Page 1 of Pain in the Axe
Prologue
Chloe
1 Week Earlier
Today is the day.
Today, I’ll own the man who broke my heart.
Who destroyed my sense of self and shattered my innocence.
Now, after decades of hard work, I’m going to take away the one thing that matters most to him. And I’ll enjoy every single second of my revenge.
I walkedinto that conference room like I owned it. Late, of course. I insisted my lawyers be on time, but I showed up when I fucking felt like it.
My hair was freshly blown out, my makeup pristine, and my heels sharp enough to gouge out a man’s eye.
When I walked into the room, eyebrows raised. The reaction was nothing new. It isn’t often a five-foot-two redhead comes inwith the kind of capital I had access to. Especially in the male-dominated timber business. I kept my head held high. Let them underestimate me. That shit was the fuel that fired me up.
I had traveled the world, making deals and working to become a power player in this business. And today, I was doing the thing I’d been dreaming about for so long.
Showing the men who’d wronged me just what I was capable of.
Like my dad and my grandfather, who’d told me time and time again that the family business was no place for a girl. The joke was on them. I now owned the largest timber company in Maine, and that made me their primary competitor.
And my ex-husband? The one who tossed me aside for the chance to grow his family business and impress his dad? I was now the proud owner of four generations of his family’s legacy. The figurehead of the company he’d lost.
The company he’d chosen over me.
The best part? He worked for me now. I’d make him watch as I stripped the Hebert name off every single building, truck, and goddamn Post-it note on this earth.
I waited outside the conference room for the perfect moment to make my entrance. I’d already texted a paralegal inside so I’d know where he was sitting. That way, I could make sure to enjoy the look of total panic on his face when I walked through the door.
What would he do when he found out that I’d purchased his family’s business? That his ass was mine?
Maybe he’d hyperventilate? Or pee his pants? A girl could dream…
I straightened my pencil skirt and reached for the heavy mahogany door.
It was showtime.
The room was busy, and there were papers scattered across the large table. When I entered, I immediately homed in on the seat I knew he was occupying. He was hunched over, signing a document, and two men I could only assume were his brothers flanked him.
My lawyers nodded to me as I strutted up to the table.
And then his eyes met mine.
He dropped his pen, and the color drained from his face.
His sharp intake of breath was loud in the suddenly silent room.
I stood proudly, unmoving, letting him stare. Letting him flail. I deserved my moment of victory.
But my triumph was short-lived. In the span of three heartbeats, I found myself falling back into those blue eyes, admiring how he’d filled out with age. The crinkles around his eyes and the thick beard that coated his strong jaw.
Motherfucker.
He had no social media profiles, no internet presence at all. So I’d been unable to properly stalk him to prepare for this moment.
