Face of the enemy

POV MADDISON

"He's what?" The words flew out of my mouth before I could stop them. My eyes darted from Ethan to the private elevator doors at the far end of the office.

"You heard me, doll," Asher muttered from behind me, his deep laugh vibrating against my back. "The bastard is coming up right now. I guess he finally realized his precious company is bleeding out."

My heart hammered against my ribs, but it wasn't out of fear anymore. It was pure, unfiltered adrenaline. I looked down at the contract on the mahogany desk. The ink was barely dry, but the deal was done. I belonged to the Blackwoods for the next three months, and in return, they were going to tear Richard’s life apart.

"What do you want me to do?" I asked, forcing my voice to remain steady as I looked at Ethan.

Ethan didn’t answer right away. He simply picked up his fountain pen, capped it with a slow, deliberate click, and met my gaze. "You stay right where you are. You wanted to watch him beg, didn't you? Consider this your front-row seat."

Before I could reply, a sharp, electronic chime echoed through the room. The frosted glass doors of the private elevator slid open.

Richard stepped out into the office, his breathing heavy and his tie slightly askew. He looked frantic, like a man who had just run a marathon through a burning building. But the second his eyes scanned the room and landed on me, his panicked expression twisted into pure, unadulterated rage.

"Maddison?!" Richard roared, storming forward. "What the hell are you doing here? And what are you wearing?!"

"Watch your tone, Miller," Caleb warned from the sofa, not even bothering to look up from his phone. "You're shouting in a place where your net worth couldn't even buy the rug you're standing on."

Richard ignored him, his furious glare locked entirely on me. "I’ve been calling you for hours! The bank froze my primary accounts this morning, Maddison! Someone leaked our confidential financial sheets to the harbor committee, and we just lost the bidding war. Did you do this? Did you take my files before you walked out?!"

I took a slow, deliberate breath, leaning my hips back against the edge of Ethan's desk. For three years, I had shrunk myself to make this man feel big. I had stayed silent while he built his empire on my back, and I had endured the humiliation of finding him with my stepsister. Now, looking at him, he just seemed incredibly small.

"I didn't take your files, Richard," I said, my voice shockingly calm, almost conversational. "I just gave the Blackwoods what was already mine. My forty percent share of the company."

Richard froze. The color completely drained from his face, leaving him a sickly shade of pale. "You... you did what? You can't do that. Those shares belong to the family!"

"They belong to me," I snapped, my calm facade cracking just enough to let my anger show. "The papers were under my maiden name, remember? The ones you called 'useless paperwork' when we got married. I traded them."

"You traded them to *them*?!" Richard gestured wildly at the three brothers, his hands shaking. "Are you insane, Maddison? Do you have any idea who these men are? They are monsters! They will chew you up and spit you out!"

"Actually, she knows exactly who we are," Ethan’s voice cut through the shouting, cold and heavy as an anvil. He stepped away from the window, moving until he was standing right beside me. He didn’t touch me, but his sheer presence felt like an impenetrable wall between Richard and myself. "And unlike you, Miller, we actually know how to value a woman with her talents."

Richard looked at Ethan, then at me, and finally noticed Asher blocking the exit behind him. A desperate, ugly realization started to dawn on his face.

"Maddison, please," Richard pleaded, his voice cracking as he took a step toward me, his hands extended. "We can fix this. It was just a mistake with your sister, I swear. I was drunk, she came onto me... you know you're the only woman I actually need. Come home. Don't do this to us. Don't destroy everything we built over a petty fight."

Hearing him call my betrayal a "petty fight" made my blood boil. I opened my mouth to scream at him, to unleash the venom building up in my throat, but Ethan beat me to it.

Ethan reached out, his large, warm hand gripping my waist with a sudden, overwhelming possessiveness that caught both Richard and me completely off guard. He pulled my back flush against his chest, his eyes locking onto my ex-husband with a lethal glare.

"She isn't going anywhere with you, Miller," Ethan declared, his voice dropping an octave, ringing with absolute authority. "Maddison doesn't live with you anymore. She lives with us. Her clothes, her career, her body... everything she has belongs to the Blackwood estate now. You have exactly ten seconds to get out of my sight before my brother throws you out of the window."

Richard stared at Ethan's hand on my waist, his mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water. He looked at me, begging with his eyes for me to deny it, to tell him it was a lie.

I didn't. I simply leaned back into Ethan’s solid chest and gave Richard a cold, empty smile.

"Security," Caleb spoke into the intercom on the desk, his voice dripping with boredom. "We have trash on the top floor. Escort Mr. Miller out. And cancel his parking pass permanently."

Two massive, suited security guards stepped out of the elevator before Richard could say another word. They grabbed him by his arms, dragging him backward as he kicked and screamed my name, vowing to make me pay.

The elevator doors closed, cutting off his shouts and leaving the office in absolute silence.

I let out a breath I felt like I'd been holding for days, my shoulders sagging. But before I could fully relax, Ethan’s grip on my waist tightened, pulling me even closer until I could feel the rapid beat of his heart through his suit jacket.

"He's gone, Ethan. You can let go now," I whispered, looking up at him.

Ethan didn't let go. He tilted his head down, his dark eyes burning with a sudden, intense hunger that had absolutely nothing to do with business.

"The contract has already begun, Maddison," Ethan murmured, his thumb rubbing against my hip bone through the fabric of my dress. "And a Blackwood never lets go of what is officially his."