Chapter 6

ISABELLA

"The board has requested a formal meeting," Chloe said, setting her tablet on my kitchen counter at seven in the morning. "Rane's legal team filed the request at six a.m. They didn't waste any time."

I wrapped both hands around my coffee mug. It had already gone cold.

"What exactly are they asking for?" I said.

"Documentation of every communication between you and the six shareholders. A full timeline of the acquisition. They want to know if there was any collusion."

"There wasn't."

"I know that. The paperwork proves it." Chloe swiped something on her tablet. "They know it too, most likely. This is a pressure move. They want to see if you flinch."

"Then they are going to be disappointed." I stood up. "Confirm the meeting. Get my full legal file prepared and sent to Marcus before noon."

"Already drafted the email."

I almost smiled. "What would I do without you."

"Probably answer your own phone." She looked up. "Which, by the way, has been buzzing since five-thirty."

I did not answer that. I knew who was calling.

Lucas came out of the bedroom just then, hair still damp, shirt not fully buttoned. He went straight for the coffee, poured himself a cup, and stood at the counter listening while Chloe finished the rest of the briefing. He did not say anything. He just listened, the way he always did, with that careful expression that meant he was already three steps ahead.

When Chloe stepped into the hallway to take a call, he finally spoke.

"Are you ready for what comes next?" he said. "Because Rane is not going to sit back and accept this quietly. That is not who he is."

"I know who he is."

"Then you know this is only the first move."

"I know." I set my mug in the sink. "I have been planning for that."

Lucas looked at me for a moment. "Are you okay?"

"I am always okay."

"Yeah." He took a slow sip of his coffee. "That is what worries me sometimes."

He did not push further. That was the thing about Lucas. He knew when to stop. He picked up his jacket, kissed the top of my head on his way past, and left me standing in the kitchen with my cold coffee and four days until the board meeting.

Four days was enough. I had been preparing for longer than that.

***

The Blackwood Enterprises boardroom was on the forty-second floor. Glass walls on three sides. Long table, twelve chairs, a view of the city that most people in that building would never see in their working lives.

I arrived exactly on time. Not early. Not late.

My lawyer, Marcus, walked in beside me. I had my file. I had everything they had asked for and then some.

Rane was already seated at the head of the table when we walked in. He did not look up. He kept his eyes on the table in front of him, both hands flat, perfectly still. In control of himself.

I had expected anger. I had not expected that kind of stillness.

I took my seat and said nothing.

Rane's lawyer opened. A careful, precise summary of their concerns. The language was clean and formal, but the message underneath was simple. They wanted to know how much power I actually held, and whether it could be challenged.

Marcus answered with the documentation. Every transaction. Every timestamp. Every signature. There was no gap in it and there never had been. Two of the board members who had looked tense when I walked in had visibly settled by the time Marcus finished. Peralta, a woman at the far end of the table who had been one of the most vocal critics at the gala, actually nodded.

Then Rane spoke.

He did not raise his voice. He did not challenge the acquisition. He looked directly at the board and said, "I would like to propose a joint leadership framework. I continue to run daily operations. Ms. Blackwood, sorry, Ms Isabella holds board oversight authority as majority shareholder. The company functions. The disruption is minimal."

The room was quiet.

He was adapting. Faster than I had expected. I noted that and said nothing.

The vote passed. The framework was approved. I was formally recognised as majority shareholder with board oversight authority.

It was done.

***

He caught me in the hallway outside the boardroom.

"Isabella."

I slowed but did not stop walking. "Rane."

"Have dinner with me." He fell into step beside me. "A business dinner. There are operational matters that would be easier to discuss informally."

"Send the agenda to Chloe. She will schedule something."

"I would rather discuss it with you directly."

I stopped. Turned to look at him. Up close, he looked exactly the way he always had, which was the part I was least prepared for. "That is not how this works," I said. "Send the agenda to Chloe."

"This doesn't have to be a war, Isabella."

"I know that. I am not here to start one."

"Then why does it feel like one?"

I looked at him for a moment. "Because you are used to being the only person in the room with power. You will adjust."

I turned and kept walking. He did not follow.

Marcus caught up with me at the elevator bank. "That went better than expected," he said.

"It went exactly as I expected."

He gave me a look that said he did not quite believe me. "The joint framework gives him room to maneuver, Isabella. He is not done."

"I know." The elevator arrived. I stepped in. "Neither am I."

The doors closed.

I exhaled. Just once. Just long enough to feel how tightly I had been holding everything together in that room for the past two hours.

Then my phone buzzed.

Unknown number. I almost ignored it. Something made me open it.

It was a photograph.

Lily. Standing in a school car park, bag over one shoulder, looking up at whoever was taking the picture with that unsuspecting brightness she always had. It was taken today. The timestamp said forty minutes ago.

Underneath the photo, one line of text.

"She asks about you. I thought you should know."

I stared at the screen.

The elevator reached the lobby. The doors opened. People moved around me and I stood completely still with the phone in my hand and no idea at all who had just sent me that message, or what they wanted, or how long they had been watching.