Then she used that knowledge to try to destroy me.
The irony would be amusing if it didn’t make me want to reach across the table and—
What, strangle her? Kiss her? Force her to explain why she thought she could walk away after burning my empire to the ground?
All of the above.
“That depends on whether you’re willing to change the reality,” she says, and I have to suppress the urge to smile.
There she is. The woman who wouldn’t back down, wouldn’t play it safe, wouldn’t pretend comfortable lies were the same as truth. She’s still in there, underneath the professional polish.
Still dangerous. Still mine.
The thought surfaces unbidden, possessive and irrational. She was never mine. Three months four years ago don’t constitute ownership, no matter what my body remembers about the way she’d responded to my touch.
I accept the contract before I’ve consciously made the decision.
Request her specifically as primary strategist because I need to know if she’ll run or if she’ll stand her ground. Need to test whether four years have dulled the edge I’d sensed in her or sharpened it into something that could actually threaten me.
Need her close enough to confirm what I already suspect—that Janice Woods orchestrated the exposé that nearly destroyed everything I’d built.
Once I have proof, there will be consequences.
***
Felix finds me in my office that night, long after everyone else has gone home.
“You accepted the proposal,” he says without preamble.
“I did.”
“Why? We have three other firms pitching better strategies at lower cost.”
“None of them have her.”
Felix goes very still. “Her.”
“Janice Woods. The intern from four years ago.” I don’t look up from the contract I’m reviewing. “She’s their primary strategist.”
“You’re certain it’s the same woman?”
“Completely.”
“You think she’s responsible for the exposé.”
“I know she is.” I finally meet his gaze. “The timeline fits. The level of detail fits. The motivation fits. She’s the only person who had access to enough information to connect those dots.”
“Suspicion isn’t proof.”
“Which is why I need her close enough to slip. Close enough to reveal something that gives us leverage.”
Felix crosses to the window, hands in his pockets. “This is dangerous, Dimitri. If she suspects you know, she’ll bail.”
“She already knows. She looked at me like I was pointing a gun at her head.”
“Then she’ll be careful. Guarded.”
“Everyone makes mistakes when they’re scared enough.” I close the contract, push it aside. “I want full surveillance. Phone, email, anywhere she goes that isn’t her apartment. Find out who she talks to, what she searches for, whether she’s still in contact with anyone from ProPublica.”
