Chapter 2 - The Boardroom Ambush
The next morning, the financial district of London was buzzing with ruthless corporate energy. I hadn't flown from my new home in Geneva to London just to stalk my ex-boyfriend. I had flown to London because the life I had built after Alistair abandoned me was formidable, terrifying, and entirely my own.
When Alistair left me broken in Milan, I used my shattered heart as fuel. I was a brilliant aerospace engineer, a fact he had often praised but never truly respected. I poured myself into my work, developing a revolutionary, hyper-efficient turbine propulsion system that the aviation industry was currently salivating over. I launched my own firm, Vanguard Aeronautics. Over the past two years, Vanguard had skyrocketed in value.
Sterling Aviation was currently attempting to finalize a multi-billion-dollar merger with Genevieve’s family empire, the Kensington Group. But there was a massive caveat holding up their deal: they couldn't legally manufacture their new fleet of luxury jets without the exclusive licensing rights to my propulsion patents.
They needed Vanguard Aeronautics. They needed me.
At 10:00 AM sharp, I walked into the glass-walled executive boardroom on the top floor of the Kensington building. I wore a tailored, razor-sharp ivory suit, my hair pulled back into a severe, commanding knot. My trusted nanny, Maria, had taken Sebastian to Hyde Park for the morning. I was entirely focused on the kill.
The executive team was already seated around a massive mahogany table. Genevieve was there, sitting proudly beside her father, Lord Kensington, the arrogant chairman of the board. She wore a smug, victorious smile, completely unaware of who the CEO of Vanguard actually was.
Then the heavy glass doors opened. Alistair walked in.
He looked horrendous. His eyes were bloodshot, his jaw shadowed with dark, unkempt stubble, and his designer tie was slightly askew. He looked like a man who hadn't slept a single second. He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw me sitting at the opposite end of the mahogany table, my legal briefs neatly arranged in front of me.
"Ms. Davis," the Kensington lead counsel said, gesturing to me with a polite nod. "Thank you for flying in from Geneva. We are eager to finalize the patent licensing transfer today so we can announce the merger to the press this evening."
Genevieve choked on her sparkling water, her eyes bugging out of her head. "She... she is the Vanguard representative?"
"I am the Founder and CEO of Vanguard," I said smoothly, opening my leather folder and letting my gaze sweep over the room. "And after reviewing your final proposal, Lord Kensington, Vanguard Aeronautics is formally rejecting your offer."
The boardroom erupted into chaos. Executives shouted over each other. Genevieve's father slammed his fist on the table. But Alistair just stared at me, completely paralyzed, the air knocked out of his lungs all over again.
"Rejecting it?!" Genevieve snapped, standing up so fast her chair scraped loudly. "We offered forty percent above market value for those patents! You are being petty and vindictive because of your pathetic personal history with my fiancé!"
"Genevieve, sit down and shut your mouth right now," Alistair suddenly roared, his voice cracking like a whip across the room. The executives went dead silent, shocked by the outburst. Genevieve looked as if she had been physically slapped.
Alistair slowly walked around the edge of the table, completely ignoring the horrified stares of his board members. His ice-blue eyes were locked onto mine, swirling with a desperate, agonizing need for answers. "Why are you rejecting the offer, Ms. Davis?"
"Because your proposal includes a clause that allows the Kensington Group to manufacture the turbines using substandard, cheaper alloys to cut costs," I answered, meeting his gaze with absolute, unyielding ice. "You promised in your preliminary filings to maintain the highest safety standards in the industry. The new blueprints erase those standards to increase your profit margins. You broke your promise. And I do not negotiate with men who break their promises when it becomes inconvenient for their legacy."
The double meaning hung in the air, heavy, suffocating, and loaded with the ghosts of our past.
"I wasn't the one who authorized the blueprint change," Alistair said quietly, his voice trembling as his eyes begged me to understand. He slowly turned his head to look at Lord Kensington and Genevieve. "The Kensington group demanded the alloy change as a condition of their capital injection. My father signed off on it behind my back. That was his mistake."
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"It's a three-billion-dollar deal, Alistair!" Lord Kensington barked, his face turning a dangerous shade of red. "You are not tanking this merger over a few safety protocols and some bitter, scorned ex-girlfriend from Milan!"
"I am tanking it," Alistair said, turning to fully face his board. "The deal is dead. We are withdrawing our current proposal and severing our merger with the Kensington Group entirely. Meeting adjourned."
