Page 20 of Between Passion and Revenge: Part Two

Axel grumbles but does as directed.

A headache manifests itself behind my temple, and I pinch the bridge of my nose before giving them my attention again.

“We’ve got too much shit to handle, and we’re too close to the finish line to have you two after each other like a bunch of toddlers. So, we’re gonna air this shit out.”

I look between the two of them.

“Right now,” I add. Riale’s jaw tightens, and Axel reclines on the couch, spreading his arms along the back of it.

“Well,” Axel drawls. “Go on, Riale. Tell Storm what’s happening.” The words are meant to be antagonistic, and I draw in a breath to try to calm my nerves.

Riale still doesn’t look at Axel, but after a heartbeat, he says, “Shae’s tied up in the Keystone Financial sale.”

The news lands like an anvil in one of those old-timey cartoons.

“Run that past me again? Shae…Shae Rivers?” As in my ex, Shae? As in the object of my obsession and love and fuckingexistencesince the moment I met her on the Asheford campus?

It all clicks together: Lakeland’s reaction to his ordering me to Chicago, the way he egged me on about her during our last conversation.

I should have known.

Maybe some part of me already did—maybe part of me felt her presence humming just beneath the surface of this bullshit, like electricity in the walls.

Like fate laughing in my face.

I lower myself into the chair across from them, my pulse pounding behind my eyes.

“Explain this to me,” I mutter.

Axel and Riale share a look.

“She and her business partner own a FinTech VC firm called Orisun. Their valuation is through the roof, and they’ve been courting a few acquisition opportunities before landing on this one with Keystone.”

“Who’s her business partner? Do we know them?” I ask.

“Nah, I don’t think so. His name is Zane Gibson. Rich, all-American boy from Connecticut. You know the type,” Axel says, rolling his eyes.

I frown.

“How’d Shae get tied up to someone like that?” I ask, frowning even more deeply. Shaehatespretentious assholes—hell, it took her forever to even see me as an option.

And look where that got you both.

“They were Harvard classmates,” Riale grinds out with a rough, irritated tone. “He’s one of those tech guys. He’s the technical founder for Orisun, while she’s the business head.”

I hum.

“Lakeland knows Shae’s connected,” I say. Hell, I wouldn’t put it past him to have coordinated her meeting this Zane motherfucker all those years ago.

Did I really expect a nigga like Lakeland to stick to his word?

Our deal was simple: I do what he asks, and he’d leave Shae alone. Forever.

It was only a matter of time before he decided to break his vow and go after Shae. Now the question is why.

“I get it,” Axel says, and I realize I said the last part out loud. “We didn’t want to jump to conclusions until we were sure.”

“And now?” I ask.