Page 362 of Tormented Billionaire Romance Series

This isn’t working.

Grace whistles loudly with two fingers in her mouth. We’re all covering our ears as she politely nods toward Jacque.

Verne is saying, “Jesus!”

Jacque says, “If you’ll read the relevant section of the bylaws…”

Marly comes in, does what she’s supposed to do by setting a copy of the bylaws in front of each board member, and leaves the room. I was starting to forget what it’s like when things go as they’re supposed to.

“We’re all aware of this, but while we’re fighting it in court, the company’s going to lose everything,” Reeves says.

“So don’t do that to the company,” Grace says. “You may be able to retire and make sure your grandkids’ grandkids are taken care of, but replacing Zach with Jacque is the only way out of this now. It’s obvious this is what you should do. Otherwise,youwill be blamed for it. The three of us will make sure of it.”

The room is silent.

Everyone’s looking around, but nobody wants to be the first to have an opinion.

Jacque says, “By the way, while I’ve been away from Stingray, I haven’t stopped working. I got a lot of really cool stuff, but if I have to take it somewhere else, I guess that’s just the way it goes.”

Whoever teaches Jacque to talk in front of people cannot possibly get paid enough for the chore.

Reeves looks around the table at each board member individually, still placing himself above them. They all fall in line, though.

“It appears we don’t have a choice,” Reeves says. “I would prefer we don’t make the announcement until—”

“Yeah,” I interrupt. “We’ll find someone to work with him.”

This has been the most stressful night of my life.

EPILOGUE

KOLA KITANABU

Grace

We’re sitting on the beach, Zach and I. I’m lazily watching the deep ocean waters swell in the distance.

It’s been one year since Jacque took the helm at Stingray and the company’s prospering. Iamstill waiting for my own robot Pomeranian, though.

Everywhere around me, things are so well-kept. When Zach gave that money to the people of Kola Kitanabu, they put it to good use. No one’s building a mansion in this rainforest.

People still recognize Zach everywhere, but thankfully, fewer recognize me. In the States, some people walk up to Zach to shake his hand while others walk up to tell him what a jerk they think he is.

I guess that’s the way it’s going to be, though.

Right now, Zach and I are celebrating our engagement. I have to say, with all his money and taste, I was hoping for more than the standard down-on-one-knee with a ring proposal, but he’s got a while to make it up to me.

I reach over and snatch my champagne glass and take a sip.

It’d be great to say we never had to deal with Stingray anymore, but even as Jacque has brought the company all the way around and even started breaking internal profit records, he still calls Zach at least once a day to ask advice on how to deal with this person or that. At least they got him to talk in front of people without sounding like an angsty teenager.

It took a while.

Max is standing at the edge of the shore, biting at the waves as they come over him. Sammie’s pooping in the sand. This is the life.

Naomi steps to the side of my beach lounger and says, “Trevor has the car ready whenever the two of you would like to go.”

For the last six months, Naomi’s been my personal bodyguard. I know they say it’s not a job for family, but at the same time, she’s the most conniving person I know, and if anyone’s going to try anything, she will have already thought of it first.

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