Page 89 of When Hearts Ignite

I know people who’ll wipe this clean. It’d be as if nothing ever happened. And your feistiness is getting me hard.

Grace Peyton

Sir, this is inappropriate.

Steven Kingsley

Fuck. I need to hear you call me sir while I make you swallow my cum.

My nipples pebble at his messages and I squeeze my thighs together, a poor attempt to relieve the ache gathering there. I bite my lips, a devious side wanting to show up and play.

Grace Peyton

Sir, get back to work. We are saving your father’s company. And if you’re lucky, maybe you get to have dessert later tonight.

Steven Kingsley

Damn. Your bossiness is so sexy. I can’t wait to break it down and make you melt.

I glance at his closed door, part of me wanting to say screw it and walk inside and have him show me what he meant, but I refrain from my baser urges. There’s still a war to be won and I’m here to earn my keep and show those gossipmongers I deserve to be here with everyone.

Steven Kingsley

Back to work, darling. Welcome back. I’m happy you’re here. *Smiley face*

My heart melts at his words and the emoji that is so unlike him, I have a hard time thinking it’s from the same icy-cold man I met all those months ago. But just as I suspected, underneath the bespoke suits and chilly outbursts lies a giving heart. I let out a sigh, the warmth from his words seeping inside me. I’d brave all the rumors and barbs to witness this side of him.

With a smile on my face, I focus on my work in front of me, an in-depth analysis on the North American subsidiaries of Voss Industries, which includes some grunt work of combing through several years’ worth of financial statements and footnotes, tedious to many people but enjoyable for me. This is what I excel at, digging deep into the numbers, searching for anomalies, inconsistencies, red flags which might indicate nefarious activities.

Timothy Voss doesn’t keep his hands clean, and no one is perfect. If there’s dirt to be dug up, it has to be in the numbers. I grit my teeth as I think of the odious man, the bane of my existence when I was dancing at The Orchid. I’ll relish being part of the team to take him down for his scummy ways when I felt so powerless against him before. He saw me as a body, but now, he’ll remember me for my mind.

Determination whips through me and the hum of the office chatter fades into the background as I immerse myself in the world of numbers and fine print, highlighting areas worth looking into after my cursory review. Hours slip by and my breath catches as I pause on the footnotes of the financials on my screen. Frowning, I scroll back up and click to the statements on the other tabs opened in my browser.

My fingers tremble as my mouth parts in a gasp.

I think I found something. This has to be how Voss is getting to the other shareholders. I need to let Steven and the team know.

“Grace, Jamie, conference room one. Hancock just sold his shares of TA to Voss. We need to debrief now.” Hayley comes out of her office, a burst of frantic energy piercing the room, and I quickly gather my notepad and laptop and follow her to the conference room, where Steven has gathered with Bradley and a few other individuals.

A hardness returns to his eyes, all traces of the flirtatious man from the instant messages disappearing.

A pulse thuds heavily on his forehead as he glares at the group in the room. “What does he have on Hancock that we don’t? Why are we always one step behind Voss?”

Steven paces around the room, a thundercloud hanging over his head, and we scramble to take a seat. My eyes catch his and for a split-second, those tawny irises soften as I give him a subtle nod, a hug from afar.

He holds my gaze for a moment, his tensed shoulders softening as he exhales. “Does anyone have any updates? They are at forty-three percent to our thirty-five. The stock price is plummeting. This is impacting the entire market because the public thinks there’ll be economic upheaval around the corner. Any thoughts?”

The room is silent other than the soft humming of the air conditioning in the background.

I glance around, taking in Bradley’s pale face glistening with sweat, Hayley’s normally perfectly coiffed hair falling out of her bun, and I slowly raise my hand.

Steven’s eyes snag on mine, a flare of admiration reflecting in those amber pools. “Grace?”

“This is very preliminary because I only just got started. But I tracked down the financial statements of their most recent North American subsidiaries before they got acquired by Voss. There’s an unusual spike of cash outflows earmarked as ‘other’ in the months leading up to their acquisitions. I don’t see any corresponding purchases of equipment or headcount increases or anything that would make it seem like they need to use this cash. The notes are especially vague. This is a big hunch, but it smells like a cash payout of some sort.”

His gaze sharpens, his expression darkening as his jaw clenches. “Fucking Voss. He’s blackmailing them, isn’t he? That’s how he got to McGinnis and Hancock. Shit.”

I purse my lips. “If that’s the case, the next target would most likely be Senator Townsend. He holds ten percent of the company, and originally my focus wasn’t on him, given how powerful Townsend is, but if Voss is resorting to illegal means, he’s desperate for TransAmerica then. I think it would be prudent to find out why he is so interested in TransAmerica. That may be the leverage point.”

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