Chapter 3

Leo held the phone out, his expression a mix of hope and fear. "Mr. Croft, sir. You need to come back to the office. Right now."

He spoke quickly, the words tumbling out. "Mrs. O' Connell' s family is here. They' re... they' re very upset about the injunction. They' ve locked us in."

A woman' s giggle could be heard in the background on Damien' s end. Isabelle.

Damien sighed, a sound of pure arrogance and dismissal.

"Leo, for God' s sake, is this some kind of pathetic stunt Evelyn put you up to? Did my hysterical wife pay you to ruin my weekend?"

"No, sir, it' s real!" Leo insisted, his voice cracking. "They' re smashing things. They' re threatening people. They' re going to hurt someone!"

"Oh, spare me the drama," Damien scoffed. "Tell Evelyn her little plot failed. I' m not coming back. You can tell her that you' re both fired for this. Now, lose my number."

The line went dead.

Leo stared at his phone in disbelief. He looked up at me, his face ashen.

"He... he hung up."

Finn had been watching the entire exchange, his eyes narrowed. He strode over to Leo.

"Failure?" Finn asked softly.

Leo couldn' t speak, he just nodded.

Finn' s fist moved in a blur. The sound was a sickening crack as his knuckles connected with Leo' s jaw. Leo crumpled to the floor, unconscious, a dark bruise already forming on his cheek.

A woman screamed.

Finn looked down at Leo' s still form, then his cold eyes landed on me.

"It seems your husband doesn' t respect his staff," he said, walking towards me. "Let' s see if he respects his wife."

He didn' t even rush. He just walked up to me, and his open hand struck my face. The force of it sent me staggering back against my desk. My head hit the corner with a sharp, white-hot flash of pain.

I slid to the floor, the taste of blood filling my mouth. The room spun.

Through the haze, I could feel the cold, calculating part of my brain take over. This was part of the plan. Pain was a tool.

I looked up at Finn, letting him see the blood trickling from my lip.

"He won' t believe you," I managed to say, my voice raspy. "He won' t believe anyone from the firm. He thinks it' s a trick."

Finn stared at me, waiting.

"You need someone he can' t ignore," I continued, forcing the words out. "An authority figure. Someone he respects, and fears."

I let that sink in.

"You need to call Marcus Thorne."