Page 7 of Succumbed

“Send me your data,” Lex orders. “And your concerns about what will happen if your former business partner takes her flawed tech to market. I need to understand the possible damage.”

Shane inclines his head. “We’ll send it over by end of day.”

Lex taps the table absently, eyes flitting between us again. She seems to settle something internally because she rises to her feet. “It’s been…interesting, gentlemen. I’ll be in touch.”

“When?” Dec asks, voice flat. Welcome to the fucking party, brother.

“When I choose.” She turns and walks to the door without a glance.

Lex pauses at the door and looks back at me. The moment of eye contact has my nerves singing, my body strung taut in response to her gravity.

“You can see yourselves out, I trust?”

“We can,” I rasp, my voice belying my unprofessional thoughts.

Her lips tilt up ever so slightly as her eyes flick down and back up. I want to see her smile break free. But the hint of a grin is gone as quickly as it appeared, and she turns and vanishes down the hall before I can process what to do or say to stop her.

This was either my best idea ever, or my worst. I’m here for it, either way.

Chapter 3

Lex

“Miles, with me.”

My assistant stands immediately, following on my heels as I sweep into my office. He closes the door behind us and makes a beeline to the bar cart in the corner.

“How did my last appointment get scheduled?”

He glances at me curiously as he hands over a tumbler with a generous pour of scotch. “They emailed requesting a second meeting. They were in the system under a different company name, but I assumed they had an update to share. Why?”

He elegantly drops onto my midnight blue couch, looking up at me with innocent eyes as he strokes the lush velvet.

“You watched the interview I did with Cass Thompson and Preston Brooks?”

He rolls his eyes. “Of course. The entire office has seen it no less than fifty times at this point.”

“Lovely,” I mutter, taking a long swallow of scotch. After years of benefiting from press coverage as I built my business as a newcomer to the Bay, I don’t hate the spotlight, but I certainly don’t love it. “Well, the story I told in that interview?”

Miles’s brows crease. “Yes?”

“It was about Anne-Marie Townsend.”

He blinks as his brows rise. “The golden child of Greenstar Labs?”

“The very same.”

“You don’t say...” Tutting, he shakes his head. “I have to be honest, Lex, I have no idea why she’s the talk of the town. What does her big idea even do, exactly?”

I laugh. “She’s claimed she can revolutionize commercial construction. She’s developed a green building material that’s lighter, more cost effective, and carbon neutral to use. Plus, it’s produced without all the excess waste of typical milling and manufacturing processes–”

“Lex, honey. No. That’s all Greek to me.”

“Imagine you could build a school for 30% less, and it was more durable over time.”

“Oh. Well, sounds nice, I guess?”

I grin. “And imagine you could do it without hacking down forests, wasting millions of gallons of water, mining, or otherwise destroying the face of the planet bit by bit.”

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