Chapter 11 #2
As always happens when Zane mentions the twins, I clam up.
He knows of them and has met them a few times, but I’ve made it a point to keep my family life and my work life as separate as possible.
Outside of the small, framed picture on my desk, there aren’t any images or mementos from the kids, and I never talk about them in the press.
I don’t have any social media, either. It feels safer that way.
“No,” I bite out. “He wanted to…” I gape at Zane, it suddenly hitting me that maybe telling him what Storm said is ill-advised. Maybe he’s someone I need to look out for, just like Melissa warned. Does he have a knife pointed at my back, too?
“Liv, what is it? Whatever it is, I’m here for you. You know that,” he says, and when I don’t respond, he moves closer, putting his hand on mine.
“Listen, set aside the…romantic feelings between us. Before anything—before business, before the valuations and acquisitions, I am your friend , Liv. You can tell me anything.”
Suddenly, I feel like an ass. Zane has done nothing to indicate that he’s untrustworthy. In fact, over the last several years, he’s been the main person who’s had my back. He’s been a cheerleader, a shoulder to cry on, a rock.
He’s my friend.
Chill, girl. Chill.
“He wanted to talk about the Keystone acquisition.”
Zane pauses, then leans back, moving his hand. With his tongue to the side of his teeth, he says, “Huh.” After a beat, he grabs his phone from his pocket, and I see it’s silently ringing. He presses a side button and puts it face down on the coffee table between us.
“Well, what did he say?” Zane asks, completely logically. Still, Melissa’s words float in my brain, followed by my Daddy’s.
I ain’t raised no fool, Shae Rivers. God’s given you a spirit of discernment, baby girl. Use it!
“There’s another bid for Keystone,” I say. “It’s not official, and Melissa dropped the information right before the gala from some secret sources. But that’s the reason things have been wobbly. He wanted to make sure I knew.”
I shrug, a more casual move than I’m feeling.
“What did he want you to do with that information?” Zane asks, his face blank for once.
“I…” My mouth hangs open for a second before I snap it shut, swallowing and licking my lips to buy time.
Think quickly.
“Nothing,” I finally say. “He just wanted me to know and do what I will with the information.”
Zane’s eyes narrow as he nods slowly, as if examining me for tells. When my phone chirps loudly, Zane clears his throat.
“Wow, what audacity. He comes all this way after being MIA forever just to talk business? What an asshole. Stay away from him, Liv.”
Even though I hate Storm Sandoval with every fiber of my being, I balk at Zane speaking badly about him for some absolutely insane reason, and I stiffen when he gives me a directive at the end of his spiel.
“I doubt we’ll be seeing more of each other,” I clip out. “There’s no reason for us to see each other again—not unless he decides he wants involvement with the twins. In which case, that’s what the courts are for.”
Zane gives me another bland look, then tips his lips into a smile.
“Right,” he replies.
An awkward silence falls between us, and I debate kicking him out of my office so I can think and plan when he makes me face the elephant in the room once again.
“We should move forward with Keystone. In fact, we should pre-empt this other deal and close sooner,” he says.
I can’t help the nervous laugh that erupts from me. When he doesn’t join in, my humor dies.
“You’re serious,” I say.
“Dead serious,” he replies. Then, he waits for my response, dropping his forearms to his thighs while leaning forward.
“Well,” I say, tapping my finger to my thigh to give myself a focal point. What the hell? “I don’t think that’s wise. At all.”
I return the silence, and Zane loses the battle when his left eye twitches.
“I don’t think you understand, Liv. If we lose this opportunity, we’re gonna be so fucked. Royally fucked.”
“You think I don’t know that, Zane?” I ask, standing and heading to my iMac to give myself space from him. “You think I don’t get night terrors about how much money I have tied up in this thing?”
“ You ?” he spits. “I think you mean we. ”
I stop in my tracks, staring at him so hard I could incinerate him on the spot.
“You forget, Zane, that I am the CEO of Orisun and the majority owner. Not you.”
He chuckles, but it’s a humorless sound.
“And you forget, Liv, that without my seed money and my tech, Orisun wouldn’t exist.” I gawk at him, at his audacity to throw this in my face. “And you also forget, Liv, that there are protections in place if you abdicate your fiduciary responsibility.”
I stare at him so hard, I think my eyes might fall out of my head.
“Are you threatening me, Zane?” I ask, my brows furrowing. I’m angry at myself that his words actually kind of hurt. Why is this happening?
“Listen, Zane. We need to slow down on Keystone, not speed up.” All the information I’ve received today starts to whirl in my brain like an overheated computer, making it hard to sort emotion from logic.
“I’ve gotten new information I want to check out about the deal, and we need time to investigate. ”
Zane shakes his head.
“I’m not threatening you, Liv. I’m really not,” he says, each word clipped. “I’m just reminding you Orisun has three other board members besides you and me, and we have bylaws for a reason.”
“Why are you pushing this so hard, Zane?” The words are soft, a murmur, and once again, Melissa’s warnings hit me…along with Storm’s.
Drop the deal. Drop the deal and let the chips fall where they may.
“We’re not doing the deal,” I clip out, and Zane’s expression flashes from stunned to irate, then to cajoling—his masks forming and falling in the blink of an eye.
How have I not seen this before?
“That’s a mistake, Liv,” he says, his voice low. “I’ll give you time to think about what that’d mean for us…and for you.”
And with those ominous words, he leaves me standing in my empty, cold office.
Entering my empty, silent condo after the blow-up with Zane, I feel on edge. It’s like danger is around every corner; every stranger is someone who wants to hurt me.
I feel so invincible most of the time, but now? Now I feel completely vulnerable.
And honestly, it’s not just because of Zane, although our fight in my office has me shook.
The look in his eye when I said no…it was like I became the enemy.
Still, before leaving the office for the day, I sent a mass email to our executive and legal teams, officially putting a halt to the acquisition pending further investigation.
I blamed the delay on the Keystone team, which feels true enough.
Then, I left, needing space to think before I step foot in that place again.
But walking into my deserted home, all I can think about is a man who tried to break my heart.
Storm Sandoval.
“You ain’t no weak bitch,” I mutter into the air, thinking about Zane’s veiled threat and Storm’s goddamn sudden appearance. Sharks to the left of me, monsters to the right.
Something about Zane’s tone in that last moment...the calm way he left. It’s like he already knows how this will end.
Almost as if saying, if I don’t fall in line, he’ll make me. Or he’ll move me out of the way.
By any means necessary.
Ruger pistol in hand, I navigate from room to room with one in the chamber, sweeping behind the curtains and into closets.
Clear.
“Get a fucking grip,” I say when I finish with my bedroom, flopping back on my bed. Everything feels…gross, but if there’s one thing I know: Keystone’s fucked. And now? So am I.
Dear God, Shae. What the hell have you gotten yourself into?
Melissa’s warnings alone would have given me pause, but then she reaffirmed everything that man said. Storm’s presence makes everything ten times worse. I feel thrown off, jittery, at risk of losing my entire shit, and I never feel like this.
Not since that day I spent crying outside Storm’s apartment after he fucked me and threw me out like yesterday’s garbage.
And now he wants to save you.
I blow out a breath and press my palms to my eye sockets.
I just went through every file Storm left behind—double-checked them against my own.
And even though I want to deny it, want to think I wouldn’t be that damn gullible, as every second ticks on, it feels more and more like every horrifying detail is true.
Storm says he can help. But would Zane hurt me? No. He wouldn’t.
Would he?
Storm can help.
“Goddamn it, why! Why the hell is this happening?” Those irritating tears start again, tracking toward my ears and causing my face to burn.
Storm. Why did it have to be Storm Sandoval?
He didn’t even acknowledge the twins.
I sit up straight in bed so fast I get dizzy.
Flashing like a horror show, I get glimpses of the hazy months leading up to birth.
Deciding that even if Storm didn’t want me, he should have the right to know his children.
Calling him over and over, ultimately leaving a goddamn voicemail with the news.
Going into early labor and realizing Storm Sandoval didn’t give two flying fucks about me.
“Fuck him,” I snap, the sound loud in the empty room.
I drag my hands over my face, wiping away the tears I can’t seem to stop, then grip the edges of the bed for balance. I have no time for this. No time to be weak—no time to focus on the past and the lies I lived under for the six months Storm and I were together.
Because that’s what it was: a six-month fling that left behind a few presents.
Raiden and Tempest. What I would give to feel their tiny bodies next to me right now.
I glance at the clock on my phone.
The kids. Storm. Zane. My company.
I can’t think about it all at once. I need to focus. One thing at a time.
Shaking off the dizziness, I try to find some semblance of control.