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Taking a nervous sip of coffee, praying desperately the caffeine feeds straight into my veins, I step into the skyscraper of Auclair Capital. My brother and I work together in here, making a hell of a lot of money in the financial sector. Clement’s a genius when it comes to this stuff, and to put it bluntly, I am good with numbers. Very freaking good. I could’ve worked anywhere I wanted when I graduated. I could’ve been paid a lot more than I do now with any firm on Wall Street, but instead, Clement came calling. He’d hate to say it, but he practically begged me to work alongside him as he took on the world.

How could I reject that? I love my family and would do anything for them.

Including spending a week with my greatest enemy.

I can still feel his heat and the intensity of his gaze and the touch of his leg against my skin.

Don’t think about that now, Jolie Auclair.

I smile at the receptionist as I enter, heading for the elevator to my floor, scanning my ID badge. I make a mental note to speak to someone regarding the security in this building after the fracas yesterday.

The floors fly by as I ascend in the elevator. I take another sip of coffee. I’m picking at my nails.

The presentation tomorrow is big. It’s a deal, but not just any old deal. It’s for Auclair Capital’s billion-dollar rescue acquisition of Worcester Asset Management – a prestigious but liquidity-stricken firm. The rest of Wall Street thinks it’s going down the drain, but I still think it’s valuable. Everyone’s mispriced it. No one’s looked at it the way I’ve done. There are strong long-term, underutilized assets Worcester Asset Management still owns, and I’m betting that refinancing their debt will unlock them. They could be worth billions.

To put it bluntly, this acquisition has the potential to change everything for Clement and me. And I was the one who came up with the idea in the first place. It’s my baby.

And it’s my fault if it all goes to shit.

I want to stand out in this industry, so when I saw the opportunity for this in the numbers, I went to work on the proposal for an acquisition like I was unhinged. I’ve pushed hard for it. I need to give these guys clear reasons why they should take the risk and agree to a rescue takeover. I need to lay out, to Worcester Asset Management, the benefits that will hopefully outweigh the negatives, and why we are preferable to liquidation. I gotta entice them with facts and a sense of hope, even when everyone else thinks they’re a sinking ship.

Look, Auclair Capital may not have decades of performance under its belt. We may not be a famed Wall Street institution, but Clement and I have youthful drive and ambitious determination on our side, and it’s my job to show that to them.

“Jolie!”

Helen, one of our managers, greets me at the elevator.

“Hey!”

She instantly picks up on my nerves. I guess my freak-out is not hard to notice.

“You okay, Jolie? How’s the prep going?”

I roll my eyes, which makes her giggle.

“You want the lie, Helen, or the truth?”

“Give me the truth.”

I haven’t been able to do anything on the important work since yesterday morning, due to the little hostage situation I had to endure. I’m also really not exactly feeling in the mood today, mostly due to the fact I barely slept next to a ghost from the past.

But these are things I’d prefer not to tell one of our office managers bright and early at nine in the morning.

“The truth is not good, Helen. I just can’t help but think... well, if I fail, then everything we have here is exposed. Everyone who works for us. You. Auclair Capital. Clement. And I’m dead. We’re putting up almost all of our own capital. Clement’s capital. We’re getting financing from banks, and that leaves us completely vulnerable. Maybe my calculations are wrong, and Worcester Asset Management is truly dead in the water. That will ruin me forever. The real honest truth is, I’m pissing myself.”

Helen doesn’t have a reply to my drivel. I don’t blame her.

“Maybe I should’ve asked for the lie,” she says.

“Helen...”

“Oh, Jolie. Don’t beat yourself up. You’ve got this.”

Her sympathy opens me up even more. I lean against the wall and let out a long sigh.

“What if I’m not good enough, Helen? What if I’ve stumbled through everything so far merely by the power of my last name?”

“You’ve proved yourself, and not just because you’re an Auclair.”