Page 83 of Hate Notes

My phone dinged with a text from Moira.

Moira:Just received a formal invitation for tomorrow night. Eleanor Golding is hosting some kind of joint reception for Foster Real Estate and Northman Group at the Metropolitan. Davenport will be there to make an "important announcement." Did you know she and Davenport were old friends?

Eleanor Golding? Something about the timing and the fact that it was Eleanor Golding immediately made me suspect Ember. In fact, this had her fingerprints all over it. But what the hell was the point? Was it some kind of trap? Or was this her attempt to fix the damage she imagined she had caused?

"What is it?" Remmy asked, trying to peek at my screen.

"Eleanor Golding is hosting an event tomorrow night. Both companies, Davenport..." I trailed off as another text came through, this one from Roman:

Roman:I’m hearing Cole Northman believes Davenport is going to announce his final decision about which company to go with tomorrow night. He seems unusually confident. Should we be concerned?

I typed out another message to Ember.

Me:Can we speak before tomorrow night? Please.

Like my previous attempts since last night, it went unanswered.

"She's planning something," I said.

"Good." Remmy's voice was firm. "Maybe it's time somebody did. You two have been dancing around each other for weeks, both carrying secrets that are eating you alive. If she's making a move to fix things, you better be ready to meet her halfway."

"If she would just answer my calls?—"

"Oh, like you gave her a chance to explain last night?" Remmy raised an eyebrow. "Sometimes you have to let things play out the way they need to, big brother. Even if it means losing a little control."

Control. That's what this had always been about, wasn't it? Controlling my image, my company, my emotions. And now Ember had thrown all of that into chaos.

The strange thing was, I wasn't sure I wanted that control back.

"I need to find her," I said. "Before tomorrow night."

"And if you can't?"

"Then I'll show up to this thing and trust that Ember knows what she’s doing. I owe her that much."

"You owe her more than that," Remmy said softly. "You owe her the truth. All of it."

She was right. The property transfer documents I'd thrown away might be gone, but the intent behind them—my willingness to destroy Davenport's legacy for profit—that guilt was still there. Just like Ember's guilt over Cole.

The difference was, she'd been brave enough to face it head-on.

Now it was my turn.

I just hoped I'd get the opportunity. That whatever she was planning for tomorrow night wouldn't destroy any chance we had of making this right.

Because for the first time in my life, I was ready to choose something more important than winning. I just needed her to give me one more chance to show her.

40

EMBER

Iarrived at the Metropolitan an hour early, my hands shaking slightly as I arranged the documents in my folder. The evidence of Cole's plans to demolish the factories was damning enough. But what truly made me sick was knowing Orion had planned the same thing.

When Kora and I broke into Cole's files, we'd also discovered communications with his lawyers about the same legal loophole Orion had intended to exploit. The property transfer documents would have given either company control after Davenport's death. The only difference was that Orion had apparently thrown his away.

Roman had accidentally confirmed it yesterday when I cornered him, guilty conscience making him spill everything about the documents Orion had discarded. It helped that he thought I already knew, given how close Orion and I had become. It also helped somehow that Orion hadn’t even tried to defend himself. In a way, it was frustrating and stupid that he wouldn’t just tell me he changed his mind. But it was also oddly noble and something I couldn’t help grudgingly respecting.

He knew what he did was wrong and maybe even unforgivable, so he hadn’t even tried to seek my forgiveness. He was willing to bear the cost of his choices, no matter how severe.

---