Page 68 of Ascension

I didn’t glance up from the document I wasn’t really reading. “You’re late.” We both chuckled because he was actually right on time.

“You’re welcome,” he replied easily, lips curving in that half-smirk that always made it hard to tell if he was joking or testing my pulse.

My eyes flicked to the folder. “That it?”

“Indeed, and your father is knee deep in some shit that’s bound to get him killed,” he said. “I pulled financials, personal, and otherwise, in living color.”

I closed my laptop, folded my hands, and met his eyes. “How bad?”

He gave a low, humorless laugh. “Bad enough that I had to double-check half ofit just to believe it.”

“Try me.”

Lennox grabbed the folder he’d just slid on my desk, opening it to read what was inside. “Your father’s got offshore accounts in Belize and Malta, funneling money through two shell nonprofits. One of them was that mentorship program he set up a few years ago.”

I felt my stomach twist. “The one for underprivileged youth?”

He nodded once. “He’s been laundering money through it: falsified donations, dummy subcontractors, the works. Half the funds go to ghost accounts. He’s sloppy, probably desperate because he owes money to some people that will catch you no matter how far and fast you try to run.”

I exhaled slowly, flipping through the documents, transfers, falsified invoices, and signatures that looked familiar and sickening.

“And if that wasn’t pathetic enough,” Lennox continued, “his personal life’s a dumpster fire. He’s got three active paternity suits pending, women from different states, all overlapping timelines. The woman he married after divorcing your mother? She’s been bleeding him dry. Shopping sprees, cosmetic procedures, luxury cars, she’s spending it faster than he can steal it.”

A bitter laugh escaped me before I could stop it. “Poetic justice.”

“Exactly, but he’s also cheating on her left and right, so her blowing through his money fast is karma. ” Lennox said. “She’s also talking to one of the tabloids. There’s a younger woman who confronted her, and she’s fed up and ready to ruin what’s left of him, so he’s not far from public humiliation.”

I leaned back, absorbing the weight of it. “So that’s why he’s circling. He’s broke and feeling cornered.”

“Exactly,” Lennox said. “You’re the last clean source of credibility he can leech from. He’s hoping to get reinstated at BlackSphere or force your brother into a payout under threat of scandal related to its newest CEO.”

My voice sharpened. “He has no real evidence, does he?”

“None that would hold up. As he told you, he’s been having you followed.” Lennox’s tone softened, but his eyes didn’t. “He’s got photos, nothing explicit, just you entering and leaving Provocateur, and the P.I and I use that term loosely is as novice as they came because he emailed the photos unencrypted and I grabbed them right from the cloud and then wiped every device he owns clean.”

My pulse thudded in my ears. “So he’s fishing.”

“He’s framing,” Lennox corrected. “He doesn’t need proof to poison perception. All it takes is a whisper that the CEO of BlackSphere spends her weekends at a sex club, and he’ll have investors trembling.”

I swallowed hard. “He’s weaponizing my autonomy, again.”

“Because he knows it’s the only place society continues to falter,” Lennox said, observing me. “Men like him can’t handle women who own their power.”

I looked up, meeting his gaze. “You sound like you’ve done this before.”

He smirked, slow and deliberate. “I’ve seen it, not to mention I’ve buried a few like him in the process.”

That last part wasn’t a threat; it was a confession.

Silence settled between us, thick and humming with something unspoken.

Finally, Iasked, “What would it take to end this cleanly?”

He cocked his head. “You mean legally?”

“No,” I said, standing. “Effectively.”

He smiled, a dangerous, knowing curve of his mouth. “You’re asking me to make him disappear?”