Page 48 of Tiebreaker

"You brought this on yourself," he says.

He drags me into the elevator and I'm twisting my wrist, trying to be free of him.

"Let me go!" I say.

"So you can run? I'm not fucking stupid."

My breathing shutters in my lungs. And he drags me down the hallway as soon as the doors open and then into his kitchen, his open living area.

"So tell me again, you're not going to sign the bylaw and vote to agree with me?" he says.

Now that we're alone, it's harder to face him down and be brave, but I have to be. I'm thinking about poor little Toby caught in his hands, a horrible, deathly fall inches away. Toby was brave. And he was just a sweet little cat.

I lift my chin, determined.

"I'm not signing it," I say. "I don't know if Kai and Vince want to run this company with you or want to do this merger, but at least I should ask them."

Everett thinks for a moment, watching me carefully.

"So you're doing this for them?" he says.

"Of course. Why else would I be doing this?" I ask.

He looks smug.

"I think you should reevaluate what a good person you are," he says.

"What do you mean by that?" I ask.

"I think you should remember that you're probably not doing it for them but for yourself. You want that stipend, more than 2 million. I'm sure you figured it out. Don't you have a calculator on your phone? You can't tell me you haven't questioned how much money in back dividends you're owed. But that takes time. That's not going to come all at once. You're going to have to wait for that payout. $2 million is fast. I don't know why you're making that trade, really. And I don't know why you're pretending that you're doing it for them."

He steps closer to me and I have to catch my breath.

"We're all selfish," he says, "and we all want things for ourselves that we shouldn't have. You've done nothing to earn that money, but I was happy to pay you $2 million and let you walk. That'd been more than enough for you living the kind of life you do. But you want more?" he asks. His expression darkens. "I'll give you more."

**insert sex scene here**

Nineteen

Olivia

Kai’s textmessage on my phone is out of the blue, and a welcome reprieve from everything that’s happened.

"Will you come with me to a thing?" he asks. "I'd really appreciate it. Sorry I haven't been in touch in the last few days. I've just had some business to take care of."

He had been awfully quiet. But I'd read on his social media that he was working on a new album, and I figured that was that. It's not like I own him. I've just come to really enjoy his company.

"All right," I say, "What is it?"

He's like, "Oh, you can wear jeans, that's fine. It's not anything formal. I'm just doing this live interview and I kind of want a friend with me. It's not easy to do these things, you know."

I figure he's probably right. I don't know what it's like to have to do interview after interview. He seems pretty casual about it like he's got it all under control, but what do I know about that kind of thing?

I'm whisked away to the studio in a limo because he's already there in hair and makeup, getting done up. It kind of makes me laugh and I text him asking him if his face is itching. He sends me an angry emoji as a response.

How much my world has been turned upside down by this guy’s is hard to put together in words. But here I am in a limo arriving onto a studio lot of a TV station. There's a guy opening the door for me and I step out in my thrifted jeans and new t-Shirt at least. The jeans are plenty good enough, the t-shirt elevates it, I guess, something from Rodeo Drive that Kai had made me purchase.

"All right, I'm here," I text him and he sends me a smiley emoji.

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