Page 53 of Unwillingly His

“You can help by getting Mary Quinn the fuck under control and getting her son out of our business. I also want your son to get the fuck out of our business. When he cut us out of Manwarring Enterprises, and all of the distilleries, we lost our primary way of cleaning money.”

“I understand that.”

“No, I don’t think you do. If the DA starts bringing us in, and we go down, then we are taking you down with us. Not just your business. We’re not going to let you pull some bullshit with a fall guy in accounting. No, we are personally taking you down. You and I will share a fucking prison cell.”

“That’s not going to happen,” I tried to interrupt him to calm him down. He was having none of it.

“If we are not made whole, then we are coming after you and those you love.”

Ronin did not make idle threats. That didn’t mean I was willing to be threatened in my own fucking office.

“Who exactly do you think you’re talking to? I have had this deal running with your family before you were born. You will not come into my office and threaten me, boy. You do not threaten my family. I threaten yours. Just because I sit in this glass tower, don’t think I don’t remember where the fuck I came from. Or how I got here.”

“That doesn’t change the fact that we need to?—”

“You need to shut the fuck up and let me handle it. I heard you. You need another way to clean money and replace the income you lost. I have a plan that is in the works and may prove to be far more profitable than I intended.”

“What plan?”

“It’s too early to give details. I have been working with your family for years. I value this relationship and understand how delicate it is, even if my son does not. Let me handle it.”

“You know what happens if you don’t,” Ronin said.

I knocked over my king, even though it was never in any danger. Not as a sign of defeat, but a symbol of bending a knee.

It made my stomach twist in anger, but I held it in.

Life was a game of chess, and just like in chess, sometimes you needed to sacrifice a pawn or even a king to win in the end.

I was playing the long game.

CHAPTER 22

STELLA

My heart raced as I pressed myself against the wall, listening for the footsteps coming down the hallway.

Doing this was stupid, but I had to try.

The footsteps got closer, and I just knew they belonged to the evil butler. He was going to rat me out if he caught me, and then there was no telling what Lucian would do to me.

The lawyer’s words played over and over in my head, as well as the image of the healthcare proxy listed on the court documents.

If he caught me here, he really could toss me in a mental institution and throw away the key. Just because doctors no longer diagnosed women with hysteria didn’t mean they didn’t treat it.

My eyes stayed closed tight as I listened to his footsteps get closer and closer.

Maybe I did deserve to have a trustee.

Maybe I wasn’t an adult.

I couldn’t even sneak down a hallway and get into an office without being caught by the butler.

Then, in a moment of pure luck, the footsteps turned a corner and walked away from me. I hadn’t been caught, not yet, anyway.

I counted to ten silently in my head, making sure the coast was completely clear before I continued creeping down the long hallway to Manwarring’s office.

The large wooden door was thankfully unlocked, and it was easy for me to slide into the room, barely opening the door and closing it behind me. Again, I stopped and listened, making sure no one had followed me, no alarms were going to go off, and I was safe.

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