His Dangerous Love On Ice (Olivia and Zane) novel Chapter 57

Zane’s POV

I was halfway to the elevator when I heard it.

The explosion.

Not literal-though that might’ve been quieter. This was worse. This was my father’s voice, raised to a volume I hadn’t heard in years, echoing through the hallway even through the closed conference room doors.

He was losing control.

Good.

I pressed the elevator button, checking my phone while I waited Three missed calls from Walter. Two texts from Sophia telling me about her birthday party tomorrow night. Nothing from Olive.

That last one bothered me more than it should.

The elevator arrived and I stepped in, alone, watching the doors close on the chaos I’d left behind.

They thought I didn’t know about the Hopkins offer. Thought it had blindsided me along with the rest of them.

They were wrong.

I’d known about it for two days.

Had the full proposal sitting in my personal email before it ever reached the board. Had copies of every communication between Hopkins and our investors. Had a detailed breakdown of which board members would support the partnership and which would oppose it.

Because I had someone on the inside.

Someone who reported directly to me and only me. Someone my father didn’t even know existed within his own company.

And the best part? The partnership wasn’t even Hopkins’s idea.

It was mine.

I’d planted the seed two weeks ago. Made sure the right person mentioned it to the right investor at the right dinner party. Let it germinate naturally until Hopkins’s board thought they’d come up with it themselves.

Brilliant, really.

And Grayson Sinclair-Olive’s stepfather, CEO of Hopkins-he’d opposed it. Fought against it in their board meetings, from what my source told me. Called it a bad investment. Said partnering with Mercer Company was a mistake they’d regret.

But the board had voted him down.

Four to one.

Because their stock had risen twelve percent, and they thought it was because of general market interest in sports management.

It wasn’t.

It was because of Olive.

The second I’d made our relationship public, the second those photos of us hit every media outlet, Hopkins’s stock had started climbing. Investors saw the connection-Grayson’s stepdaughter dating the Mercer heir-and assumed it meant an eventual merger.

They’d thrown money at Hopkins in anticipation.

And now? Now Hopkins’s board was forcing Grayson to partner with the one company-the one man-he hated most.

All because of his stepdaughter.

The elevator doors opened to my private floor.

I walked to my office, poured myself a drink even though it was barely noon, and stood at the window overlooking the city.

Somewhere out there. Olive was at work. Probably still angry at me. Probably still thinking about space and distance and all the things I had no intention of giving her.

She didn’t know.

Didn’t know that her presence in my life had shifted the entire playing field. That her stepfather was being forced to shake hands with me, smile for cameras, pretend we were partners when what he really wanted was to bury me.

She didn’t know I’d orchestrated all of it.

That I’d used our relationship-used her-to back my father into a corner he couldn’t escape from.

The partnership would go through. It had to. Refusing it now would make Mercer Company look weak, would send our stock into freefall. My father would have no choice but to accept

And Grayson? Grayson would have no choice but to work with me. To see me at every board meeting, every investor dinner. every company event.

To watch me with his stepdaughter and know he couldn’t do a damn thing about it.

My phone buzzed.

A text from my inside source: It’s done. Partnership approved. Signatures next week.

I smiled, taking a slow sip of whiskey.

Everything was moving exactly as planned.

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