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After a drawn out moment, Ransom presses a kiss to my bare shoulder.
“Shit. I’m sorry,” he murmurs.
My brows furrow as I blink. “For what?”
“For coming like that. This was supposed to be aboutyougetting what you needed. I wasn’t trying to make it about me or me getting off.”
I smile, touched by the way he always finds a way to put me first, to take care of me in big and small ways.
“Don’t be sorry,” I tell him quietly, wrapping my hand around his. His fingers are still buried inside me, like he’s not ready to lose that connection yet. “I liked it. I like that you could get off just from feeling me come. It makes me feel… I don’t know. Good. Seen.”
I can feel him smile against my skin, and when I tip my head back to meet his lips in a kiss, he meets me halfway.
For once, there’s no rush of discomfort, just the warm haze of the afterglow, and I savor this moment. It’s like being wrapped up in a cocoon of warmth and safety, and it feels like some of the jagged shards in my heart fall away.
20
WILLOW
It’sseveral days later when I make my next move against Olivia.
I’m in the living room of the penthouse with Vic, going over all of Troy’s assets and his business dealings. Now that I have access to them, it’s important that I know what everything is—even if trying to absorb all of this information leaves my head spinning.
Troy’s parents have been trying to cut me out a little, but there’s only so much they can do when Troy himself set this in motion. Under duress, true. But fortunately, there’s no proof of that, and I have witnesses who will say it was all completely voluntary.
“Look at this,” Vic says, drawing my attention to the screen of his laptop.
“What am I looking at?” I ask, grimacing as I stare blankly at the figures and charts in front of me.
“I’ve found another weak spot you can use to kneecap Olivia. See this number here?” He points, and I nod. “That’s capital that Troy funneled into one of her businesses. Judging from the date, it looks like it was a part of the agreement when he married you.”
I make a face. “So what do we do with it?”
Vic smiles at me, his blue eyes gleaming brightly. He really does thrive when it comes to things like this, and I love to see it.
“You withdraw it. Because Troy’s assets are your assets now, you can say where they go. If you don’t want them invested in Olivia’s business, you only need to pull them out.”
I smile back. “What would happen if I did pull them out?”
“Considering these numbers for the last few years, her business isn’t doing so great,” he explains. “More than likely, the money went to this business in particular to keep it from going under. If you were to remove that support…”
“It would topple like a house of cards?”
He grins. “And quickly, from what I can tell.”
“Do it,” I tell him, feeling that same surge of savage glee that I felt when I shut Olivia down at the board meeting.
Vic starts the withdrawal process, and I fill in the necessary information on my end. I have to take a breath as I do, my heart racing a little. This is a playing field I’ve never fought on before, but with Vic’s help, I’m doing battle with Olivia in a way that will hit her right at the heart of everything she thinks is important.
“I can’t believe I’m doing this,” I murmur, shaking my head.
“It’s what she deserves,” he points out, his voice turning hard.
“No, I know. It’s just… I used to not even be able to afford decent food every week once I took care of all the bills that needed to be paid. Now I’m fucking with someone’s business to the tune of millions of dollars. It’s just wild.”
“And I’ll keep looking for ways that you can ruin her even more,” he promises. “You may as well put all this wealth and status to good use, right?”
I nod, leaning back against the couch. “Right. Thanks, Vic. I’m so glad to have you on my side in all of this.”
