All Chapters of Revenge of The Woods Heiress.: Chapter 41 - Chapter 43

Astrid’s POV The first mistake teaches you something. The second one destroys you. I wasn’t planning on making either again. By the next morning, the situation had stabilized. The affected department had been secured. Emergency funds redirected. Internal panic contained before it could spread too far. No layoffs. That had been my line. One I refused to cross. Still the damage had been real. And worse It had been mine. I stood in the boardroom, watching as the last of the executives filed out after the emergency meeting. Their expressions were controlled, professional, respectful. But I saw it. That flicker of doubt. Barely there. But I wasn’t blind to it. Respect, once shaken......even slightly.......never returned the same way. I gathered the files slowly, my movements calm, deliberate. “Miss Woods.” I looked up. One of the senior board members lingered behind, adjusting his glasses slightly. “You handled the situation… efficiently.” Th

Astrid’s POVVictory, I was learning, had a taste.Not sweet.Not satisfying in the way I once imagined.It tasted sharp......like adrenaline still lingering under the tongue, like restraint clenched so tightly your jaw ached from it.I did not allow myself to look back as I walked out of the ballroom.The applause had faded behind me. The music had resumed. Conversations had started again in polite, measured voices as if drama had not just taken place beneath crystal chandeliers and expensive smiles.But I knew what had happened in that room.Adam had tried to embarrass me publicly.And I had turned his knife back on him.My heels clicked against the marble corridor outside the ballroom, each sound unnaturally loud in the quiet. My pulse had not yet settled. My hands looked steady, but I could still feel the rush of it beneath my skin.....the rage, the restraint, the triumph.I exhaled slowly.“Careful.”The voice came from behind me, smooth and low.“If you keep doing that, people m