Page 71 of Forbidden Grumpy Boss

“You don’t sound so hot.”

“I’m bloody fine. Why’s everyone treating me like I’m some child?” he rasps, and I hear his wife, Elizabeth, telling him to put down the phone and rest.

I lean back, staring up at the ceiling, willing myself to stay calm. “Look, it’s all bullshit, Henry. Harvey’s behind this. He’s trying to tank the deal.”

“I had a feeling,” Henry mutters, but his voice is hesitant. “Still, the optics, Silas. I can’t hand over my company to someone with . . . I don’t want to sayquestionable morals.”

“You just said it.”

“Well.” He coughs repeatedly into the phone.

“Are you sure you’re fine, Henry?”

“Bollocks.” Henry coughs a rough, wet sound that makes me wonder how long he has left. “Fix things with Harvey.” He pauses as if considering his following words. “He’s making it very clear that if we sell to you, he’ll make life difficult for the Caldwells.”

There it is. The real reason. “You’re letting Harvey bully you into backing out?”

“Bully? No. Persuade, yes. I’m old, Silas, and I don’t have time for drama.” He sighs a long, drawn-out sound. “Time isn’t on your side. Fix it.”

The line clicks, and I sit there, dripping water on the floor. My chest tightens, and for a moment, I wonder if the right move is to cut Leah loose. It would solve everything. Harvey would back off, the deal would go through, and my life would return to being manageable.

But then I think about Caleb.

He’s been getting too attached to Leah, asking about her daily. He needs stability, especially so close to his final exams. His teachers are already worried about him, and I can’t make things harder for him right now. I don’t want to think about what she’s come to mean to me, too.

“Dad?” Caleb’s voice calls from the living room. “Are you still dropping me off at school?”

I exhale, pulling myself together. “Yeah, I’ll be ready in a minute!”

He hesitates. “Is Leah coming over today? I want to show her something.”

My heart clenches. This is why the thing with Leah has to work for me and him. Caleb deserves this, even if it means dealing with Harvey’s vendetta.

I grab my phone and dial Leah. When she picks up, her voice is groggy, and she is probably just waking up.

“Your father just blew things up,” I say, pacing the room, towel wrapped around my waist.

In the background, I hear her friend, Penny, yelling something about trending. Leah mumbles something to her before saying, “I’ll call you back, Silas.”

The line goes dead before I can say anything else. I stare at the phone. Harvey’s going to keep coming for me. But the question is, how far am I willing to go to fight back?

And more importantly . . .is Leah worth losing everything for?

Chapter twenty-five

Leah

The nerve of him.

I’m storming through the doors of Grayson Studios, my father’s multibillion-dollar empire, and I can feel the heat rising in my chest, anger bubbling up like lava.How could he?How could he twist the truth like this and turn Silas into some kind of predator?It’s not like I expected my dad to throw us a surprise engagement party, but this? This low, underhanded attack?

Eyes are on me. I can feel them. With every step through the glossy marble lobby, heads turn, and whispers chase my back. I want to snap, but I bite it down. If there’s one thing I’ve learned growing up as Harvey Grayson’s daughter, it’s that the studio is always watching.

No missteps, no outbursts, no real emotion allowed. But today, I might make an exception.

The lobby is obnoxiously grand, with all glass walls and towering chandeliers. It's the kind of place you walk into and instantly know that whoever owns it can crush you under their boot without blinking. I dreamed of running this place someday, taking over the family legacy. That was before I realized I’d rather build something of my own, far away from this looming monument to Dad’s ego.

The glitz feels suffocating today, like a too-tight collar I can’t yank off fast enough.

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