Page 21 of Ellie 3

“She prayed to the gods every night that they give me the answer to save you and stop punishing vampire children needlessly. She told me every time she saw me that she knew I had the answers inside of me and I wouldn’t regret saving you when I figured it out. She wasso sureI could do it that I could not fail that woman and be the reason she lost you.”

“You never told me that,” he rasped, wiping under his eyes.

“You lost her not long after you recovered and…” She trailed off and gave a half shrug. “Now you know my own mother issues. I’m not perfect.” She snorted. “We’ll talk. You were young and deserve the stories.”

“Yeah, in our spare time, Ellie.”

I doubted I was the only one who snorted then. Right, the owner of ASH and the president hadtonsof downtime.

Sure they did.

“ASH isn’t about me, but maybe you all understand now that you are the writer of your own story. I’ve writtenseveralstories that I’m proud of. I’m the founder of Amanda’s Hope. Amanda Hope saved my life. She saved a lot of female vampires, and I carried on her work. With the help of Alexis Gomez and others, we have saved countless females.

“I have medical patents and discoveries that have changed this world. And yes, I discovered the additive we put in the blood we sell to fund ASH. But no, I’m not sitting on piles of money from that as too many assume. Many assumed the owner was just living on a yacht somewhere burning his piles of money.

“I’ve reinvested just about every dollar ASH has made besides a sizeable emergency fund. Enough to cover your salaries and rebuilding ASH should something happen.” She smiled when several of the department heads chuckled. “Would an asteroid or satellite crashing into ASH be the weirdest thing we’ve seen?

“If you had asked me when I was young if humans would ever find out about us, I would have answered a firm no. A confident no and without wavering.” Murmurs in the crowd agreed. “So that is the only riches I have from ASH. Many of you know I have other companies and some of you own condos in my buildings.

“Yes, I’m rich.” She shrugged. “But all of the department heads know the budget and see the financials.” She frowned and looked over at the presidents. “I’m sure you all have seen them and the accounts. I mean, you’re in charge of taxes and all of that.” She nodded when a few did. “Plus, I think one of you had to sign off on some sort of insurance whatever.”

“Yes, because it was a policy to basically cover rebuilding Atlanta,” one of them drawled.

“That was a headache and a half, and the amount we pay in insurance…” Ellie shivered. “We’re so far off point.” She looked out at us again. “I’m sorry I had to lock this to your minds. Over a hundred of you are out of jobs for the shit you pulled. You don’t deserve the knowledge. The rest of you—some of you don’t like me.

“That’s fine. We don’t have to like each other. I hope you care enough about ASH to realize I keep this quiet because being the founder of ASH is dangerous. The world is still sexist. Hell, humans have been trying to find out who I am since the start of it because taking me out would cripple supe health care. It would end the advanced blood we sell.”

“Why will you not share it?” someone called out, a female doctor I sort of recognized. She stood and raised her hand so Ellie could spot her. “I ask without malice but—it’s the one thing that always irked me. I understand it funds ASH, but we can’t produce enough, and there are vampires who are hurt by that. And now it dies with you? I’m sorry but…” She shook her head.

“You’re taking it personally,” Ellie said gently. “You’ve worked with me for years. You’ve known me six or seven years. You know the answer. You do.”

“It’s something that can be used against vampires if not done right,” I called out, already having put that together. “If not in the right amount, it can hurt them. Or it comes from a particular source you’re protecting. It’s limited somehow or—I have other theories, but you are keeping it secret to protect your kind.”

She met my gaze and couldn’t hide she was impressed. “Yes, one of the ingredients is finite. And very,verycomplicated. Beyond words complicated and I am protecting—yes. It’s not a medication we can synthesize limitlessly or put on a production line. It’s why no one has ever been able to replicate it, and people have sunkbillionsinto trying.”

“I think I just needed to hear you say,” the woman admitted. “I wanted to believe that of you, but… Sometimes you just need to hear it.”

“Fair enough,” Ellie accepted.

There wasn’t much left to say after that. She addressed some of the other rumors and weird things people said about the founder, but that was it. People were shocked at the reveal but also how she left it.

What had they really expected?

She chuckled and reminded them that there was work to do, lives to save, and people to help. This didn’t change anything. Now they just knew the changes that were being made around ASH came from the founder, not the “paper-pushing middleman” some still accused her of being.

Even after learning she was a multi-board-certified doctor.

She asked those who had thrown the mutiny and hadn’t stormed out like petulant children to stay after. And to not be petty and try to deny they had been a part of it. Security had the list and she’d be annoyed if she had to chase them down among everything else.

Ellie raised an eyebrow when I stayed. “You? Really?”

“I want to see the full show so I can congratulate you,” I said with a grin. “Also, apparently, the president wants to grill me before my office hours start.”

“Excellent,” the president joked.

“I will beat you,” she warned, rolling her eyes when his security went on edge.

I think I was more surprised to find she was on such good terms with the damn President of North America than I had been she was the founder.

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