Chapter 5

I followed the group and watched Nancy slip her arm through Austin's the moment he showed up. They stayed close, laughing together. She made no effort to hide how happy she was to see him.

As soon as Austin sat down in the private dining room, he looked over at me with a smug expression.

"Bradley, how does it feel knowing I took the Apex deal right out from under you? Not that getting upset will change anything. If you let a woman get in the way of business, sooner or later, you're going to run your company into the ground."

I stirred the lemon water in front of me and didn't respond.

"What, nothing to say?"

My lack of reaction only made him angrier. He suddenly grabbed a wine bottle from the table and hurled it at me.

I didn't get out of the way in time. The bottle hit me, and blood started running down the side of my face.

The police arrived not long after someone reported the disturbance. By the time they walked in, Nancy was still checking Austin's hand for shards from the broken glass.

Meanwhile, I stood off to the side with blood on my face, and no one paid any attention to me.

I looked at the officers and pointed at Austin. "He attacked me."

Nancy immediately stepped in front of him. "No, he didn't! Bradley started it. He's always had a problem with Austin!"

Everyone else exchanged uncomfortable looks, but no one spoke up to contradict her.

Everyone knew Nancy had a temper, and everyone knew I had spoiled Nancy to an extreme.

Crossing me probably wouldn't cost them much. Crossing Nancy was another story.

As the officers led me toward the police car, I glanced back at her.

She was still holding Austin's hand and talking to him without even looking my way. She clearly wasn't worried about what would happen to me at the station.

I looked away and said nothing.

Once I was in the police car, Joshua called.

"Mr. Harris, we just got word that Apex Holdings is under investigation for financial fraud. Their stock is crashing, and their business partners are already pulling out."

I watched the city lights pass outside the window, a faint smile crossing my face.

"Got it."

Then I checked the time. It was 10 p.m.

I said to Joshua, "At midnight, freeze every card Nancy has access to. Also, remove her facial recognition access from the house."

"Understood."

Back at the hotel, Austin was drinking heavily with the guys while Nancy sat nearby chatting with her classmates.

One of them looked at her nervously. "Nancy, aren't you worried Mr. Harris is going to be mad after what happened tonight?"

Nancy scoffed. "Please! He wouldn't dare. If he ever got mad at me, I'd just stop talking to him. He'd probably come crawling back and beg me to forgive him."

Another classmate quickly jumped in. "Exactly! There's no way Mr. Harris could stay mad at you. He adores you too much to stay mad at you."

Nancy ate up every word.

She waved over a server and ordered a bottle of vintage red wine, along with the most expensive dishes on the menu.

Her classmates immediately started praising her again, and Nancy soaked up the attention.

She was having such a good time that she didn't even notice when midnight passed.

At 2 a.m., a server walked over with the check and smiled politely.

"Ma'am, here's your check. The total is 560 thousand."

Nancy barely glanced at it. Like she always did, she casually handed over the black card.

The server ran it, then paused. "I'm sorry, miss, but this card has been frozen."

The entire private dining room went quiet.

Nancy stared at him. "What did you say? Frozen?"