Page 174 of Between Passion and Revenge: Part Two

Zane stammers.

“I don’t know where you got this information, but you need to check your sources. All of this is false,” he says, and I remain still, staring at him.

“This is a smear campaign. You’re letting your personal issues cloud your judgment, Liv,” he hisses, but I continue to stare.

“C’mon! Ralph, Jaime, youknow me,” he shouts.

Ralph mutters, “Jesus, Zane,” so low it’s easy to miss, and Jaime cracks his neck from side to side. By the way his body sways, I know he’s bobbing his leg up and down beneath the table.

After a long, awkward moment, I tilt my head and say, “That’s the angle you’re going to work, Zane?” I shake my head. “I don’t know why, but I expected better of you.”

“Listen, Liv?—”

“No,youlisten!” I hiss, straightening to my full height, and with my heels and my rage, I feel about six feet tall.

Zane stands, vibrating.

“I built Orisun to serve the people we were once told had no place in this economy. I will not let it become a front for greed, white-collar theft, or backroom deals. So let me make myself clear: If this board proceeds with the Keystone acquisition, and Zane’s name remains attached to this company, I will be legally obligated to report it to the SEC and DOJ.”

Zane places his palms flat on the table, giving me a menacing look. Right now, he glares at me as if he wants to kill me where I stand.

Thing is, he never should have fucked with me.

“Furthermore, I have a packet ready to go toProPublicaandBloomberg.If you don’t do what’s right, I will. And I don’t care if I have to burn my brainchild to the ground to do so.”

Trance nods and releases a quiet sigh.

“Zane, theproofyou gave the board regarding Liv was tenuous at best. But this?” He lifts all the papers as if weighing them, then drops them to the table where they flutter like leaves.

“I propose a vote to suspend Zane Gibson from all organizational activities pending a third-party investigation,” Trance says.

“Seconded,” I add smoothly. “What will your vote be, gentlemen?” I pin an icy glare on Jaime and Ralph.

“I vote to suspend,” Jaime murmurs, avoiding Zane’s gaze. Ralph pins my business partner—ex-business partner—with a hard glare.

“I’m disappointed in you, Zane,” he says.

Zane gets even more pale and looks like he might throw up.

Turning to me, Ralph says, “I vote to suspend as well.”

“Well, that’s settled. Melissa, do you have this down in the board notes?” I ask. Melissa taps on her iPad.

“All recorded,” she says.

Zane doesn’t blow up, nor does he deliver any scathing words. With quiet, resigned fury, he straightens his suit jacket and leaves the conference room.

THIRTY-NINE

STORM

Mutinous.

That’s the only way to describe the girl sitting in front of me. Shae’s been gone all day and should be home soon, and I’d hoped she’d be here with me when meeting my cousin for the first time in forever.

Unfortunately, she’s tied up at work, but at least she put that Zane motherfucker in his place. Pride wells in my chest, thinking how powerful my Sweetness is.

“You have no idea who you’re fucking with, asshole,” my cousin hisses, and with her slight UK accent, something from her mother’s side, I’m sure, the words come out like “focking” and “arsehole.”