Actually, I think I might be safer than I’ve been in a long time, but I need a few days to think to figure out my next move. Can you hold down the fort without me? Of course. But the board meeting is scheduled for Monday morning. They’re going to want answers about what happened at the airport. And if you’re not there, Richard is going to use your absence to push his agenda.

Let him, Rachel said, surprising herself with the words. Let Richard show his hand. Let the board see what he’s really after. Sometimes the best way to catch someone in a trap is to let them think they’ve already won. That’s either brilliant or insane, Laura said. I’m not sure which. Maybe both. Rachel admitted.

Laura, I need to ask you something and I need you to be completely honest with me. If I walked away from all of this, the company, the board, the merger negotiations, what would happen? Laura was quiet for a long moment. Honestly, short-term chaos. The stock would take a hit. Richard would probably make his move to take over as CEO.

The board would panic. But long-term, Rachel, Morgan Technologies would survive. You built something strong enough to outlast you. The question isn’t what would happen to the company. The question is what would happen to you? Who are you if you’re not CEO of Morgan Technologies? The question hit Rachel like a physical blow.

Who was she without the title, the power, the constant pressure to perform and succeed? She’d been CEO for so long that she couldn’t remember what she’d wanted to be before ambition and necessity had shaped her into this role. I don’t know, Rachel whispered. I honestly don’t know. Then maybe that’s what you need to figure out, Laura said gently. Take your few days.

Do your thinking. I’ll handle things here and get you the information you need. But Rachel, whatever you decide, make sure it’s what you want, not what you think you’re supposed to want. Life’s too short to spend it all building someone else’s empire. They ended the call and Rachel sat on the edge of the bed, staring at Jack’s phone in her hands.

Through the closed door, she could hear Sophie’s laughter and Jack’s deeper voice responding to something his daughter had said. The sounds of a normal morning, a normal life, something that felt impossibly distant from the world she inhabited. Her next call was to her personal attorney, Michael Reeves, who had represented her through the divorce negotiations with her first husband years ago and had remained on retainer ever since.

Rachel, I’ve been expecting your call,” Michael said without preamble. “I’ve already heard from Andrew Kayfax’s legal team. They’re claiming you physically assaulted him at Newark Airport and that he was defending himself. They’re threatening to sue for assault and defamation, and they’re suggesting that you’re mentally unstable and unfit to run the company.

Of course they are, Rachel said tiredly. Michael, I need you to get ahead of this. There were dozens of witnesses at that airport, and I’m sure several of them recorded what happened on their phones. Andrew was physically assaulting me. He grabbed my injured shoulder and refused to let go when I asked him to. A bystander intervened on my behalf and airport security was called.

Get the police report. Get witness statements. Get the security footage. Build me a case. I’m already on it, Michael assured her. But Rachel, I need to tell you something. Andrew’s lawyers aren’t just threatening a civil suit. They’re suggesting that if you try to press charges against him, they’ll make this as public and ugly as possible.

They’ll drag your mental health history into it, the therapy you attended after your mother died, the anti-depressants you were briefly prescribed. I was grieving, Rachel interrupted, anger flooding through her. My mother had just died of cancer. Taking anti-depressants while dealing with that doesn’t make me unstable.

I know that and any reasonable person knows that. But Andrew’s team is betting that they can create enough doubt, enough scandal that the board will force you out to protect the company’s reputation. It’s a scorched earth strategy, Rachel. They’re not just trying to win. They’re trying to destroy your credibility entirely.

Rachel felt something cold and hard settle in her chest. Then we fight back. I want you to file assault charges against Andrew. I want a restraining order. And I want you to start dissolution proceedings for our engagement. I’m done, Michael. I’m done being threatened and manipulated and told that I’m the problem when I’m the victim.

Okay, Michael said, and she could hear the satisfaction in his voice. Now you’re talking. I’ll get started on the paperwork immediately. But Rachel, you need to be prepared for this to get ugly. Really ugly. Andrew has deep pockets and powerful friends. This isn’t going to be a quick, clean break. I don’t care, Rachel said and meant it.

I spent 3 years trying to keep the peace, trying to make a toxic relationship work because it was convenient for business. I’m done sacrificing my well-being for convenience. Whatever it takes, whatever it costs. I’m done being his victim. After the call ended, Rachel sat in silence for several minutes, letting the magnitude of her decision sink in.

She’d just declared war on her fianceé and business partner, potentially jeopardizing her company in the process. It was reckless, possibly suicidal from a business standpoint, but for the first time in years, she felt like she was making a choice based on what was right rather than what was expedient. A soft knock on the door pulled her from her thoughts.

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