“Give me a list of every person who approved, viewed, or even touched these documents. They undermined my mother and they’re done. If any of you in this room are on this list, I will personally kill you myself for putting this company at risk.”

With my arms crossed at the head of the table, I searched the expressions of the men before me, wondering if any of them knew anything about this. There would be a reckoning.

Evans cleared his throat, clearly surprised by my death threat. “I’ll have that list to you by end of day and you’ll have beefed up security for a few days.”

I nodded, holding onto my last scrap of composure.

​Chapter 31

Fallon

Just pretend everything is normal for one night.

I didn’t even want to celebrate Halloween this year. My life felt like a fucking horror movie. Costumes would be scarier since I knew the monsters that lurked underneath them.

Kelly picked out costumes for us while I tried to hide away in my room, hoping she’d forget I was there. No use, because she barged in with her eyes covered. “Are you decent? Is there a naked man in here?”

“Ha, ha, very funny. I want nothing to do with him,” I lied. I sent him that text yesterday.

And he never replied. Go figure.

“Well, he’s going to want everything to do with you when he sees you in this!” She pulled out an outfit from behind her.

I groaned at the lack of material on the hangers. “What are those?”

“Sexy devils,” she said, throwing one at me.

I held up the small piece of red fabric, wondering how I would even fit into that thing. “Tell me this is a joke. I can’t go out in public with my ass and boobs showing at the same time. This is a thong! Where are the straps? Why do you do this to me?”

She giggled and flopped on the bed, pulling a couple of packages out of her hoodie pocket. “These are the stockings to hold your butt cheeks in.”

Hold my butt cheeks in... “No way I’m wearing this.”

My thoughts were racing with the boardroom briefing. Not only was I supposed to be prepped for my meeting with Augustus Vaughn, I also had to deal with the fact that my abuser had been trying to take everything out from under me for years. How was I supposed to juggle a meeting about illegal business ventures and a greasy family member wanting a piece of the pie that wasn’t theirs?