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I glanced at my phone for the twentieth time that morning.Nothing.
“Let’s go over the social media plan again,” Alessandra said after we finished eating. “It’ll help take your mind off other matters.”
“True. There’s nothing like the promise of social media fame to distract me.” I fought the urge to googleYoung Corporation. What was taking them so long? The voting committee had been deliberating since the morning, and it was mid-afternoon in London already. Maybe my news alerts were broken. “We’ll be one of those companies that’s fun and snarky online, like Wendy’s. I know!” I snapped my fingers. “We can start a mutually beneficial internet war with another pressed flowers company. There’ll be more florals and drama than an episode ofBridezillas. Who wouldn’t want that?”
Doubt suffused Alessandra’s expression. “I don’t know if that’s the best—”
Our phones vibrated at the same time, cutting her off.
We stared at each other for a second before we scrambled to check the news. My heart ricocheted when I glimpsed the name of Kai’s company filling my screen.
This was it.
The CEO vote results were in.
CHAPTER 33
Kai
Dante slammed his fist into my jaw. My head snapped back, and the taste of copper filled my mouth.
It should’ve hurt, but adrenaline blunted the impact. I shook it off and returned his hit with one of my own. The vicious hook caught him high on the chest, eliciting a pained grunt.
Perspiration coated my face and torso. We’d been at it for over an hour. My muscles screamed with agony, and the scent of blood, sweat, and testosterone clogged my nostrils. Once my adrenaline crashed, I was going to be out for at least a day.
I’d worry about that later. For now, I narrowed my focus onto beating Dante and off of a certain meeting in London. Neither the current CEO nor the candidates were allowed in the room during deliberations, so I was flying blind until the election committee announced their decision.
I landed another punch on Dante’s cheek; he caught me in the ribs.
Again and again, the familiar rhythm of our jabs and hooks was almost enough to drive the vote to the back of my mind.
Almost.
“You could’ve saved yourself the torture of waiting if you’d used what I gave you,” he panted, dodging an uppercut. “I literally delivered the position to you on a silver platter. Or in a manila envelope, if we’re being technical.”
It was the first time he’d acknowledged sending Christian’s Christmas “gift.”
“I told you, I don’t need to stoop to blackmail.” The thought of using the information had crossed my mind after the photos of me and Isabella first surfaced, but I’d dismissed it as quickly as it came.
Resorting to blackmail was the same as admitting defeat. It meant I wasn’t good enough to win on my own.
“It’s not blackmail. It’s insurance.” Blood leaked out of a cut on Dante’s brow, and the beginnings of a bruise darkened his jaw.
Vivian was going to give me hell later for the battered condition I’d return her husband in, but I doubted I looked much better. Today’s session was a cathartically brutal one.
“Funny. That’s exactly what Harper said.”
“And he’s right.” Dante paused with a grimace. “Don’t tell him I said that. Bastard’s ego would shoot through the fucking roof.”
I snorted. “I would think you’d be against blackmail, given what happened with Vivian’s father.”
His face darkened at the mention of his father-in-law. “In certain situations, yes,” he said. “But it also proves astonishingly effective in the short term. You just have to be smart enough to preempt the long-term consequences.”
Or I could bypass it and not have any long-term consequences to begin with.
Before I could respond, my phone’s ringtone blared through the sweat-drenched air and sucked the levity out of the room.
Our movements stilled. The air evacuated from my lungs as I zeroed in on the bench where I’d placed my phone.
