Leo pressed call.
The line rang twice before it clicked open.
"Well, well," a smooth, amused voice echoed through the speaker. The man sounded unsurprised, perhaps even pleased. "Didn’t think I’d ever hear from you again, Leonard Maddox."
"I need your services," Leo said, his voice cold and hard.
"What kind of services?" the contact asked, a hint of dark curiosity in his tone.
"I need answers," Leo replied, his eyes locked on the greenhouse glass. "Things people are trying very hard to keep buried."
The man paused. "You want the full package?"
"Yes," Leo answered without a second of hesitation.
"It’s going to cost a lot," the voice warned. "My rates have gone up since the old days."
"The price doesn't matter," Leo said, his grip on the phone tightening. "I will pay whatever it takes to get all the answers and put an end to this.”
***
Amanda
Amanda sat on her plush velvet sofa, swirling a glass of expensive Cabernet as she stared out the floor-to-ceiling windows of her apartment.
Things were working. The plan was brilliant, and she was the one who had engineered the most crucial part of it.
The story of poor, hardworking James, abandoned by his volatile wife who had run off into the arms of her best friend, had already started spreading through the company like wildfire. The executives were whispering. People were taking sides. Some felt deeply sorry for him. A few were angry on his behalf. The rest were simply enjoying the high-stakes corporate drama.
Amanda was satisfied. It was exactly what she wanted.
If everyone believed Olivia left because she was having a twisted affair with Leo, then James looked like the wounded, honorable husband instead of the cheating fraud he actually was. Leo looked suspicious. Olivia looked unstable. And Amanda? Amanda got the gift of time. Time to secure her place right beside James while the dust settled.
But there was a new, infuriating problem that set her teeth on edge.
Other women at the company were starting to approach him.
Amanda noticed it immediately. The female executives, the analysts, the eager new hires—they all hovered around himlike vultures. They touched his arm in the breakroom. They offered him sympathetic smiles in the elevators. They lingered outside his office door, acting as if his sudden grief had made him available to the highest bidder.
Amanda hated them. She hated their pathetic, desperate opportunism. She called them cheap and transparent in her own thoughts.
She had spent nearly a year playing the dangerous game. She was the woman James had risked everything for. She had been the one on her knees under his desk. She had been the one he chose over his own wife. There was absolutely no way she was going to let some basic office vulture step in and take what rightfully belonged to her.
James was hers by right. Olivia might have had him first, but Amanda believed she was the one who kept him. She believed she was the one he truly wanted when forced to make a choice. She had earned the future he promised her.
Lately, though, that future felt out of reach. Since Olivia had caught them, James had become paranoid.
They could not meet openly. They could not take the same thrilling risks. They could not spend entire weekends together. They had to settle for brief, stolen moments in his office, tense text messages sent through a secure app, and rushed encounters that left Amanda feeling both intensely wanted and deeply insulted.
She resented the secrecy, but she told herself it was only temporary.
James was only being cautious because of the impending lawsuit, the bloodthirsty lawyers, and Olivia’s aggressive connection to Leo. Once they flipped the narrative completely, once Olivia looked guilty enough in the public eye,once James was legally free of the marriage without sacrificing his wealth, Amanda would finally get what she deserved.
She would be Mrs. Williams.
She savored the thought, taking a slow sip of her wine.
The click of the lock pulled her from her reverie.
