Nathan quirked a brow. "What makes this one so different? Why so protective?"
"She's not." The lie slipped through my teeth, painful to speak. "I'm just sick of your shit."
"You've been saying that for years," he drawled.
"Yes," I admitted. "But now—"
He rolled hiseyes. "Now what, Holt?"
I leaned in close, pressing my palms flat on his desk. "Now I can finally do something about it."
He laughed again, shoulders shaking beneath his jacket. Wiped a fake tear from his eye.
"Careful, Nathan." My words dropped, quiet and cold. "Your time is running out."
"You don't have the authority." He scoffed. "Nor the votes."
A deadly grin spread across my face. "Now I do."
Nathan's face paled, realization dawning.
He didn't have majority. Not anymore. Not with Emma on the board.
Now the leverage had shifted.
"No."
"Yes," I said.
I let that land—watched the color drain from his face—then turned and left.
Let him sweat.
Chapter seven
Candace
The apartment still didn't feel like mine.
Days of unpacking and I'd barely made a dent. Boxes leaned against the walls like cardboard witnesses, each labeled in Emma's neat handwriting.
I wouldn't have done this on my own. Wouldn't have picked the place. Wouldn't have signed the lease.
Damien had.
He'd found it, called it safe, handled the paperwork like it was nothing.
Technically making him my landlord. Which was absurd. Uncomfortable. And still kinder than anything Garrett had ever offered.
One floor below Emma's penthouse, and a world apart.
She had a private elevator that opened into marble. I had apartment 4B and a welcome mat from Target. She had the entire top floor. I had a neighbor who played bass guitar at midnight and a view of the building's HVAC unit.
Same address. Very different lives.
Not that I was complaining. Emma had offered her guest room—insisted on it, actually, with that stubborn set to her jaw that meant she'd already decided. But Emma needed her own space. Her own life.A life that increasingly revolved around Damien and late nights at his penthouse and mornings she didn't come home from.
And I had no intention of being the third wheel curled up in the next room while they tried to pretend I couldn't hear everything.
