Chapter four.

Lily's POV.

I sat motionless behind my desk.

Normally, by this time of the morning, I'd already finished reviewing a bunch of financial reports, answered dozens of emails, and rewritten whatever disastrous proposal Ryan's executives had somehow approved.

Today... My laptop had been open for almost twenty minutes.

I hadn't typed a single word.

Instead... I found myself replaying yesterday.

Three pair of hands all over my body, no part of my body was left out.

My memory was clogged with every dirty thing they did to me, every dirty sinful word they whispered in my ears.

I'd spent three years wondering what was wrong with me, why had Ryan never found me attractive enough to touch me without me begging for it?

Yesterday had forced me to ask a different question.

What if nothing had ever been wrong with me? What if Ryan was the problem all along?

I leaned back in my chair and closed my eyes.

The Whitmore triplets had looked at me the way no one ever has; they made me feel seen, and worshiped my body like it was something worthy, they'd told me I was beautiful.

The corners of my lips lifted before I caught myself smiling.

"What are you smiling about?" I whispered to myself.

My phone vibrated suddenly; it was a company notification for an executive meeting in few minutes.

I sighed.

Reality was calling, literally.

Before I could even touch my phone... There was a loud bang on my office door, and almost immediately, it flew open so hard that it struck the wall.

"Lily!" Ryan screamed, storming inside.

Sweat dotted his forehead like he was under some sort of invisible heat.

I calmly looked up from my chair. "You know, most people knock." I folded my hands together.

"I don't have time!"

"I can see that."

He threw a thick file onto my desk. "It happened."

"What happened?"

"Our biggest client."

I glanced at the company's logo.

"Blackstone Retail Group."

They are one of the largest retail distributors in the country.

Thirty-eight percent of Ryan Corporation's yearly revenue came from them alone.

Immediately... I knew this wasn't a small issue.

"They've suspended every payment." Ryan paced my office.

"They've what now?" I raised a brow at him.

"They're accusing us of falsifying inventory records."

Now that was serious.

I finally picked up the file.

Inside were dozens of emails.

Audit reports, legal notices, emergency requests.

As I skimmed through them, the picture became painfully clear.

A software update rolled out during the night had corrupted inventory data across multiple warehouses.

Products worth tens of millions of dollars now existed twice in the system.

Some shipments appeared never to have left.

Others appeared to exist without ever being manufactured.

From the client's perspective... It looked like Ryan Corporations had manipulated records.

If the issue wasn't resolved before the emergency video conference with Blackstone's board... The contract would be terminated.

The company would likely face lawsuits.

Banks could freeze pending credit facilities, including shareholders too.

And within days... The company's reputation could collapse.

Ryan stared at me, with raging fury burning in his eyes. "Fix it."

I slowly closed the file.

"Let's go."

...

The executive conference room was already overflowing by the time we arrived.

Department heads, senior managers, the company lawyers, IT specialists, even operation directors were all present.

Everyone was talking at once.

The moment I stepped inside... Every conversation stopped, like someone had pressed a mute button.

They all turned toward me, and without anyone saying another word, they moved aside, making space for me, no one cared if Ryan was in the room or not.

I walked to the head of the table and opened the report. "Start from the beginning."

The Chief Technology Officer immediately stood.

"The overnight synchronization failed."

I nodded. "What triggered it?"

"We're still investigating."

I continued asking questions.

One after another.

Their answers confirmed what I'd already suspected.

The problem wasn't impossible... Matter of fact, it was actually surprisingly simple.

One forgotten database had automatically synchronized after the system upgrade.

It duplicated every inventory record.

To rectify it, all you have to do was disconnect the server, restore yesterday's verified backup and then finally run a reconciliation scrip... That was it.

I knew that within five minutes.

But I didn't say it.

Instead...

I flipped another page. "Hm."

"Hm?" Ryan frowned.

"I'm thinking." I cut him off abruptly.

I continue to flip through the pages aimlessly, asking questions upon questions just to delay time.

What better way to teach Ryan his first lesson than making him loose his high end deal with Blackstone retail group?

The finance director nervously tapped his pen... It was obvious we were running out of time.

Ryan's phone rang, he immediately rejected the call.

It rang again, he rejected it again.

"Lily." Ryan gritted, his breathing had became heavier.

"Hm?" I hummed without looking, my gaze fixed on the report in my hands, faking busy.

"Enough." He banged his hand on the desk hard, and that forced my eyes up.

"What?" I casted him a confused glance.

"You already know."

"I know what?" I continued to play pretend, enjoying every bit it.

"The solution!" He pointed at the file. "You've known since you walked in here, I know you."

Everyone slowly turned toward me now.

"I haven't reached a conclusion." I rolled my eyes.

Ryan laughed, only this time, it wasn't amusement, it was frustration.

"Stop it." He growled, trying to contain his laughter. "I'm serious, Lily."

His fists clenched. "Lily."

I fixed my gaze stronger on the report, refusing to respond to him.

"Lily!" He slammed both hands onto the conference table. "You did this on purpose!"

The room went deathly still as they watched our drama unfold.

"You knew exactly how to fix it! You deliberately delayed!"

I slowly stood, smoothing the wrinkles from my blazer, then met Ryan's furious gaze.

"If it's so easy..." I smiled so charmingly at him. "Why didn't you solve it?"

There was total silence, the executives looked from Ryan to me, no one able to say a word.

"W.. what?" Ryan finally found his voice.

"You've been CEO for three years, you're the owner of this company, not me." I took one step toward him. "So... Why didn't you fix it?"

His mouth opened, but nothing came out.

The silence stretched.

The executives shifted uncomfortably on their seats, and one by one, they stopped looking at me, and started looking at Ryan, expecting their brilliant CEO to speak.

To lead, or do something, anything.

Several minutes passed and he still couldn't utter a single word; that's because he clearly doesn't know it... He's been parading himself as the brains behind this company while I worked tirelessly behind the scenes.

That is about to change.

I nodded slowly, dusting imaginary dust off my blazer. "That's what I thought." I chuckled, picking up my folder and headed out.

Then just before walking past him, I stopped and leaned closer.

"Fucking Vanessa can't be the only thing you're good at, dear husband, you should be able to channel some of that energy into actual work."

Without another glance, I walked away.

First mission accomplished; making the entire board members see my worth, next will be offering them a special deal.

It's only a little while, before I take back what's rightfully mine.