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My father would think that.

“Then I’ll be reviewing everything they do,” I say. “Personally.”

“I would expect nothing less.”

I walk to the window to give my face something to do.

Behind me, the doors open. Grace’s voice wavers the way it always does when I’m in the room.

“Mr. King? Your new crisis consultant is here. Ms. Medina, from Archer.”

I see her in the glass first: a woman in charcoal, hair pulled into a sleek, lethal ponytail, walking into a room full of predators like she owns it.

Then I hear her voice.

“Isabella Medina,” she says. “I’m here to make sure all of you keep your jobs—and your company.”

The world tilts.

I know that voice. I’ve heard it whisper. I’ve heard it break. I’ve heard it cry out in the dark.

I turn around.

It’s her.

6

ISABELLA

The man at the window turns, and the air leaves the room.

Same hands that caught me on a wet rooftop before I could hit the ground. Same sharp jaw. Same silver at the temples. Same dark eyes that looked at me two nights ago—no, nine nights ago—like I was something worth taking his time over.

Only now they’re looking at me like I’m a problem he intends to solve.

For one unguarded second, I see the man from the suite. Recognition hits him like a physical blow. Then something slams down behind his eyes, and he’s gone. What’s left is the man from the profile. The Ice King.

“Ms. Medina,” he says. His voice is perfectly flat.

He never told me his name. I never told him mine. That was the whole point.

Now, in front of twelve board members, I learn it.

“Sebastian King,” he says, and offers his hand. “Chief operating officer.”

I shake it. His palm is warm and dry and absolutely steady. Mine is not. His grip tightens for a fraction of a second, a warning or an apology, I can’t tell which, and then he lets go.

Pull it together.

I have an empire to save and my own firm to drag out of the wreckage. I am Isabella Medina. I saved the Hollister account in forty-eight hours. I made executive at twenty-eight. It doesn’t matter that the man I chose for my first time is the heir to the company I’ve been hired to rescue.

I can crumble, or I can conquer. Crumbling isn’t an option.

“Is Julian King here?” I ask the room. “He retained my firm. I’d like to brief him.”

“He’s unavailable,” Sebastian says.

“Then we’ll fill him in later.”