Chapter 3

Kathe and I sat there, trying to figure out what we could do, knowing full well that we had to do something. Lucas was an alcoholic, a man who gambled away all his money, and when he won a little, he "reinvested" it in his bets and lost the few cents he won. Most importantly, he was Uncle Clark's golden boy.

"Wait... Uncle Clark wasn't at the funeral," I said, remembering how strange that had seemed to me.

"Really? That's too weird."

We checked the will over and over until we were absolutely certain it was my dad's signature. I'd seen it a thousand times; it couldn't be anything else. But that was too strange. My dad hadn't spoken to Uncle Clark in ages.

I leaned back in my chair, trying to figure out what to do in this situation, until Kathe spoke.

"Wait... If it's your father's will, they should have called you in for a reading, but they didn't."

"Right," I said, refreshing my email. "There's nothing here, no summons or anything."

"Okay... Then let's think rationally. You know your dad."

"You're right... I—" I was interrupted by a call.

"Hello?" I said, putting him on speakerphone.

"Hello, Miss Reign. This is Daniel, a board member from Connecttree. We're calling because we didn't see you online at the meeting on Friday, and we wanted to make sure everything was okay..."

"Meeting? I didn't receive any notification about anything."

"Oh, then I'll forward you an email with all the details of what was discussed at the meeting. Your uncle was there representing Olympus Enterprises, saying they would be making decisions on behalf of Olympus. I didn't contact you on Friday because I thought you were grieving and needed time."

"I understand, Mr. Daniel. Thank you for letting me know the details. May I ask why you decided to contact me?"

"We do business with you, Miss Sofia. Candace, our CEO, has been very clear about her intentions to only work with you because of your good character and because she personally closed the deal with you."

I smiled and thanked her as I hung up. I remained silent while Kathe and I looked at each other, unsure of what to do or say, but all we could do was wait for the email Daniel would send. I covered my eyes with both hands, trying not to break everything around me. I was angry.

"James Clark. That man has to have something to do with this."

"Clark... That last name..." Kathe asked.

"It's his father's last name. My dad used my grandmother's last name, Reign."

"Oh," Kathe said, with nothing more to add.

I stood up and turned to face the window, my fists clenched with a rage I hadn't felt in a long time.

"Shit, Kathe. What do I do?"

"I don't know, it's not like you can just go back to your exes," she said casually.

At that moment, I straightened up, an idea flashing through my mind, and I turned to meet Kathe's gaze. She had a hand on her chin, holding her head, and looked me in the eyes.

"Oh no," she blurted out. "No, no! Wait, I didn't mean it. You're not thinking..."

"Elias. Elias is still Roy's friend, right?" I blurted out.

"No! I mean, yeah, he is, but you can't be thinking about that jerk."

"It makes sense, doesn't it? What else can I do?"

"Don't you remember everything that happened because of that jerk?"

I sighed. I knew very well what had happened. Because of him, I lost myself, I stopped being the person I was to adapt to what he wanted, so that in the end we simply separated, under the excuse that he had family problems that affected our relationship but that he wanted to solve the problems on his own. That's the short version of the story, without wanting to dwell on the bad times.

"What other option do I have?" I said.

"God... Yes, Elias is still her friend, but I don't think he has good things to say about you."

"Oh yeah?" I said, with a silly, incredulous smile on my face.

"Sofia... Are you sure?" Kathe asked.

"Kathe, I don't have a choice... But... It never says anywhere that I have to stay married," I joked.

"God," Kathe said, tossing her hair, "marriage is serious; you can't joke about something like that."

I clenched my jaw but still smiled. I was trying to maintain what little composure I had left at that moment.

"Just... Talk to your boyfriend, please. Have him get me a moment to talk to Roy."

Kathe nodded and left. I stood there for a moment in silence, anger and helplessness building inside me. I had very few options; I couldn't just go and meet a stranger and get married. I could do that, but with men, I could never feel safe with a stranger in my home. Then I received an email from Daniel, Candace's office manager and someone I now know is on my side. It was a link to notes about the meeting I'd had on Friday, with an attached video.

"I didn't have a chance to record the meeting, and Mr. Clark didn't send us a copy. I suppose he didn't want anyone to contact you, but I've attached the security camera footage from my office, where you can hear everything that happened. I hope it helps."

I thanked Daniel and Candace. Connecttree is a company I'm interested in maintaining ties with, mainly because its ideals and decisions are based on loyalty, and Candace's motto has always been, "Not all money is good money."

I played the video in the background with my headphones on while reading the meeting summary notes. The further I read, the more I couldn't believe James's cunning. It was simply incredible. He claimed to know exactly what my father wanted, what he knew and didn't know about me, and how a woman was too unstable.

The men on the board, all former collaborators of my father, all older men with successful careers, were eager to hear this tempting offer—one that would bring them more money and less of a leading role for me. The more I watched, the angrier I got. No, by this point, I was pissed off. I finished listening to everything and reading everything and finally put my fingers to my temples, rubbing them in circles trying to calm myself down and prevent my headache from getting any worse. Everyone at that damned meeting had agreed to fulfill my father's will and unite their companies against mine, all to support Lucas, who was not going to do anything good with that money.

I slammed my fist down on the table, trying to think of an alternative plan, something else to do. At this point, I practically had no one powerful on my side. Except...

I searched through my wallet until I found the card Sebastian had given me last week. We'd only spoken briefly, but he seemed like a nice person, and more importantly, he had no contact with James.