Chapter 15
Anna
Looking at Thorne's empty chair, the boardroom feels colder than usual. The company's legal team chatters about damage control strategies, but I can only think about how someone I trusted for years, someone I considered my friend and mentor, betrayed me.
“Miss Sinclair, we need your opinion on this,” Richard's voice, partner at a major law firm, pulls me from my thoughts.
“Sorry, what were we discussing?”
The lawyer taps his Mont Blanc pen against a stack of documents while watching me over his thick-rimmed glasses.
“Do you want to press all charges or just the most evident ones?” he asks, raising his bushy eyebrows.
“All charges,” I respond, perhaps too sharply. “As long as they're legally sustainable, we're going after that bastard with everything.”
Dakota stands silent in a corner. For some reason, her presence today feels both comforting and unsettling. She hasn't wanted to leave my side since they arrested Thorne yesterday, but something feels different. I couldn't describe it, it's the way she looks at me, as if she's afraid I might crumble any second.
“The tabloid press is having a field day with all this,” announces the head of public relations. “We need to counter-attack, I can pull some strings.”
“Prepare a press release,” I order, as the boardroom empties.
I pace restlessly back and forth, stopping only to lose my gaze in the horizon now and then.
“You need to eat something,” Dakota whispers, approaching me with small steps until she's by my side.
“I need to think.”
“Anna…”
“No, damn it!” I raise my voice more than I intended. “Stop treating me like I'm going to break any second. I don't need you glued to me twenty-four hours a day.”
“Nobody said you were going to break.”
“Really? Because I get the impression that since the Thorne thing, you're waiting to pick up my pieces from the floor,” I insist, letting out a snort.
Dakota's face remains impassive, but I'm starting to know her well and I can see the pain in her eyes.
“Do you want me to leave you alone?” she asks, lowering her voice.
“Can you do that?”
She nods politely but silently. She doesn't argue, assumes her role as bodyguard and that breaks me inside.
“Dakota, wait.”
She stops by the door but doesn't turn to look at me.
“Damn, I'm sorry. I really am, I'm not good at this kind of thing,” I confess, letting out a sigh.
“What kind of thing?”
“Letting people see me vulnerable, I guess,” I admit, sitting on the table and suddenly feeling very tired. “You were right about Thorne, I wouldn't listen. I trusted him, and he tried to destroy everything I have.”
“Sometimes things are clearer from the outside. And I know you're not good at showing your weaknesses. Not even showing who you really are.”
“In my job, it's important to appear tough. Even more being young and female. I've spent my whole life building walls to hide who I really am, and now you come and…” I pause, unable to find the right words.
“I come and…?”
“And you tear down all those walls. You turn my life upside down. Make me question many things I took for granted… And that terrifies me.”
“You don't have to be someone else with me,” she whispers, coming closer to kiss my forehead.
“Olivia took advantage and…”
“I'm not Olivia,” she interrupts, placing two fingers on my lips. “Even if things don't work out between us, I'm not her. I'd never hurt you.”
“I know. It's just that… I don't know, it might sound silly, but it feels strange being with someone who doesn't want anything from me, who just wants Anna, not the inventor or the millionaire. With Olivia, I felt like I was playing a role. It was all about being seen, flaunting money and power. With you…”
“I just want Anna,” she whispers before kissing my lips.
The phone's ring breaks the magic.
“Don't answer it,” she hisses, playing with my earlobe.
I'm about to ignore it, but things aren't in a place right now to not answer calls, especially seeing Marcus's name on the screen.
“Turn on the TV, any news channel,” my head of security barks without even saying hello.
Olivia's face fills the screen, her tears rolling artistically down her cheeks as she sits before reporters.
“She stole everything from my family,” she sobs, wiping tears dramatically with her palm. “The technology, the plans. Everything is based on my father's research. I trusted her, showed her all the data before patenting it… Anna Sinclair built her tech empire on lies.”
“What the hell is she talking about? Has she lost her mind?” I mutter while watching the hashtag #JusticeForOlivia scroll across the bottom of the screen.
“I'm calling legal again,” Dakota announces.
“Her family's company doesn't even make anything similar. It's basic technology. I don't understand what she's trying to accomplish. Besides…”
I stop as I look out the window and see several people starting to gather in front of the company headquarters while my security employees struggle to keep them from entering the premises. This is going from bad to worse.