Page 20 of Succumbed

She turns the brick over in her hands, inspecting it from all sides. “And the temperature weakness?”

“We think we’ve solved for it,” Linc chimes in. He reaches over and picks up another prototype, holding it out to her. “This is the latest one. It’s passed all the testing we’re capable of, but we need to get new equipment to be confident it’ll hold up under extreme heat, cold, and wind.”

Lex hands the first prototype back as she accepts the new one. “This seems denser. Still light, but it has more heft.”

“That was part of the change, yes. We updated the composition slightly. Same ingredients, altered recipe.”

As Shane goes into more detail about how he and Linc cracked our biggest development hurdle, I cross my arms and lean back to watch.

When she joined us, Anne-Marie fit seamlessly into the group. Lincoln introduced her to us, both of them bright-eyed with excitement for what the future could hold. Anne-Marie was as tenacious as she was exuberant, and she quickly became the public face of Procerus. And now Lex wants me to take on that mantle.

The conditions Lex shared at dinner last night weren’t what I anticipated. Part of me expected her to rake us over the coals with a terrible valuation and unreasonable demands, expecting her to be as duplicitous as our former business partner. Contrary to my assumptions, everything she laid out made sense. It was almost overly generous of her to handle Solum personally, given her schedule and how in-demand Athena was.

I glance up as Lex hands the prototype back to Lincoln with a friendly smile. She isn’t what I expected after our two meetings at Athena, either. Seeing her at dinner and here in our space, she’s more relaxed and open. I can see Linc trying to charm her, see how he brightens at every positive reaction he gets. Everything I witness spells trouble. I don’t know her angle, but I’m positive she has one. We should’ve stuck to the plan and done this on our own.

“Declan, anything you want to add before I head out?”

I look up to find three pairs of eyes on me, Lex’s brow arcing in question.

“Did we scare you off sufficiently, then?” I taunt.

Linc widens his eyes, a “dude, what the fuck?” look on his face while Shane sighs. Lex just smiles, a harsh glint in her eyes.

“No, you didn’t scare me off. Were you trying to?”

“Maybe.”

She laughs, as though my terrible attitude has no effect on her whatsoever. The fact she can be so at ease when I want to crawl out of my skin in aggravation makes me want to hit something, or yell. And as I watch Shane and Linc smile in response to her laughter, visible relief on their faces, something sharp twists in my gut.

“So what now?” I sweep one arm out to the side in question.

“The analysts at Athena are going to pore over what you’ve shared, raise any questions or red flags they deem appropriate. Then it’s off to the races.”

She speaks nonchalantly, as though she doesn’t hold our future in the palm of her perfectly manicured hand.

“And what have you done to prove we should trust you and your people?”

“Dec, take a beat.” Lincoln holds a hand up, palm out, as though to calm me.

“I’m sorry, has something changed since last night?” Lex crosses her arms again, extending one leg to the side.

It’s a power stance if I’ve ever seen one, and I answer with my own–feet planted, arms crossed.

“No change. I still don’t trust you.”

“It seems you keep forgetting you came to me.”

“They came to you,” I counter, jutting my chin out toward Shane and Lincoln, who stand together to her left.

“Last I checked, all three of you have a stake in this business. Or are you telling me I’ve walked into some kind of internal territory dispute?” She glance over to Lincoln and Shane. “I have to be honest, gentlemen, I don’t have the patience or resources to handle internal turmoil on top of the drama with Anne-Marie and Greenstar.”

“No, Lex, there’s no issue–”

“Respectfully, Linc, take it up with your brother.” She casts me a cold look, relaxing her arms. “I’m done here.”

Lex turns on her ridiculous heel and stalks out of the warehouse. As she disappears down the hall toward my office, no doubt to gather her things, Shane rounds on me.

“My office. Now,” he demands, thrusting a finger toward my face. He turns to Linc. “Go. Try to fix this.”

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