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2026-08-20 03:29:43
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I'm The Thorn Stuck In The Billionaire Celebrity's Foot 57
Aurora waited in a small side room off the main venue, dressed elegantly but simply, something nervous in her posture that hadn't been present at the foundation launch weeks earlier."I'm sorry to intrude on today of all days," she said immediately, standing as Ivy entered, Sterling arriving a moment later still in his shirtsleeves, tie loose around his neck. "I promise I won't take more than a few minutes.""What is it," Sterling asked, careful but not unkind."I've spent the past few weeks deciding whether to actually go through with this, and I realized this morning that I didn't want you starting your marriage with unfinished business hanging over either of you, the way I let unfinished business hang over my entire life after your father pushed me out." Aurora reached into her bag and pulled out a small, worn envelope, handing it to Sterling with careful precision. "This isn't the old partnership documents I mentioned at the foundation launch. Those can wait. This is something els
I'm The Thorn Stuck In The Billionaire Celebrity's Foot 56
The night before the wedding, Ivy found herself unable to sleep, restless in the particular good way that came from anticipation rather than fear, and she finally gave up trying, padding out to the small balcony of the apartment she and Sterling had built together, wrapping a blanket around her shoulders against the cool autumn air.She wasn't alone long. Her mother found her there twenty minutes later, having apparently made the same restless calculation, and settled into the chair beside her with the particular ease of someone who'd known this daughter through every version of herself."Can't sleep either," her mother said, not quite a question."Too many thoughts. Good ones, for once." Ivy pulled the blanket tighter, looking out over the city that had tried, so many times, to destroy everything she'd built. "I keep thinking about the version of me from a year ago, buffing that lobby floor at two in the morning, no idea any of this was coming.""Would you go back," her mother asked.
I'm The Thorn Stuck In The Billionaire Celebrity's Foot 55
Ivy stood frozen in the hallway for a long moment, the promotion euphoria from ten minutes earlier draining out of her entirely, replaced by the familiar, unwelcome cold of Weston Holt's name resurfacing exactly when she'd allowed herself to believe he was truly gone."Minority partner," she repeated slowly. "Not controlling interest.""No, not controlling. He's one of several investors in the group, from what I can tell in the public filing." Kennedy's voice was careful, measured. "I don't think this is targeted at you specifically, Ivy. Private equity groups make dozens of acquisitions a year, and this firm's been a reasonable investment target for a while given our growth numbers. But I understand why the name alone would rattle you, given the history."Ivy called Sterling from her new office the moment Kennedy left, and heard his voice go carefully controlled the instant she explained what she'd learned."I don't believe in that kind of coincidence," Sterling said, voice tight. "N
I'm The Thorn Stuck In The Billionaire Celebrity's Foot 54
Ivy called her father immediately, unable to hold the joy in for even the length of composing a proper text back, and his voice on the other end carried a lightness she hadn't heard in longer than she could remember."Nine years," he said, something disbelieving threading through his words. "Nine years, and today they handed me a formal letter acknowledging the conviction was wrongful, full reinstatement, back pay calculated for the years I lost. I don't know how to hold something this big, Ivy. I've spent so long just trying to survive each day, I forgot what it felt like to actually look forward to one.""You deserve every bit of it, Dad." Ivy's own voice was thick with emotion. "You've spent this whole year proving exactly who you actually are, underneath everything that happened to you.""I had help," her father said quietly. "A lot of it. From you, mostly, but from Sterling too, and that lawyer team, and even, strange as it feels to say, from a dying man who finally decided to le
I'm The Thorn Stuck In The Billionaire Celebrity's Foot 53
The news spread fast through every financial outlet by midmorning, Holt Industrial's stock dropping nearly forty percent within hours of the SEC's formal antitrust filing becoming public, and Ivy watched the story unfold from her desk with a strange, complicated satisfaction that felt less like triumph and more like something finally, properly settling into place.Sterling called midday, his voice carrying a controlled energy Ivy hadn't heard from him in weeks. "The board's already moving to distance themselves. Holt Industrial's own shareholders are demanding his resignation, effective immediately, before the federal charges do any more damage to the company's remaining value.""Is that enough," Ivy asked. "For all of it. For the surveillance, for everything he did to us.""It's not everything," Sterling admitted. "The criminal surveillance charges are separate, still working through the system. But losing control of his own company, watching everything he built for himself crumble i
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The security team arrived within two hours, moving through Vane Tower's executive floor with quiet, methodical efficiency, and Ivy watched from Reagan's office as they worked, something uncomfortable settling into her chest at the particular clinical way they discussed the violation of her own privacy."Two devices," the lead technician reported, laying small, unremarkable pieces of equipment on Reagan's desk like evidence at a crime scene, which, Ivy supposed, was exactly what they were. "One in the reception area outside Sterling's office, audio only, likely capturing meeting room conversations through the shared ventilation. The other's more concerning, a tracking device attached to the undercarriage of Ivy's car, professional grade, the kind that requires physical access to install.""When," Sterling asked, voice tight and controlled in the way Ivy had learned meant real fury simmering underneath."Hard to say precisely. The battery life suggests installation sometime in the last
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