The Corporate Infiltration
~Katia~
My thighs were screaming.
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Every step I took down the polished concrete corridor of the I* Technologies executive floor was a reininder of the violent, relentless way Julian had claimed me against the mahogany desk yesterday afternoon. My hips were bruised, the skin on my waist carried the dark, fading prints of his fingers, and my pussy was still throbbing with a deep, tender soreness that made me sit very carefully in my leather desk chair.
But I wore a cream–colored pantsuit today. High collar, sharp shoulders, and silk lining. No skin. My corporate armor was locked tightly into place, and not a single person on my board would ever guess that their CEO had been thoroughly, brutally ravished on the very furniture they were currently sitting around.
Except Julian.
He was already in the boardroom when I walked in. He sat at the far end of the long glass table, representing the WEG investment block. He wore a charcoal suit, his hair perfectly combed, his face the unreadable, frozen mask of a billionaire executive. But the moment I entered, his dark eyes locked onto me. They didn’t drift. They tracked the slight, almost imperceptible hitch in my stride, and a slow, incredibly faint tilt touched the corner of his lips.
He knows, I thought, my chest tightening with a sudden spike of heat. He knows exactly what he did to tae.
I ignored him. I took my place at the head of the table.
“Are we waiting for the legacy partners, Sam?” I asked, looking at my tablet.
Sam stood behind me, her expression grim. “They’re already accounted for, Katia. But we have an unscheduled addition to the roster. She’s currently in the elevator.”
Before I could ask, the heavy double doors of the boardroom swung open.
Tessa Sterling walked in like she owned the building. She had traded her gold gown for a tailored, navy blue pantsuit that cost more than my first three servers, but the professional look didn’t hide the predatory, athletic stride of a woman who was used to cutting corners at two hundred miles per hour. She had two high–priced attorneys flanking her, their briefcases heavy and smug. The board members shifted, murmuring in confusion.
Julian didn’t move. He simply leaned back in his leather chair, his fingers interlaced over his stomach, his eyes turning cold and focused.
“Tessa,” I said, my voice smooth, level, and entirely empty of welcome. “This is a closed board meeting for I* Technologies stakeholders. You are in the wrong room.”
Tessa smiled. It was the same slow, provocative smile she had used when she kissed my sister’s husband, who is also my sneaky link on the red carpet yesterday. She walked to the empty chair directly across from Julian, her fingers tracing the polished glass of the table before she sat down. Her lawyers remained standing behind her.
“I don’t think I am, Katia,” Tessa said, her voice carrying that low, deliberate speed. “As of nine o’clock this morning, Sterling Motorsports has acquired the legacy fourteen percent block of I* Technologies shares previously held by the Meridian startup founders. I am here to claim my seat on your executive board.”
She leaned forward, her eyes locked onto me, her smile widening. “I decided your company looked like an excellent investment And since WEG is your headline partner, I thought it would be… convenient for us to work closely together Julian and I have so much shared history to discuss, after all.”
The room went entirely silent.
The rest of the board was watching me, waiting to see how the young CEO would handle a hostile takeover attempt by one of the
wealthiest motorsport dynasties in the country.
I didn’t blink. I didn’t reach for any coffee. I slowly leaned back, matching her posture, letting a cold, highly amused smirk touch the corner of my lips.
“The Meridian block,” I said, looking at her. “You spent forty–two million dollars of your father’s money to buy out three disgruntled legacy partners who have been trying to exit my company for eight months.”
“It was a very simple transaction,” Tessa said, tilting her head. “I wanted the seat, Katia. And I always get what I want.”
“It’s a shame your high–priced attorneys didn’t read the I* Technologies bylaws before they let you sign that escrow agreement, ” I said.
Tessa’s smile faltered. Just a fraction of an inch. “What are you talking about?”
I tapped my tablet. The massive digital screen on the wall behind me flared to life, displaying a highlighted paragraph from our corporate charter.
“Section Twelve, Paragraph Four: The Competitor Exclusion Clause,” I said, my voice echoing in the quiet room. “In the event of a proposed share transfer to any entity, individual, or corporate structure with active, direct financial holdings in the professional motorsport, automotive manufacturing, or racing telemetry sectors, the board maintains an absolute, non- negotiable right of first refusal.”
Tessa’s lead attorney leaned down, his face turning a sudden, pale shade of grey as he stared at the screen. He began frantically tapping his own tablet, his forehead sweating under the lights.
“I built this company from nothing, Tessa,” I continued, my voice dropping to a quiet, dangerous murmur that cut straight through the room. “Do you really think I would leave a fourteen percent block of my life’s work vulnerable to a hostile buyout? The moment your funds entered escrow this morning, my system flagged the Sterling Motorsports routing number. I didn’t block the transaction. I triggered our buyback clause.”
I took a slow sip of my water, looking at her over the rim of the glass.
“I* Technologies has exercised its right of first refusal,” I said. “We bought back those shares ourselves at a pre–negotiated thirty percent discount, which was the penalty f*e written into the legacy contract for unapproved transfers. Your forty–two million dollars is currently sitting in a holding account, minus a twelve–million–dollar breach–of–contract penalty that will be paid directly into our research and development fund tomorrow morning.”
Tessa’s chair scraped loudly against the floor as she stood up, her chest heaving, her eyes wild with a sudden, vicious rage. “You can’t do that. That’s corporate theft.”
“It’s a legally binding contract, Ms. Sterling,” Marcus Chen said from the corner of the room, his voice dry and completely unimpressed as he held up a folder of signed court documents. “We’ve already filed the transaction with the SEC. The shares are back in I*‘s treasury. You own zero percent of this company. You have no voting rights. And you have no seat.”
Tessa looked at her lawyers. The lead attorney looked at the floor, refusing to meet her eyes.
She turned her gaze to Julian, her hands shaking slightly as she gripped the back of the leather chair. “Julian, are you going to let her do this? WEG is our partner. My father has been your sponsor for five years.”
Julian didn’t look at her with anger. He looked at her with the cold, absolute indifference of a man who had already decided she
was useless.
“No, I have been a sponsor to Sterling Motorsports, and the contract was terminated at eight AM this morning, Tessa,” Julian said, his voice quiet, steady, and entirely absolute. “My legal team cited the public brand damage caused by your behavior at the media wall yesterday. We do not sponsor liabilities.”
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