Chapter 2

"Noah." Her voice went soft. "You always said you wanted to take me around the world. Sell the shares and we can leave tomorrow. The company is only going to wear you down."

Last time I gave in to that voice again and again.

I looked at the needle mark that was not on my wrist and said, "Send the contract to the hospital. The cash clears today. And every capital commitment I made for the next three years goes to the new controlling shareholder."

Damian did not agree right away.

Those commitments ran past a billion dollars and covered two overseas plants and a satellite communications investment. Under normal circumstances no buyer would take the whole load.

I added one line. "If you do not want it, forget it. I will reconsider the price after I am discharged."

"I will take it." Damian was in a hurry now, exactly as I expected. "Two hours."

After I hung up I called three separate law firms and told them to review one thing only. Once the money settled, no one could unwind the deal on the grounds of my mental state.

Two hours later Damian and Selena came into the room together.

Damian brought lawyers and his head of finance, and he had even switched his tie to Cross Group navy. He set the contract on the nightstand, excitement he could not quite hide sitting behind his eyes.

"After you sign, you can keep the title of honorary director."

"No need." I turned to the last page. "Have the bank confirm the money first."

His head of finance made three calls. At 2:17 that afternoon, $2.4 billion landed in tranches in the accounts I had named, and the escrow hold came off.

I signed my name.

Damian's fingers were shaking when he took the contract back. He must have waited years for that moment.

Selena stopped pretending too. She pulled off the engagement ring I had given her and set it down beside the contract.

"Since you have decided to leave the company, there is something you should know." She took Damian's arm. "We are getting married. The wedding is next Saturday."

Damian added, smiling, "The board votes to remove your seat the same day. Noah, go travel with your money. Just try not to show up anywhere as the Cross heir again."

I looked down at the ring.

Last time, when I found out they were sleeping together, I confronted them, lost control, and even believed Selena when she called it a moment of stupidity. Looking at it now, they were rushing to drop the act because they wanted to enjoy watching me break.

I raised my cuff and pressed the recorder switch inside the cufflink.

"Selena, the night my father had his heart attack, what time did you get to the hospital?"

She had not expected that question. It took her half a second to laugh.

"You still want to pin his death on me?"

"Answer me."

Maybe it was because the contract was signed, maybe it was because she finally did not have to keep me happy. Whatever it was, every trace of softness left her face.

"I got there early. I just had the driver circle outside the hospital for twenty extra minutes." She leaned over me. "Your father had to die before you would hand everything to me. And I was right about you. You are much easier to control than he was."

Damian frowned, but not because she had admitted stalling the call for help.

"Do not say too much. I already had the security footage from that night taken care of."

I looked at him. "So you knew as well."

"What if I did?" He slid the contract into a folder. "You have no company now and no board. What exactly can you do with a claim nobody can prove?"

The tiny indicator on the cufflink blinked once. The audio had already synced to three servers overseas.

I pushed the ring back toward Selena.

"I hope you get to hold this company for a good long while."

They waited a few seconds and got no anger out of me. Damian's smile thinned, and Selena stared at me the way you stare at a familiar object that has stopped obeying you.

After the door closed, the group's head of legal came in. He had worked for my father for seventeen years. He did not ask why I had sold; he only set a board resolution on the nightstand.