Veronica's head snapped up. How? You think a two billion dollar deal falls apart at the midnight hour and Wall Street doesn't smell the blood? Graham ran a hand through his hair. Hale Industries stock opened 20 minutes ago.
It's already down 8%. By lunch, it'll be down 15. We leveraged heavy debt to make this cash offer, Veronica. We promised the shareholders infrastructure. If we don't get Sentinel, we are overexposed massively.
Veronica turned away from the table. She walked to the window, looking out over the city. The city that was supposed to be hers. Her reflection in the glass looked pale, small. Call my driver, she commanded softly.
To go where? To fix this. She turned back, her jaw set. Get me his address. I am going to his house.
Veronica, he won't see you. His lawyers explicitly stated I don't care what his lawyer stated. She walked past Graham, heading for her bedroom to change. He is a man. He has a price.
I just have to find it. Gravel crunched beneath the heavy tires of the black SUV as it pulled into Nathaniel's driveway. Veronica sat in the back, her fingers drumming nervously against the leather armrest. She had traded her emerald silk for a sharp charcoal pantsuit. Armor.
She needed armor. She stepped out of the vehicle before the driver could open the door. The property was heavily wooded, quiet. There were no manicured hedges, no ostentatious water features. Just a sturdy, well-built house blending into the trees.
Nathaniel was in the open garage. He wasn't reviewing legal briefs. He wasn't panicking about market fluctuations. He was sitting on a plastic crate, a wrench in his hand, tightening the training wheels on a small purple bicycle. He wore faded denim jeans and a gray T-shirt smeared with a streak of black grease across the collar.
Veronica walked up the driveway, her expensive heels clicked against the concrete, a rhythmic, invasive sound in the quiet morning. Nathaniel didn't look up. He kept working on the bolt. "Nathaniel," Veronica said. She stopped at the edge of the garage.
He gave the wrench one final sharp twist, then placed it neatly into a red toolbox at his feet. Only then did he look at her. The right side of his jaw was slightly bruised. A faint yellowish discoloration blooming under the skin. "Ms.