Chapter 41
Chapter Forty-One
Maverick
I hadn’t slept.
I hadn’t eaten.
And I sure as hell hadn’t stopped thinking about Solenn.
The office felt empty without her, and it was pissing me off.
I hated how my desk looked too neat, and how there wasn’t an extra cup of coffee sitting beside mine because she always made sure I had one before I even asked.
I hated how quiet it was without her occasional sarcasm cutting through the tension of my day, how the scent of her perfume wasn’t lingering in the air, how the space that had always felt like mine now felt wrong without her in it.
But more than that, I hated the way she had walked away from me.
She hadn’t screamed. Hadn’t thrown accusations or asked for explanations. She had simply left. Detached. Cold. Like I was just another name on her resume, another job she had quit without looking back.
I wanted to tell myself she’d come back. That she’d calm down, that she’d think about what we had and realize she had jumped to conclusions too fast. But the truth?
Solenn wasn’t like that.
She didn’t change her mind once it was made.
And if I didn’t **fix this—fast—**I’d lose her.
The thought was unbearable, but before I could focus on getting her back, I had something else to take care of. Nadia.
I clenched my jaw, the memory of her lips forcing themselves onto mine making my stomach turn.
That calculated little performance she had orchestrated had done exactly what she intended—it had ripped Solenn away from me.
And if she thought she was going to get away with it, she was dead fucking wrong.
A sharp knock on my office door snapped me out of my thoughts, and I straightened in my chair, my already frayed patience wearing thinner.
"Come in," I barked.
The door swung open, and my brother strolled in like he had all the time in the world, hands in his pockets, too relaxed for someone walking into my current hell.
I stiffened immediately, my jaw tightening. "If you came here to tell me to clean up my mess, get in line."
Asher didn’t flinch. He just let out a sigh and plopped down in the chair across from me. "Relax, big bro. I’m not here to kick you while you’re down. I’m here to help."
I narrowed my eyes, suspicion prickling at the edges of my already frayed temper. "Help?" I repeated, crossing my arms. "Since when do you help me, Asher?"
He smirked, but there was something sharp behind it. "Since you look like you’re two seconds away from burning this entire company to the ground."
He wasn’t wrong.
I leaned back, exhaling slowly through my nose, forcing the tension out of my shoulders. "I don’t need a babysitter."
"No," he agreed. "You need a partner in crime."
I studied him for a long second, trying to gauge his angle. Asher wasn’t sentimental. He didn’t care about relationships or office scandals. The only reason he would be here was if he had something to gain.
"Why do you care?" I finally asked, my tone still sharp.
Asher sighed dramatically, kicking his feet up onto the edge of my desk, ignoring the glare I shot him.
"Look, let’s just say I have very little patience for people who think they can play dirty and walk away unscathed.
Nadia is a problem. And if you don’t take her out, she’ll keep coming back like a cockroach in designer heels. "
I clenched my fists, the thought of Nadia thinking she had won making my blood boil. "How bad are we talking?"
Asher’s smirk widened. "Bad enough that we can ruin her if we move fast enough."
I leaned forward. "Talk."
He didn’t hesitate. "Nadia’s business deals?
They’re messy as hell. She’s been making moves, quietly building alliances, trying to secure power she has no right to.
The thing is, she’s reckless. She’s signed contracts that conflict with each other.
Made promises she couldn’t keep. And the second we expose her for what she is—a fraud, a liar, a desperate social climber—she’s done. "
I exhaled slowly, my mind already racing through the possibilities. "How do we take her down?"
Asher pulled out his phone, tapped the screen a few times, then slid it across the desk toward me. "This is how."
I picked it up, my eyes scanning the messages displayed on the screen.
Messages from Nadia.
Proof.
Lines of text that made my vision darken, my fingers tightening around the phone. She had planned this. She had waited for Solenn to arrive. Had timed her little performance perfectly to make sure she was standing in the worst possible place at the worst possible time.
She hadn’t just tried to ruin my life.
She had ripped Solenn’s away from me.
And I had let her.
My nostrils flared as I placed the phone down, my voice dangerously quiet. "She thinks she’s untouchable."
Asher grinned, sensing the shift in my energy. "But she’s not."
My hands curled into fists, my entire body humming with a single, unshakable need—revenge. "Then let’s make sure she never forgets that."
Asher nodded, his smirk turning sharp. "I thought you’d say that. I already have a few people looking into her. Once we release this, she won’t be able to show her face at a corporate event ever again. No deals. No connections. No power. She’ll be nothing."
It wasn’t enough.
Not yet.
"Leak it to the press," I ordered. "But make sure she doesn’t see it coming. I want her to crumble before she has a chance to salvage anything."
Asher let out a low whistle. "Damn. You want her to suffer."
I lifted my gaze, my expression cold. "She made Solenn suffer."
The smirk slipped from Asher’s face, replaced by something more serious. "Fair enough."
I exhaled, shaking off the tension coiling in my muscles. This was step one. Nadia would pay.
But even as the plan solidified, even as I felt the first hints of satisfaction creep into my veins, I knew it wasn’t enough.
Because the real problem wasn’t Nadia.
The real problem was that Solenn was still gone.
And destroying Nadia wouldn’t bring her back.
Asher stood, stretching like he had just finished an easy day’s work. "Alright then. Let’s get to ruining a woman’s life, shall we?"
I didn’t respond, just watched as he walked toward the door. Before he left, he glanced over his shoulder. "By the way," he added casually. "Destroying Nadia won’t bring Solenn back. You’re gonna have to figure out a plan for that on your own."
Then he was gone.
I ran a hand through my hair, my chest aching in a way I didn’t want to acknowledge. I would fix this. I had to.