Lahat ng Kabanata ng MY WAY TO THE BILLIONAIRE'S HEART : Kabanata 31 - Kabanata 40

What are you asking me to do?""I'm asking you to talk to him before Detective Chen builds her case. I'm asking you to find out what he's really trying to accomplish with this confession." Cameron reached across the table, took her hand. "And I'm asking you to consider that maybe Carter isn't trying to punish himself. Maybe he's trying to protect you.""Protect me from what?""From Jade. She doesn't just want revenge on Carter. She wants revenge on everyone who made her family's fall possible. That includes you now. By making you the face of Carter's moral bankruptcy, she's painting a target on your back."Maeve pulled her hand away, her heart racing. "Cameron, you're scaring me.""Good. You should be scared. Jade Kensington is brilliant, ruthless, and patient. This contract leak is just the opening move. She has something bigger planned.""How do you know?"Cameron's expression went dark. "Because three years ago, after the takeover, she told me exactly what she'd do if she ever got

Sterling opened the folder, scanned the documents. Bank records, email trails, video evidence. His eyes widened."This is... if this is real, this is criminal conspiracy at the highest level.""It's real. And when it comes out, it won't just destroy Carter's reputation. It will destroy Langston Appliances. The pension fund theft means thousands of employees lose their retirement savings. The company faces massive lawsuits. Stock value goes to zero. Complete corporate collapse.""Then why are you showing this to me? What do you get out of corporate collapse?"Jade's smile widened. "Because I don't want corporate collapse. I want corporate acquisition. Specifically, I want you to help me acquire Langston Appliances' assets at pennies on the dollar when the company declares bankruptcy."Sterling studied her carefully. "You want me to help you buy the company your family lost.""I want poetic justice. My father's company was stolen by the Langstons. I'm going to steal theirs in return. Bu

"To a trained forensic audio analyst? Yes. To the general public, to the board of directors, to Detective Chen? It doesn't matter. The damage is done. Everyone sees Reginald and Marcus together, discussing covert financial dealings, and they believe the narrative Jade is selling."Carter stood abruptly, walked to the window. The rain continued outside, a steady drumming against the glass."So she has us anyway," he said quietly. "Even if the evidence is compromised, even if it's edited, it doesn't matter. People believe what they see.""But that's also why she sent it to you," Cameron said. "She wants you to know it's edited. She wants you to understand that she has real evidence, but she's willing to show you a modified version to prove her point. It's a demonstration of power."Maeve leaned forward. "What's the real evidence? The unedited material?""That's the question." Cameron pulled out a folder, revealed pages and pages of bank transactions. "I spent the night going through the

"I'm trying to save you from your own ambition." Carter stood, placed a business card on the table. "My phone number. If you want the CEO position legitimately, if you want to walk away from Jade's deal, that's the number to call. But you need to decide fast. Because once you vote no confidence tomorrow, once you go fully public with your support for her position, there's no coming back."Carter left him there, left him staring at the business card, left him with the uncomfortable knowledge that he might have made a deal with a devil he didn't fully understand.Outside the restaurant, the rain had stopped, but the ground was still wet, the air still thick with the smell of it. Carter stood on the sidewalk for a moment, feeling the weight of what he'd just done.He'd given away his company. His legacy. Everything.And he didn't regret it.When his phone rang ten minutes later, it was Sterling."I'm in," Sterling said simply. "Tell me how to get out of this alive.The Langston Appliance

"And you destroyed your own castle instead of letting someone else burn it down. That's not a performance. That's not strategy." She wiped her eyes. "That's a man deciding he doesn't want to be a monster anymore.""Does that change anything?"Maeve considered the question. The honest answer was complicated. Yes and no and maybe and wait. Yes, because she'd seen something in him today that made her reconsider everything. No, because trust doesn't rebuild overnight and she still didn't know if she could ever truly believe he'd changed. Maybe, because there was still Cameron, still her own heart to figure out.But what she said was: "I don't know yet."Carter nodded like he'd expected that answer. Like it was the only honest one available."Okay," he said. "I can work with that.Cameron was waiting for Maeve when she left Carter's office.He leaned against the wall near the elevators, his expression carefully arranged into something casual, but Maeve could see the tension in his shoulder