Darron's body began to tremble. The anger in his eyes was entirely eclipsed by a raw, suffocating terror. He couldn't meet Elena's gaze, his eyes darting wildly around the room as if looking for an escape route.
Elena walked around the edge of the desk, stopping just inches from him. She looked down at him, her posture radiating absolute authority.
"Here are my terms," Elena said, her voice dropping to a deadly, quiet register. "You are going to take the fall for everything. Every single piece of this PR disaster is going to land on your shoulders."
She pointed a finger at his chest. "You have two hours to call a press conference. You will stand in front of the cameras and confess that you were the one who cheated first."
"No!" Haylee yelled, stepping forward. "That will destroy his reputation on Wall Street! He'll be ruined!"
Elena snapped her head toward Haylee. The sheer violence in Elena's eyes hit Haylee like a physical blow, forcing the younger woman to snap her mouth shut and take a step back.
Elena turned back to Darron. "What's it going to be, Darron? A ruined reputation, or ten years making license plates in a federal penitentiary?"
Darron's jaw locked. His hands curled into tight fists at his sides. The veins on the back of his hands bulged against the skin as he fought a losing battle inside his head.
"Let's just say it was a mutual split," he begged, his voice cracking, sounding pathetic and small. "Irreconcilable differences."
Elena didn't argue. She simply reached across the desk, picked up her smartphone, and tapped the screen, bringing up the dial pad. She typed in the first three digits of the SEC tip line.
Darron broke. He lunged forward, his sweaty hands grabbing her wrist to stop her from pressing call. "Okay! Okay, I'll do it!" he rasped, his voice tearing.
Elena looked at his hands on her skin. A wave of intense physical nausea hit her. She ripped her arm out of his grip with a violent jerk.
She pulled a sterile wet wipe from a dispenser on her desk and slowly, deliberately scrubbed the skin where he had touched her, treating him like a disease.
She walked over to the door, unlocked it, and pressed the intercom button. "Thea, bring the documents in."
The heavy doors opened immediately. Thea walked in quickly, clutching a thick stack of papers. She eyed Darron and Haylee with deep suspicion.
Elena took the papers and threw them onto the desk right in front of Darron. "Memorize this. Word for word."
Darron looked down at the paper. The statement painted him as a morally bankrupt, cheating liar. The edges of his vision blurred with angry tears, his eyes turning bloodshot.
But he had no leverage. His hands shook violently as he picked up a pen and signed his name at the bottom of the confession, effectively signing away his entire career.
Haylee watched him sign it. Her face twisted. For a split second, the mask slipped, and Elena saw pure, unadulterated disgust in Haylee's eyes directed at Darron for being so weak. Then, Haylee's eyes flicked to Elena, filled with genuine, deep-rooted fear.
Elena caught the look. She smiled a cold, hollow smile.
She pressed the intercom again. "Security. I need an escort in my office."
Two massive, broad-shouldered security guards walked into the room. They flanked Darron immediately, grabbing him by the upper arms.
Darron didn't fight them. His shoulders slumped forward, his head hanging low like a defeated animal. The guards marched him out of the office.
Haylee glared at Elena, her eyes full of venom, before she turned and practically ran out the door, her heels clicking frantically against the floor.
The heavy doors clicked shut. The room was finally empty.
Elena walked over to the floor-to-ceiling windows. She looked down at the street below, watching the media vans swarming like ants around the building's entrance.
The tight, agonizing knot in her chest finally loosened. She let out a long, heavy exhale, her shoulders dropping an inch.
Thea walked up behind her. "How did you get those account numbers?" she asked, her voice hushed with awe.
Elena turned around. She looked at Thea. She remembered the sight of Thea's lifeless body in her past life, the girl who had taken a bullet meant for her. The coldness in Elena's eyes melted away, replaced by a fierce, protective warmth.
She didn't answer the question. Instead, she stepped forward and wrapped her arms around Thea, pulling her into a bone-crushing hug.
Thea stiffened in surprise for a second, but then slowly wrapped her arms around Elena's back.
Elena buried her face in Thea's shoulder. "I promise you," she whispered fiercely. "No one will ever hurt us again."
