Chapter 18 Willow #2
“Their work speaks for itself, Giselle,” Olivia replies coolly. “And as part of an… arrangement between Troy Copeland and myself, it has already been agreed upon that the new building contract will go to Oberon.”
A rush of hot anger sweeps through me. I already know that the arrangement she’s talking about is the deal she made with Troy for handing me off to marry him, and I hate that she traded me away like currency just to enrich one of the companies she owns.
But that stops now.
“Actually,” I say, speaking up for the first time since the meeting began. “That won’t be happening anymore. You made that deal with Troy, but I’m here in Troy’s place, and I don’t agree to award the contract to Oberon.”
My grandmother’s head whips toward me, her eyes opening wide. If the stakes weren’t so high here, I might be amused by the almost comically shocked expression on her face. She shakes her head, her jaw opening and closing a few times before she gets any words out.
“I—you can’t—” She presses her lips together, her eyes blazing. “We had a deal.”
“I know.” I smile calmly. “But I’m sure you’re very familiar with the fact that deals can sometimes change.”
Color rises in her cheeks, and she looks toward Alexander and Stella as if silently urging them to fix this. My stomach twists a little, nerves rising up in me as their gazes meet hers. This is the risky part of our plan. If they side with her, they could ruin my plan.
But my men and I know too much about them for them to risk it. And besides the blackmail we hold over them, there’s one added element that I hope will play into my favor: by now, I think they hate Olivia almost as much as they hate me.
She played off of Troy’s obsession with me to get the marriage arrangement set up, and even though she had to make concessions as well, she negotiated a pretty sweet deal for herself, nabbing herself a spot on the Copeland Corporation’s board and arranging for a lucrative construction project to be awarded to her business, Oberon.
As much as they despise me, Alexander and Stella have some small reason to support me in blocking Oberon being awarded the contract… and no real reason to support Olivia.
So they don’t.
Neither of them say a word, refusing to back her up, and silence fills the boardroom for a long, painfully drawn out minute before Olivia makes a choked noise in the back of her throat.
She sits back in her chair, her jaw snapping shut as she stares fixedly across the table, and I have to fight down a triumphant smile.
It’s my second win against Olivia, and it feels even better than the first.
“Alright, then.” Dexter breaks the silence, nodding once. “We’ll go with a different contractor. That can be decided at our next meeting.”
They move on to other subjects of discussion, and when the meeting finally wraps up, I drag in a deep breath as I rise from my chair.
Members of the board cast curious looks at me as they gather their things, and I wonder if they’re adjusting their initial assessments of me now that I’ve made my first power play.
Maybe they think I picked the wrong battle today, but it doesn’t really matter.
They don’t have any idea of the true war I’m fighting.
As I step out into the hall, fingers dig into my wrist, stopping me short. I turn around to see Olivia gripping my arm, looking furious and red in the face. I allow myself a moment of satisfaction at how her polite mask is shattered in this moment, then give her a cool look right back.
“Let go of me,” I say. “Or I promise you, you’ll regret it.”
It’s a sign of how much things have shifted between us that she actually does what I tell her to, snatching her hand back as though she’s been burned. But she takes a step closer to me, glaring me down.
“What the hell was that in there?” she hisses.
I cock my head. “What? You didn’t like it? You’re the one who was so desperate for me to marry Troy. Are you having regrets now? I’m just using the power given to me by marriage.”
“You’re fucking with something that has nothing to do with you,” she fires back.
That stokes the rage inside me that always seems to be simmering these days, and my eyes go wide with disbelief. “Nothing to do with me? Are you kidding?”
“The arrangement for the Oberon deal was between me and Troy!”
“With me caught in the middle,” I bite out. “You sold me to him like a piece of livestock just so you could get richer. But now Troy’s gone, so you’ll have to deal with me instead.” My lips twist into a bitter smile. “And I’m not feeling very generous toward you at the moment.”
Olivia steps back, looking like she wants nothing more than to hit me in the face the way she has before. But we’re still in public, and she probably knows I won’t just take it anymore, so she finally manages to arrange her face back into the socially acceptable mask she’s so good at wearing.
“This was supposed to help me better our family estate,” she whispers, her voice harsh. “The Oberon contract would’ve been instrumental in that. You are completely ruining what I set out to do.”
I hold her gaze, lifting one shoulder in a shrug. “You should have listened to me when you had the chance.”
Something flashes in Olivia’s eyes, but I know her well enough by now that I don’t mistake it for regret or remorse. She’s not capable of those emotions. No, this is more like the furious rage of a trapped animal.
“You’re making a big mistake,” she says, drawing each word out.
There’s a threat clear in her voice, but if she’s expecting me to cower and back down, she’s in for a disappointment. I’m done with that. I’m done being a pawn for her to use.
So I just gaze into her horribly familiar eyes and let a smile curve my lips. “I would have thought you’d be proud, Grandma,” I tell her. “After all, you’re the one who taught me how to play this game.”
With that, I turn on my heel and walk off down the hall. I don’t look back to see if Olivia is following me or watching me leave, because it doesn’t matter.
Instead, I just keep going, getting into the elevator and taking it all the way back down to the lobby.
The guys are waiting for me outside the way they promised they would be, talking amongst themselves. Every so often, one of them will look in the direction of the building’s doors, and I smile, knowing they’re anxious for me to return to them.
When I step out of the cool, air-conditioned building and back into the sunlight, the warmth feels good on my face. All three of the brothers start moving toward me immediately, meeting me halfway as I cross the sidewalk toward them.
“How did it go?” Malice asks, his gaze tracking over my face as if looking for clues.
“Are you kidding? She totally crushed it, I’m sure,” Ransom cuts in.
Vic just sighs, keeping his eyes on me. “Let her talk.”
I smile at them all, a rush of leftover adrenaline making me feel giddy. “It worked. I fucked up the Oberon deal, and Olivia is pissed. I have a bunch of stuff to tell you later, Vic. I don’t understand most of what they talked about in the meeting, but I know you will.”
Before I can say anything else, Malice is scooping me up into his arms. He spins me around once and then holds me close, burying his face between my neck and shoulder.
“I knew you could do it,” he murmurs, his lips ghosting over my skin. “You can do anything, Solnyshka.”
I lean into his solid, muscled body, shivering at the way his touch sends electricity dancing down my spine. It’s the closest we’ve been since he and the others got me back from Troy, and even though my head always seems to ruin things, my body definitely knows what it wants.
I cling to his shoulders a little, swallowing hard as my mouth goes dry. Malice skims his nose over my pulse point and inhales deeply, like he’s been craving the scent of me.
His hands are so firm and warm on my back, and when one slides down lower, hovering just over my ass, I gasp softly. It feels good to be this close to him, and since he’s not pushing anything, it’s not setting off the part of me that’s not okay with being touched just yet.
If anything, it’s catering to the part of me that is really okay with being touched and really wants more.
For a moment, there’s nothing but the two of us. Nothing but this bubble of heat and approval and want. I’m distantly aware of his brothers, in the way that if they stepped in, the bubble would extend to them as well.
But neither of us push for more, even as the tension cranks up a notch between us. We stay locked in this hug, and Malice presses his body a bit closer, letting me feel that I’m not the only one affected by being this close.
Then he sets me down and steps away, giving me space once again.
I feel bereft at the loss of him, and I’m half tempted to reach out and pull him back toward me… but I don’t.
One step at a time, Willow. You’ll get there.
As if he can read my thoughts, Ransom moves closer, tugging a lock of my hair between his fingers. The dark color is starting to fade a bit, leaving it a lighter brown, and he tucks it behind my ear, his fingers trailing lightly down my jaw.
“This was a big step,” he says. “We’re on our way. Now come on, pretty girl. Let’s go home.”
I nod, and he and Vic each slip a hand into mine. Then we all pile into the car and head back to the condo we’ve claimed as ours.