A boardroom

Sullivan was one of the last people to walk in and Blaine watched him take Ariel’s hand and kiss it as he walked past. 

He did not keep looking to see how Ariel reacted to this. He could not.

Were they really getting a divorce after all? One minute they looked like they definitely were, the next they were getting involved in all kinds of PDA. 

Ariel finally took her seat, and Sullivan stared at him as he took a seat at the other end of the table, opposite him. 

Sullivan gave him a small smile that made all the hairs on Blaine’s arms stand.

Something was definitely wrong. 

The meeting had barely started when Blaine heard the sound of heels clicking towards the boardroom.

There were many women here, so the sound of clicking heels was not at all odd or strange. But this one was distinctive because of the way this person walked.

This person walked like a model and was making sure her steps heralded her arrival. 

He looked up, knowing this could only be Ophelia.

He saw a guard push the glass doors in from outside, and she walked in, in a tweed coat that stopped at her belly and a matching pair of pants. 

He glanced back at the table and saw everyone was looking at her.

Since that disgrace where she had been sacked publicly after Ariel became the acting head of the company, Ophelia had not been allowed to enter the property again.

How had she gotten access here?

Blaine sat still in his seat, his face blank, but inside he was squirming. 

He could already smell a possible embarrassment. 

Why was this woman always like this, and most importantly, why had he let himself be associated with this kind of person?

He saw Ariel and Sullivan exchange glances, and then ,

“Miss Summer,” Ariel said, and her P. A stood up behind her and hurried towards her. “Please call security."

Ophelia laughed at this, throwing her head back. 

“Security? For me?” She placed her hand on her chest. 

Blaine grimaced as he watched this exchange, immediately confirming that whatever share Ophelia had bought was a counterfeit.

Ariel turned back to the people around the table, “We apologize. The meeting will continue shortly,” she said.

“I think you are sitting in my place, honey.” Ophelia began to approach Ariel, and one of Sullivan’s guards stepped forward to block her.

“What is your wife doing?” Sullivan turned to look at Blaine from the other end of the table and Blaine noticed the others who had been glancing at him.

He remained sitting stoically without a word. 

Ophelia chuckled, “Are you such a misogynist that you cannot address me directly.” She cocked her head at Sullivan, and Blaine saw the man lean back with a bored look.

“I don’t talk to crazy women.” 

Ophelia shoved past Sullivan’s guard now and leaned close to him. 

“You can call me crazy with a wife like this?” She glanced back at Ariel. “Well, I have a right to this table. Your pretty little wife put her shares up for sale with plans to abscond. I saved the company and bought it before it fell into the hands of some stranger.” 

Blaine was squeezing his fist on the table now, thinking about the quickest way to vault along the table in case Sullivan turned on Ariel. 

Ophelia was such a spiteful woman.

How could she tell the woman’s secret like this, in public? And most importantly, who was her source? Or had she somehow bugged Ariel?

Now that he thought about it, that was definitely what he should do to Ophelia. Bug her.

He saw Sullivan turn disbelieving eyes towards Ariel, and Blaine’s heart stopped as he wondered if he would be able to get to her quickly enough.

“Is this true, sweetheart?” Sullivan was staring at his wife. 

Ariel had a straight face when she said.

“I don’t know what she is talking about. Do you believe her?”

“Believe me?” Ophelia laughed. “You should get a call now, telling you how much less shares the Sullivans own.” She glanced down at her wristwatch, and for a moment Blaine did not know what to believe anymore.

Has Ariel really sold the shares? 

Had she been planning to run away from the country with their son and not even with Sullivan’s knowledge? Why would she do such a thing?

She was not acting the way an innocent person would. With outrage and disbelief at such a baseless claim. 

“Chairman.” Blaine turned to see Ethan leaning beside him, and the man placed his own laptop in front of Blaine. 

Blaine’s eyes had barely run through the message when he heard everyone begin to gasp and mumble, and he knew they were reading the same thing.

He closed his eyes, suddenly feeling dizzy. 

“Ah. Looks like you have seen it.” He heard Ophelia say, and he was tempted to yell at her to shut up already. 

But he opened his eyes, and managed to keep his emotions in check.

He watched Sullivan who was smiling softly now and shaking his head. 

“Come here, doll.” He beckoned at Ophelia without looking up. He must have sensed that Ophelia did not move an inch and he looked up. 

He looked at one of his guards, and they began to move Ophelia forward and everyone turned to Blaine to see what he would do.

Still, he had managed to keep his emotions under control, and just stared at the scene unveiling. 

Maybe he would just kill Ophelia in the end. 

He would kill the witch, and live with his daughter’s hate forever.

When she got beside Sullivan, the man smiled at her and pointed to the large-screened laptop in front of him. “You just gave me 5% more shares with your bloody stunt.” 

He laughed as Ophelia squinted at him in disbelief. 

“I think you deserve a seat on my board for that. Do you agree, Tucker?” Sullivan turned to look at him across the table.

Blaine sat there, cursing the day he met Ophelia, and wondering Ariel’s true intentions. 

Did she not realize this would hurt him too? Was she making him pay for his neglect? He thought they were friends now.

Sullivans collectively owned 70% of Mõshon now, while Tuckers owned thirty. His grandfather would definitely come out from the grave to curse them in no time. 

He sat there, his heart bleeding as he watched all three of them grouped at the other end of the table. 

Sullivan, Ophelia, and Ariel. He was just a casualty here in their war, nothing more.

Sullivan was helping Ariel get revenge, and he would suffer the brunt of something he had no idea about.

He closed his eyes, suddenly feeling lightheaded again, and when he opened his eyes again he saw Ariel staring at him.

The panic and worry he saw in her eyes soothed him a little. 

Maybe there was one person who really cared about him in this crazy world after all.