Chapter 42 Right on Schedule
On Monday, Apple’s lawyer sent an envelope to Knox. It arrived mid-morning, hand-delivered by courier. Linda brought it in without comment, but her eyes flicked briefly to me before she set it on Knox’s desk.
Titan stirred in his dog bed near the window the moment Linda stepped inside. When he recognized her, his posture relaxed again, though he remained awake, his dark eyes tracking the envelope as she placed it on the desk.
Knox opened it immediately, scanning the contents in silence, one page after another. His expression gave nothing away.
“What is it?” I asked.
He didn’t answer right away. Instead, he set the papers down in front of me and slid them across the desk.
“Read it.”
A quiet unease settled in my chest as I picked them up.
Legal documents.
I skimmed the first page, then the next, my stomach tightening as the meaning clicked into place.
Apple was demanding a paternity test. And reimbursement of her medical expenses.
I lowered the papers slightly, my fingers tightening around the edges.
“She wouldn’t do this,” I said quietly, more to myself than to him, “if she wasn’t sure.”
Knox stood near the window, one hand resting loosely in his pocket, the other holding his phone.
“She’s sure because she’s crazy,” he said. “Not because she’s right.”
I studied him. He didn’t look angry or worried. Like none of this touched him. But I knew him well enough now to see the tension in his shoulders.
“She’s really pregnant,” I said. It wasn’t a question.
“Maybe. But not with my baby.”
I believed him. I did. But the whole thing still gnawed at me. My mind kept spinning through possibilities I didn’t want to consider.
“You’ve never donated sperm, have you?” I asked. “To a clinic or anything?”
His head snapped toward me, his brows drawing together.
“No,” he said immediately. “Never.” He stared at me for another second, like he was trying to understand how that possibility had even entered my mind.
“I just needed to ask,” I said quietly.
His expression softened, as he stepped closer. “Ashley,” he said, his voice lower now, “I have never given anyone access to something that could create a child. Not accidentally. Not intentionally.”
His fingers brushed lightly along my jaw. “This is Apple trying to trap something she can’t have.”
I exhaled slowly, but before I could respond, he turned away and picked up his phone, calling his lawyer immediately.
“I received the paternity request.” He paced behind the desk, his free hand settling on his hip. “No. We’re not contesting the test. We’ll select the lab.” His eyes flicked briefly to mine. “Yes. Today. I want it handled cleanly. No room for dispute.”
He ended the call and set the phone down, then looked at me for a long moment.
“You can stay here,” he said.
I frowned faintly. “Here?”
“In my office.” He stepped out from behind the desk then, his attention never leaving me. “You don’t need to go back to your desk. You can work from here today.” He paused a step in front of me, then added more quietly, “I’ve been thinking about moving your desk in here permanently.”
I blinked up at him.
“So I can keep an eye on you.”
“People in the office will talk,” I said softly.
“They already do.”
He didn’t sound concerned in the slightest. He reached out, his thumb brushing along my cheek, slower this time, lingering.
“I like knowing where you are,” he said.
My pulse stumbled.
His hand slid from my cheek to the back of my neck, fingers threading into my hair as he tilted my head slightly upward.
He leaned down, closing the distance between us, his mouth finding mine in a slow, deliberate kiss.
Then the kiss deepened. His lips parted mine, and his tongue slid against mine.
His grip tightened at the back of my neck.
I tasted coffee and something darker that was purely him, and I leaned into him instinctively, my hand finding his chest and feeling the strength beneath his shirt.
He kissed me like he had time. Like nothing outside this room existed.
When he finally pulled back, he rested his forehead against mine. His thumb brushed once along my jaw.
“You have to promise to call me if you get tired,” he said. “Or if you need to go home.”
I almost rolled my eyes. “I promise.”
His jaw tightened slightly, like he knew I was humoring him but didn’t care. He reached out and brushed his thumb across my cheek. “I mean it, Ashley.”
“I know,” I said softly.
He studied me for another second, then nodded once. “I’ll be back soon.”
Titan rose the moment Knox moved toward the door, stretching once before padding after him without hesitation. He paused briefly beside me, pressing his head lightly against my hand, then followed Knox out.
The door closed behind them with a quiet click.
I stayed at his desk longer than I needed to, staring at nothing in particular while the quiet settled around me. Knox’s scent lingered faintly in the air, woven into everything.
My fingers drifted to the ring, turning it slowly so the diamond caught the light and scattered it across the desk in fractured reflections.
And Apple was trying to trap him.
Just like she had tried to trap Nick.
The memory surfaced before I could stop it. Nick’s face, the defeat in his eyes. I felt sorry for him. He was Apple’s victim too. In this life and in the last one. Apple had lied, manipulated, violated him. Just to trap him. Just to control him.
And now she was trying to do it again.
To Knox.
My fingers stilled on the ring.
Suddenly, I knew exactly what I needed to do.
I reached for my phone and opened the encrypted folder I hadn’t touched in years. The files stared back at me. Screenshots. Messages. The receipt from the doctor she had bribed. Proof of how Apple had faked her pregnancy back then. I had kept it all, waiting for the right moment.
I turned on my VPN and created a new anonymous email account. No name. No trace.
I attached every file.
For a second, my finger hovered over the screen. Then I hit send.
The email vanished instantly, swallowed by the digital void.
I stared at the screen for a moment longer. What Nick chose to do with the evidence was his decision. His life. His line in the sand.
But at least now he finally had the truth.
A few hours later, while I was sitting at my desk pretending to focus on work, my phone rang. Amy’s name lit up the screen.
I stood, grabbed the phone and walked down the hall to an empty conference room. The moment the door clicked shut behind me, I answered.
“It’s happening,” she said without preamble. “Brandon’s company is circling the drain.”
I moved toward the window automatically, my fingers tightening slightly around the phone. The city stretched below me in clean lines of steel and motion. People walking. Cars moving. Normal life continuing, unaware that something years in the making was finally reaching its conclusion.
“What did you find out?” I asked.
“I got into their internal servers,” she said. “Accounting, executive email, legal correspondence. Everything.”
“And?”
“They’re in a full liquidity crisis. Three weeks of operating cash left.”
I went still.
“They already know it,” she continued. “They’re preparing emergency measures. Layoffs, asset sales, desperate outreach to investors. No one serious is biting.”
I stared at the street far below, letting the words settle. None of it surprised me. We had been laying the groundwork for this for years, piece by piece, until collapse was the only possible outcome.
“They’re bleeding,” Amy said. “And they know it.”
In my mind, I could already see it. The internal panic. The late-night meetings. The forced smiles in conference rooms. The denial.
Brandon had built his empire on control and now he was losing it.
“There’s more,” Amy said.
I waited.
“The IRS opened an investigation. Financial irregularities, tax discrepancies, undeclared assets. Nothing formal yet, but they’re digging.”
Of course they were. When something started to fall, it never fell alone. It dragged everything down with it. Every lie. Every buried decision. Every hidden compromise. Every skeleton.
“They’re trying to keep it quiet,” she added. “But internally… they’re preparing for bankruptcy.”
A slow, cold satisfaction settled in my chest. “It’s finally happening.”
“It is,” Amy replied. “Exactly the way we expected.”
I ended the call and stood there for a moment, the silence humming around me.
Outside the glass, the city moved without pause. Unaware. Indifferent.
Brandon’s empire was falling apart piece by piece.
Right on schedule.