All Chapters of Black Coffee With No Sugar: Chapter 71 - Chapter 80

Amy knew something was wrong the moment she stepped into Diamond Groups the following morning.It wasn't the usual tension that accompanied a major business meeting. This was different. Assistants were moving faster than usual, executives were speaking in hushed voices, and more than one person stopped talking when Amy and Zion walked past.She glanced at him."Please tell me you know what's happening.""I don't.""That's reassuring.""I was hoping you'd know."She gave him a look."You've been CEO longer than I've been alive.""Not quite."

By Monday afternoon, the conference room at Diamond Groups had become the center of Amy's world.Documents covered the table. Financial statements were open across three laptops. The legal team had supplied contracts, payment schedules and correspondence from the company they had just acquired. Nothing about the situation was dramatic enough to justify panic, yet everything was troubling enough to demand attention.Amy sat at the head of the table with Zion beside her.Across from them, the chief financial officer adjusted his glasses and cleared his throat."We've confirmed that six contracts listed as terminated were still active when the acquisition was completed."Amy looked at the documents."And the liabilities?""Approximately thirty-eight million."Zion's jaw tightened."Thirty-eight million that wasn't disclosed.""Correct."Amy leaned back."Who signed the original agreements?"The CFO slid another file across the table."The previous managing director."Amy opened it."Mart

Amy woke to the smell of coffee and the faint sound of music drifting from downstairs.For a few seconds, she remained still beneath the sheets, staring at the ceiling while the memories of the previous evening slowly returned. The quiet retreat by the sea. The conversation with Zion. The way he had held her when she admitted how frightened she sometimes was of losing the happiness they had fought so hard to find.She turned her head.His side of the bed was empty.A smile touched her lips.There had been a time when waking beside Zion would have been impossible to imagine. In the beginning, she had considered him arrogant, controlling and infuriatingly confident. He had looked at her like a problem he intended to solve, while she had treated every conversation with him like a battle she refused to lose.Somehow, between arguments and stolen glances, hurt and forgiveness, they had become this.Husband and wife.Amy pushed herse

The morning began quietly, with the soft clatter of porcelain from the kitchen and the familiar aroma of freshly brewed coffee drifting through the house. Amy stood by the tall windows of their bedroom, one hand resting lightly against the glass as she watched the pale morning light spread across the gardens below.There had been a time when mornings like this would have felt impossible.Not because she had never dreamed of a beautiful home, a successful career, or a man who loved her enough to make ordinary days feel special. She had dreamed of all of those things. What she had never imagined was how different they would feel once she stopped measuring her happiness by what she had been trying to prove to everyone else.For most of her life, Amy had been fighting for recognition.From her parents.From the people who believed she was only an Armstrong because of her surname.From executives who saw her age before they saw her ability.Even from herself.Now, standing in the quiet of