Chapter 3

On the top floor of the club, only one conference room had its lights on.

When I pushed the door open, Julian was sitting at one end of a long table.

Nathan sat across from him.

Around them were representatives from six hedge funds and two creditors.

When Julian saw me, his face darkened.

“What are you doing here?”

“I missed you.”

“Elena Bell.”

He almost never used my full name.

I walked over and sat down next to him.

“The plane left.”

He stared at me for a few seconds. Then, without a word, he took off his jacket and draped it over my shoulders.

“Stay close to me.”

Nathan laughed.

“At a time like this, you’re still fussing over a woman?”

A lawyer slid an agreement in front of Julian.

“The Mercer family relinquishes control and acknowledges material omissions in the group’s financial statements. In exchange, the creditors will hold off on calling in the loans, and the witnesses in the case against the two Mercer brothers will revise their statements.”

Julian flipped to the last page.

His expression grew colder and colder.

“It’s not just the company you’re after.”

The agreement also covered his personally held shares, several assets held in family trusts, and a security interest in his parents’ house.

Nathan picked up his glass.

“Do you have any other choice?”

He looked at me.

“At least Ms. Bell’s lifestyle doesn’t have to suffer.”

A credit card slid across the table to me.

“I can keep paying for her apartment, her travel, and her shopping.”

I glanced down at it.

Before I could say a word, Julian picked up the card.

Snap.

He broke it in half.

“She doesn’t need it.”

Nathan’s smile faded.

“You can’t even hold on to your own company right now.”

“That still doesn’t give you the right to touch her.”

The room went quiet.

I turned to look at Julian.

He’d gone all night without asking why I’d come back.

And he definitely hadn’t asked what I could do.

To him, I was his girlfriend first and foremost.

Not a bargaining chip. Not a resource.

Just then, the door burst open.

Sophia rushed in.

“Don’t sign it!”

She handed Julian her phone.

“Dad says he’d rather sell the house. Alex and Daniel sent word through their lawyers too. They don’t want you surrendering control of the company just to get them out of trouble.”

Nathan raised a hand impatiently.

Two security guards blocked the door.

When Sophia noticed the holsters at their hips, she briefly went pale.

But the next second, she grabbed my arm and pushed me behind her.

“Get out of here the first chance you get.”

That surprised me.

“Didn’t you want me gone more than anyone?”

“Would you stop talking?”

Nathan laughed.

“Nobody’s going anywhere.”

Julian stood up and put himself in front of both me and Sophia.

“I’ll sign.”

Sophia grabbed him.

“Julian!”

Julian kept his eyes on Nathan.

“I’ll sign. Let them go.”

Nathan leaned back in his chair.

“That was the deal a minute ago.

“It isn’t anymore.”

Julian’s expression turned to ice.

But he still picked up the pen.

I looked at his hand.

For three years, he’d tied my shoelaces, paid for my shopping more times than I could count, and made sure breakfast and a car were ready before I even woke up.

Now he was ready to trade everything he had to get me out.

Suddenly, I didn’t want him to sign.

Before the pen touched the paper, I put my hand over his.

Julian turned.

“Elena?”

“You’ve protected me for three years.”

I took the pen from him.

“This time, it’s my turn.”

I dug my phone out of my bag.

I still had a number saved in my phone that I hadn’t called in three years.

It rang only once before someone picked up.

I heard Margaret draw a quick, sharp breath.

“Elena?”

I leaned back in my chair and looked at Nathan.

“Cut off all future funding from North Shore Capital to these funds.”

Heads snapped up on both sides of the long table.

I kept going.

“And before midnight tonight, buy up as many of Mercer Group’s senior bonds as you can.”

Margaret was silent for two seconds.

Then she laughed.

“At last. I’ve been waiting for you.”