Page 47 of Tiebreaker

"Allergies?" he asks.

I shake my head.

He nods in understanding, "I see."

"It just makes sense with my new lifestyle," I say, although my words are hollow, and I don't think he believes me.

It doesn't matter though. Nothing matters except trying to do the right thing. This place has shown me that I always have to try and do the right thing and be the best version of myself. I'm not going to allow it to change me. I'm not going to let money change me and poison who I am.

I may not be much, but I'm a good person. And I'm always putting other people first. And creatures.

"Olivia! There you are!" Everett's voice cuts through the general noise in the lobby of high heels over marble and people talking as they make their way to meetings and the elevator bank. He's dressed in a sharp suit. And he frowns when he sees my swollen eyes and the tissue in my hand.

"What is wrong?" he asks.

"Nothing," I say. "What do you want?"

He raises an eyebrow, "So frosty!"

I glare at him.

"Are you surprised?" I ask. "Do you normally do what you do and then have people greet you with kindness?"

He shrugs, "Usually."

"Huh," I say, "must be the money."

"What is it? Do you want to go for a coffee?" he asks.

"No, thanks," I say, and turn and walk away.

He jogs to catch up with me, "I'm getting the paperwork ready. It's pretty much done."

I pause halfway through my step. "You know about that?" I turn to look up at him, "No."

He blinks slow. "What?" he asks.

"I said, no, I'm not doing it. I'm not selling you my portion. I'm not siding with you. I'm not changing the bylaws so that you can buy them out and force them out of something that they may not want, not until I talk to them at least."

He glares, "If you talk to them, that'll be beside the point. They're not going to see it coming this way."

I raise an eyebrow at him, "Really? You think that you can just introduce a new bylaw into the company protocol saying that you can buy out, that anyone can buy out the other shareholders as long as they have a majority share? You think they're not going to see that coming? You think they're not going to see how transparent that is? I thought you were supposed to be some hotshot businessman. That's pathetic."

I turn and walk away. "Now, leave me alone."

"The board meeting is in an hour!" he growls under his breath. "You can't just abandon this now."

I turn a glare at him, "Oh, I think I just did."

He grabs me by the wrist, painfully tight fingers wrapping around my arm.

"You're going to come upstairs with me right now and we are going to discuss this," he says.

He yanks me and I have to move or I'll topple forward.

"Smile," he says.

And I glare at him. His fingers grind down on my arm cruelly, thumb digging between my tendons. I cry out under my breath and then force a smile to my face.

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