6| SAY MY NAME

Cassian's Pov

My phone buzzed for the third time in twenty minutes.

I already knew what it was before I looked. I read it anyway because some part of me still needed to see the words.

Another supplier. Another contract. V. Intl.

I put the phone back in my pocket, picked up my drink, and looked across the ballroom to where she was standing near the east entrance in a red gown. She was laughing at something the event chair had said.

I had been watching her for over an hour. I had told myself I was gathering information. But the fourth notification was the one that finished it.

I set my glass down and crossed the room.

She spotted me when I was about fifteen feet away. She said something quick to the event chair, smiled at him once, and turned toward the east corridor. I followed her in.

"I thought you might do that," she said, still walking, not looking back.

"Then you knew this was coming," I said.

She stopped at the far end of the hallway and turned around. "I knew you would break eventually. You always do when you feel like you are losing control."

"I have not lost anything," I said.

"No?" she said. "Four suppliers, the state contract, the Donovan deal and the Rotterdam routes. You have lost quite a lot, Cassian. You just have not admitted it yet."

"I am not here to debate numbers with you," I said.

"Then what are you here for?" she said. "Because you followed me into a corridor at a charity gala. You have been watching me all evening. If you are not here to talk business, tell me what you actually want."

"I want answers," I said.

"Ask then," she said.

"Who are you working with?" I said.

"Good evening to you too."

"Answer the question. Who is behind V. Intl? A company does not grow that fast without someone feeding it. So who is it? Who have you been hiding behind this whole time?"

"Nobody," she said. "I built it."

"By yourself."

"By myself."

"That is a lie," I said.  You have been dismantling my company piece by piece for over a year. You are telling me you did all of that alone, starting from nothing, and I am supposed to believe you?"

"I did not start from nothing," she said. "I started from everything you left me with. Which was nothing. So yes, from nothing."

"Stop doing that," I said. "Stop twisting every word.” Answer me!

"I am answering you," she said. "You just do not like the answers."

"How long have you been planning this?"

"Long enough."

"How long, Valerie?"

She did not flinch at the name. "Since the night you dragged me out of your building and went back upstairs to your real wife. Since I sat on the pavement outside with one shoe, no phone and no idea how I was going to get myself off that street. That is how long."

"So this is revenge," I said.

"No," she said. "This is repayment.”

"You are owed nothing," I said. "You made choices. You signed things, nobody put a gun to your head."

"You forged those papers," she said. Her voice did not rise. "You know that. The marriage documents were fabricated, the asset transfer agreements were signed under false pretences. And you found a woman who had just lost her father and could not walk.  You spent five years taking everything she had while she was grateful to you for staying."

She tilted her head. "So let us not have a conversation about what I signed willingly."

"You cannot prove that," I said.

"Not to you," she said. "I do not need to prove anything to you. I only need to prove it to the right people. And I am very close, Cassian. Closer than you think."

"The right people," I said. "What does that mean? Who have you been talking to?"

"The kind of people who are interested in forged documentation," she said. "The kind who care about asset transfers that were never properly authorised.

"You are bluffing," I said.

"Am I?" she said. "Then why are you in this hallway?"

"I will go to the press," I said. "Every outlet in this city. I will tell them you are mentally unstable. That V. Intl was built on fabricated filings and a personal grudge. I will have your accounts investigated and I will bury you in litigation for so long that you will not be able to sign a napkin without my lawyers looking at it first."

"I will ruin you," I said. My voice dropped. "Like I should have done years ago. I will make sure there is absolutely nothing left this time."

"You tried that already," she said. "You left me on a street with no money, no phone, and a body that had already been through three surgeries. You made very sure there was nothing left of me. You were thorough." She paused. "I am still here."

"That was a mistake I do not intend to repeat," I said.

"Is that a threat?" she said.

"Take it however you like."

Something broke loose in me. Fast and hard, I grabbed her arm just above the elbow and pulled her forward until she had to look up at me.

"I should have made sure of it years ago," I said through my teeth. "I should have made sure there was nothing left of you.”

She looked up at me. Her eyes did not widen. Her breathing did not change. She did not pull away or raise her voice or look for the exit. She just looked at me like she was watching a clock run down and already knew what time it was going to stop on.

"Let go of my arm," she said.

"Get your hands off her." The voice came from the entrance of the corridor.”

I let go and turned around.

The person I saw standing right in front of me made my mouth fall open.