messy divorce. I didn't have to carve out half my assets.

Everything was still strictly within my parameters of control. When the private elevator doors slid open at the penthouse level, my armor was fully locked back in place. Cold.

Calculated. Laserfocused. Riley stepped forward, handing me the day's itinerary. I snatched the tablet, scanning the text. "Schedule a board meeting.

Three PM sharp." Chapter 3 Riley blinked. "That urgent?" "Yes." Some moves can't be delayed.

Since she publicly broadcasted her new status, it was time for me to publicly broadcast my bottom line. I strode into my office and dropped into my executive chair.

The massive desk was perfectly organized, files meticulously categorized. The floortoceiling windows reflected the steel and glass skyline of the entire city.

I stared at the towering architecture. The city's momentum didn't stop just because someone walked away. Capital operates on the exact same principle. The romance was dead.

The business required an immediate audit. My phone vibrated against the wood. Daphne again. [ Why did you like that photo? ] I stared at the glowing text for a few seconds.

I typed out a single word. [ Congratulations. ] I hit send, then immediately flipped the phone to silent. The briefing materials for the board were already stacked.

I flipped open the first page. From this exact second forward, I was no longer her fiancé. I was the absolute authority of my family's empire.

And she was nothing more than the heiress of a compromised corporate partner. As for love, or whether any of this was worth it? That was her cross to bear. I had an empire to run.

Three days later, I was running a strategy meeting when the intel dropped. She wasn't the one who told me.

Legal slid a structural change document across the table, mentioning it casually: "Daphne formalized her marriage registration today.

Weston is now her primary legal affiliate." My hand froze on the edge of the page. "Understood," I said. The meeting rolled on. At 10:30 AM, my private line rang.

The caller ID flashed: Daphne's Father. I accepted the call.

The line stayed dead until he finally choked out the words. "Harrison, I owe you a profound apology." His voice was raw and heavy.

I stood up and walked to the window. "It was her decision." "She's out of control." He was struggling to keep his fury in check. "She signed the marriage papers today without even consulting the family." I let the silence hang.

He finally forced out the real question. "The corporate partnership… this won't destabilize things, will it?" There it was. "Business is not charity," I said, my voice hardening into steel, leaving zero room for negotiation. "Since your family enabled her to choose a broke kid who can't even balance a ledger, you need to prepare to lose my empire's billiondollar cash flow." A sharp intake of breath echoed through the receiver. "Are you trying to destroy my company?!" "No.

I'm simply liquidating toxic assets." I cut the line.

Walking back to the conference table, I hit the intercom for the Head of Investment. "Pull the complete financial workups on the three core ventures tied to Daphne's family." Reid blinked, caught off guard. "Boss, a full audit right now?" "We're convening an emergency board meeting tonight." The temperature in the room instantly dropped.

Reid had been my right hand for years; he knew exactly what it looked like when I went for the throat.

He lowered his voice. "Is this because of Daphne?" "It's because of capital inefficiency." I didn't waste time explaining. At 3:00 PM sharp, the emergency board meeting commenced.

Over a dozen board members filled the mahogany table. My father, the Chairman Emeritus, sat quietly beside the head seat. He didn't speak. He just watched me.

I fired up the boardroom projector. "Item one: The commercial complex venture. Four billion in locked capital, ROI delayed by six months. Item two: The clean energy partnership.

Two and a half billion committed, currently underperforming projections." "Item three: The real estate acquisition.

Risk assessment elevated to critical." I let the data burn into their retinas. "Based on this comprehensive audit, I recommend an immediate and total extraction of all core capital." Chapter 4 A board member frowned. "If we pull the capital now, the market will spin this as a personal vendetta." "The market's spin is their problem." I leveled a look at the speaker. "Our problem is the return on investment." Reid chimed in. "Liquidating these assets will significantly optimize our cash flow." An older board member sighed. "Given the decadeslong alliance between our families, isn't this a bit drastic?" I flipped to the final page of the dossier. "Capital doesn't care about feelings." The boardroom flatlined into dead silence.

My father finally spoke. "Put it to a vote." The results were instantaneous. A sweeping majority. I dragged my pen across the resolution right then and there.

The total liquidation protocol was officially live.

As the room cleared, my father stopped me. "Are you clear on what this means?" "Crystal." He gave me a single, unreadable look and walked out. At 7:00 PM, my phone buzzed. Daphne.

I stared at the screen for a beat before hitting accept. "Harrison, you convened an emergency board meeting today?" "Yes." "Was pulling the funding your idea?" "It was a board resolution." She sucked in a sharp breath. "Are you really going to play it like this?" "It's a business decision." Dead air stretched across the line. "You're only doing this because of me." "Your family's ROI data is detailed in the quarterly reports.

Read them." Her voice tightened into a panicked clip. "You know perfectly well I just got married, and the company is in a vulnerable transition phase.

If you yank the capital out right now, what is the market going to think?!" "I am solely responsible to my empire." That shut her up.

After a long, suffocating pause, she whispered, "You've changed." "So have you." I cut the line. Less than an hour later, Weston crashed my private golf club.

My security detail instantly clamped down on him, physically barricading him five meters away. His overly gelled hair was a mess, his eyes burning with raw jealousy and provocation.

He fought against the guards. "Harrison!

Do you have any actual skills besides using dirty corporate sabotage to force her hand?!" I took a slow sip of my scotch. "I've always valued efficiency." He sneered, straining against the bouncers. "You're just a bitter loser who can't let go." I set my crystal glass on the table. "You're overthinking." "Yanking that funding crashes the market's faith in her judgment." His voice dripped with venom. "You just want to publicly humiliate her." I met his furious glare with absolute deadpan execution. "I liquidated the assets because the returns failed to meet my baseline." "You're really going to hide behind corporate policy?" "Is there another way?" He stopped struggling, shooting me a disgustingly smug look. "You elites love to act so untouchable.

You act like you don't care, but you're pulling all these shady stunts behind the scenes." I stood up, adjusting my cuffs. "If you think the funding gap is such a tragedy, you're welcome to cover the billions yourself." His arrogant smirk vanished.

Daphne's three core projects were massive financial black holes.

His little startup couldn't even afford the interest on that kind of debt, let alone swallow the principal. "I will," he forced out. "Then I wish you the best of luck." I signaled my security to let him go and turned to leave. "Don't you even want to know why she picked me over you?" he spat.

I didn't even bother looking back. "It doesn't matter." He let out a cold, bitter laugh. "You're a pathetic control freak.

You calculate everything." I walked out without another word. The night air was freezing as I exited the club.

The second the heavy door of my armored SUV slammed shut, my phone rang. Reid. "Boss, the liquidation news just hit Daphne's camp.

The major banks are already triggering a total reevaluation of their credit lines." "Execute standard protocol." "Got it." I leaned back into the leather seats and closed my eyes for a second.

This wasn't a revenge plot. It was simply the termination of financial life support.

Her family had expanded way too recklessly over the past few years, using my empire's capital as a safety net. Now that the net was gone, gravity was about to do its job.

Chapter 5 The next morning, Daphne's family stock took a massive hit.

The investment division briefed me on the fallout. "The market is pulling back to watch the bloodbath." "Keep them under a microscope." At noon, my private line rang again.

Daphne's father. "Harrison, are you trying to force my family against a wall?" "I don't make it personal." "You pull the plug, and the banks panic.

Our partners are already dragging their feet." "The risk was always there.

I just stopped hiding it for you." Dead air stretched over the line. "Do you have zero lingering feelings for Daphne?" I paused for a fraction of a second. "Feelings don't balance a ledger." A long, heavy sigh echoed through the speaker. "The board tore her apart today.

She couldn't even defend herself." "That's her job." I cut the call and strode back into the war room. The strategy team had the new pivot ready.

I tapped a sharp finger against the holographic display. "We're injecting this newly freed capital directly into the Silicon Valley tech incubator initiative." "Boss, isn't the timeline a little aggressive?" "Greenlight it today." Reid met my eyes and gave a curt nod.

By 4:00 PM, the PR wires lit up. Weston was doing a press run, publicly whining that my empire's asset liquidation was a bitter, emotionally driven stunt.

I skimmed the forwarded article. I didn't even blink.

Reid stepped into my office. "Do we draft a rebuttal?" "Don't bother." "The market will keep speculating." "Speculation doesn't generate cash flow." I stood up, buttoning my suit jacket. "Lock down the aggressive timeline for the new tech initiative." The phones outside my office rang off the hook.

Global partners were fishing for gossip.

I issued a single, blanket directive: "Harrison Corp is aggressively restructuring its portfolio based on objective risk assessment." At 9:00 PM, Daphne showed up in the lobby of my headquarters.

Unannounced. Security called up for clearance. I told them to send her up. She stepped into my office wearing a plain business suit.

The glowing arrogance of a newlywed bride vanished. "Are you satisfied?" she snapped. "With what?" "My family spent the entire day fighting off panic about our liquidity." "You're explaining math.

Not me." She glared at me, her chest heaving. "You knew exactly how fast the banks would tighten our leashes." "Wall Street analysts know how to assess a sinking ship.

They don't need my instruction." She sucked in a harsh breath. "You just want to publicly humiliate me." "If pure financial transparency humiliates you, then your business model is garbage." She froze, staring at me like I was a stranger. "You never used to be like this." "I wasn't sitting in the Chairman's seat back then." Her mouth opened, but no words came out.

The air in the room flatlined.

Her voice suddenly dropped to a desperate whisper. "Do you feel nothing?" I looked down at her. "You are a married woman." The words hit her like a physical blow, stripping the arrogance right off her face.

She finally turned and practically fled. She wasn't wearing her signature seveninch stilettos tonight. Her footsteps were pathetically silent. The door clicked shut.

I shifted my gaze back to the massive liquidation files dominating my desk. The protocol was already halfway complete. The billions were flooding back into my accounts.

The heavy night pressed against the floortoceiling glass. The city grid blazed below. Over at her family's headquarters, their lights were undoubtedly burning late, too.

Only this time, I wasn't the safety net standing behind them. By the third day of the liquidation protocol, over half the capital had been fully recovered.

The CFO dropped the updated financials onto my mahogany desk. "Boss, the cash flow optimization is massive.

We have zero friction moving forward with the new tech initiative." I scanned the aggressive numbers and gave a single, curt nod.

Intel from the other side was feeding in simultaneously. The major banks had already triggered emergency audits on Daphne's credit lines.

Several key global partners had frozen their pending contracts. They weren't declaring outright war; they were stepping back to watch the bloodbath.

And on Wall Street, stepping back is a death sentence.

Chapter 6 At 10:00 AM, Reid stepped into my office. "Two of Daphne's suppliers are demanding early payouts." "What do the contract terms say?" "Net ninety days." "Then stick to the contract." He gave a curt nod and left.

I knew the real pressure was just beginning.

Her family's empire had expanded way too recklessly over the past few years, aggressively pushing commercial complexes, clean energy, and real estate acquisitions all at once.

The balance sheets looked pretty, but their cash flow was stretched to the breaking point. My empire's capital had been acting as a massive safety net, burying the risk.

Now that the net was gone, the foundation was cracking wide open.

That afternoon, Riley buzzed my intercom. "Daphne is here." I stopped my pen. "Send her in." The heavy door pushed open. I looked up.

She marched right up to my desk, refusing to sit. "We need to talk." "Speak." She took a deep breath. "The banks are tightening our credit lines.

Did you know?" "I heard." "Several suppliers are demanding immediate payouts." "That is an internal problem for your company." She glared at me, her chest rising and falling rapidly. "Does it really have to be this way?" I snapped the file closed. "You made your choice.

I made mine." Her manicured nails dug into the mahogany wood. "Do you have any idea how much pressure I'm under right now?" "You are the Vice President of your family's corporation.

And you are Weston's wife." The words hit her like a physical blow, silencing her instantly. "Don't say it so coldly," she forced out. "Titles and corporate positions are cold by nature." She stared at me for a few seconds before finally collapsing into the guest chair. "Harrison, our families have been partners for decades.

You pull your capital out over a single sentence. What is the market going to think?" "The market isn't going to fix your cash flow." Her breath hitched. I didn't raise my voice.

I didn't show an ounce of anger. I just stated the absolute facts.

She stayed quiet for a long moment before her tone finally softened into a desperate plea. "We can renegotiate the terms.

We'll offer your empire a much higher ROI percentage." "The fundamental risk of the projects hasn't dropped." "We can put up more collateral." "Collateral secures physical assets.

It doesn't secure a dying future." That shut her down. I watched her knuckles turn white.

It was the raw, unfiltered panic of someone who had never hit a brick wall in her entire life, suddenly experiencing a full corporate domino effect. "Where is Weston?" I asked.

Her face stiffened. "He's out securing new financing." "How is that going?" She didn't answer. The total failure was written all over her face.

I stood up, bypassing the desk to stand by the floortoceiling windows. "Your company needs cold hard cash right now.

Not emotional breakdowns." She shot up from the chair, dropping her voice to a hoarse whisper. "Are you actually enjoying watching us drown?" I turned back to look at her. "I am not targeting you." "But this is the result!" "The result comes from a flawed financial structure." She bit down hard on her lower lip. "You never used to treat me like this." "You were never standing on the opposing side before." The second those words left my mouth, her eyes flushed red.

She quickly turned her head away. "Are you really leaving zero room for negotiation?" "The board has passed the resolution." "Then you can force a new vote!" "There is no corporate justification to do so." She stood in dead silence for a long time.

Her voice dropped to a barely audible whisper. "Harrison, are you really this ruthless?" I didn't answer. She stood frozen on the carpet, waiting for a denial.

I didn't give her one. She turned and walked out without another word. The heavy door clicked shut behind her. I sat back down in my leather chair and flipped open the next file.

Chapter 7 By 8:00 PM, intel from Daphne's board meeting hit my desk. Several key shareholders had openly revolted.

The funding gap was widening, and project ROIs were indefinitely delayed.

Some demanded an immediate downsizing of their investment scale; others pushed to bring in new strategic capital.

Her father had slammed his fist on the mahogany table, completely losing control of the room. The meeting ended in total gridlock.

Reid finished the briefing, lowering his voice. "Their internal structure is collapsing." "Keep a microscope on their data." "Yes, Boss." The next morning, a familiar face showed up in my conference room.

Weston. He bypassed reception, using a thirdparty corporate channel to secure a sitdown. I had security escort him to a midlevel meeting room.

When he dropped into the chair across from me, his face was considerably tighter than our last encounter. "Harrison, don't you think you're taking this corporate sabotage against Daphne's family a little too far?" "Portfolio restructuring isn't sabotage." "You pulled your capital, and the major banks immediately triggered a domino effect." "Banks read balance sheets.

They don't read moods." He leaned back, attempting to look relaxed but failing miserably. "You're making things impossible for Daphne." "She made her bed." He narrowed his eyes. "You're gambling that she's going to crack." "I don't gamble." He stared at me, hunting for a crack in my composure. "We can renegotiate the corporate partnership." "What exactly are you bringing to the table?" He hesitated. "Future resource integration." "Be specific." "We have backdoor channels in the clean energy sector." "Show me the signed contracts." Dead silence.

I slid a razorthin financial analysis across the table. "This is Daphne's current liquidity deficit." He skimmed the numbers.

His sneer faltered. "You dug this up fast." "It's public data.

If you actually knew how to run a company, you would have seen it." He snapped the folder shut. "Are you really this much of a heartless machine?" "Machines outlast idiots." He let out a bitter, defensive laugh. "Pulling this stunt is only going to push her family right into the arms of rival venture capitalists." "The free market is always open." He stood up, his jaw clenched tight. "Just watch." I didn't bother seeing him out.

Shortly after the door clicked shut, Reid stepped in. "Her internal shareholders are officially demanding a concrete recovery plan from executive management." "They'll go hunting for fresh capital." "Weston's startup doesn't have the scale to cover a fraction of their debt." "Then let's see what kind of garbage terms they're forced to accept." At 3:00 PM, my private line rang.

It was Daphne's father.

His voice sounded utterly destroyed. "Harrison, the board formally proposed my resignation today." "That's an internal governance issue." "They said I failed to keep my daughter in line." I let the dead air hang.

A heavy silence stretched across the line. "Do you have zero loyalty to our shared history?" "My loyalty is to risk management." He let out a dry, broken laugh. "You're far more ruthless than I was at your age." "The market is more ruthless than it was at your age." I severed the connection and leaned back into my leather chair.

The afternoon sun blazed through the floortoceiling glass. Down below, the relentless gridlock of city traffic flowed on. Nothing had changed.

At dusk, Daphne showed up at my headquarters again. This time, she didn't barge up to the penthouse. She waited in the groundfloor lobby.

When I stepped out of the private elevator, I spotted her slumped on a leather sofa.

Her knuckles were stark white as she gripped her phone, exhaustion practically radiating off her. She looked up and caught my eye. "Can we talk?

Just one more time." "Speak." "The board is forcing my father out." "That's their shareholder right." "You know exactly what caused this!" "Your flawed financial structure caused this." She stared at me, her voice trembling. "Weston said his company could carry us for a while, but the banks aren't giving us the grace period to execute it." "That sounds like a liquidity issue for them to solve." Her voice cracked, echoing sharply across the massive marble lobby. "Can't you just give us a damn extension?!" Chapter 8 Dozens of eyes across the massive marble lobby locked dead onto the onceuntouchable heiress.

I stared down at her from my absolute height, my voice stripped of all temperature. "Madam, this is the Harrison corporate empire. It is not a playground for your personal tantrums.

Security, escort this unauthorized individual off the premises." Her flawlessly contoured face turned ashen.

She slumped forward, looking as if the bones had been ripped straight out of her body. "I never thought you could be this ruthless