Page 10

SAVANNAH

I t had been a few days since I officially stepped into the strategist role at Raven it was a setup.

A narrative I never agreed to. This wasn’t about a press feature highlighting my role.

This was something I’d never be able to walk back once it was out there. My personal life on display.

By the time the heat crawled up the back of my neck, I was already halfway down the hall. My pulse buzzed in my ears as I crossed the floor, fury rising with every step.

I didn’t knock—I pushed the door open and stepped inside, doing my best to look composed even though my chest was tight and my hands weren’t entirely steady. Vanessa glanced up from her keyboard, unfazed as always, and I squared my shoulders to meet her stare head-on.

She didn’t even flinch. Her perfectly manicured nails tapped across her keyboard as she stared at me. “Savannah. To what do I owe the?—”

“You pushed this through without asking me. I told you I needed time to think about it, and instead, I found out from an email that you went live with it. I never signed off. What were you thinking?” My chest heaved with adrenaline and beneath that, anger.

Vanessa sat back, folding her hands in front of her with an air of calm that only made me angrier.

“Because Raven & Rhodes’ board wanted it.

And the media team ran the metrics. You and Dominic?

You’re a wildfire. The merger announcement barely moved the needle.

But your name on the strategist line? Click-throughs doubled.

Public interest in Dominic spiked 60 percent the moment people realized he had a human counterpart. ”

My pulse thudded, but I didn’t back down.

The numbers didn’t justify making decisions behind my back.

“That doesn’t mean I gave permission.” I was livid.

Even if they gave me a bonus and a pay raise, an extra week of vacation and my own department, I still wouldn’t be okay with them moving forward without my yes .

“You didn’t say no.” One plucked-thin eyebrow rose as her lips pursed into a perfect pout while I felt my fingers curling into fists. She was manipulative, and from what I could tell, it was all to make Dominic look good. It was her job, after all.

“I said I needed to think about it,” I said through gritted teeth. I knew this look of anger wasn’t exactly the image they wanted me to portray, but I knew if they were to set up a photo op right now, I’d never be able to maintain a fake smile.

She smiled—tight, PR friendly. “And you took too long.” Her head tipped to one side while her brows peaked in the center.

I stared at her. Vanessa had never pretended to be anything other than efficient, ruthless, and excellent at her job. But this—this cavalier disregard for my input—was more than strategic maneuvering. It was rude.

“This is going to backfire,” I snipped. I started to turn, but she was quick on her heels with a reply.

“No. This is going to build trust. And your name is already trending. Play it right and you come out of this with serious credibility—not just inside Raven & Rhodes, but across the boardroom scene. You wanted to be taken seriously again? This is how it happens.”

I left before I said something I’d regret. I hated that her words held an ounce of truth at all. I was disgusted—furious—and there was nothing I could do about it.

Back at my desk, I skipped lunch without even noticing.

The half-eaten granola bar in my drawer from breakfast stayed wrapped, the lukewarm coffee untouched.

I opened my tablet, pulled up the rebranding briefs, and tried to work through the talking points for the next rollout campaign, but my brain refused to cooperate.

Every word I read blurred into the next.

Every headline I skimmed brought me back to the one I couldn’t unsee.

They weren’t just planning to use me—they were scripting me. And now I was expected to sell that script to the public. All for him.

By two o’clock, I was still at my desk, reviewing rollout language and making precision edits to campaign copy.

I refused to give Vanessa—or anyone else—the satisfaction of seeing me flustered.

I was still angry, but I channeled it the only way I knew how: through focus, structure, and control.

The file was spotless by the time I moved to the next, but I kept going anyway, determined to keep working until the anger dulled into something manageable.

I rubbed the back of my neck, willing the heat there to cool. No matter how hard I worked or how carefully I built this second chance, it could all be undone with a storyline I never agreed to—and a secret I wasn’t ready to reveal.

It was after three when I finally walked into Dominic’s office, which had been vacant all day so far.

He looked up from his tablet and set it aside.

His posture was relaxed, and there was no flicker of surprise, no visible tension in his shoulders, which made me wonder if he had expected me.

He wore a crisp slate-gray suit today that made him look powerful.

As he rose from his chair, his gaze locked on mine, entirely too calm for the storm still crackling under my skin.

“You saw the press piece,” he said, and it wasn’t a question.

I closed the door behind me and stood with my back against it, forcing my shoulders to square, even though I wanted to slam that email down in front of him and demand answers. “Vanessa gave you a heads-up?” Of course she did. She worked for him, not Raven & Rhodes, not me, not my team.

He nodded. “Yesterday.”

I scoffed and narrowed my eyes. “And you let it happen anyway?” This was unbelievable.

He had at least twelve hours, maybe as much as twenty-four to put a stop to this nonsense or at least call me and tell me what was going out to every employee and more than a dozen news outlets.

My voice was raised with very good reason.

He didn’t flinch. “It was already signed off by the board.” His fingers tented in front of him, but as much as I wanted to see the malice behind his words, there was none. He was as docile as a puppy.

I stepped farther into the sleek, minimalist space he set up in our building, all clean lines and controlled symmetry.

But I was anything but controlled. The heat that had simmered all day surged again.

“But you could’ve stopped it. You could’ve said something.

” Gesturing with my hands, I stepped closer to his modern desk.

His eyes met mine without flinching, calm on the surface but harder to read than usual. “I could have. But I didn’t.” Dominic straightened and smoothed his tie on his chest.

“Why not?” I asked as he walked around his desk and perched on the front edge. My body calmed significantly the closer I got to him but took on a different type of heightened state.

Resting one hand on the edge of his desk like he owned the place—and maybe he did—he said, “Because it’s not a bad move, Van…” I winced and clenched my jaw. Only one person in the world ever called me that, and I told him that in confidence.

“How dare you,” I said, more about using my nickname than the publicity stunt. I folded my arms. “It’s manipulative.”

“It’s strategic.”

“It’s a stunt,” I snapped, stepping closer. “Using my name, my image, dragging me into something I didn’t agree to?—”

“Our history,” he said evenly. “Which you refuse to acknowledge.” His eyes bored through me like he was seeing my soul come unraveled. How dare he use our past against me now.

My jaw clenched, but I found myself still moving closer. “Because it doesn’t belong in the boardroom.” I flailed my arm outward. “Because it doesn’t belong in the press. It’s irrelevant.”

“Doesn’t it? Because when I close my eyes, I can still taste you, Savannah.

That doesn’t feel irrelevant.” Dominic narrowed his eyes at me in a much more seductive expression than I was prepared to handle.

It made my heart flutter. He was so much better at this than Vanessa.

She was all claws and fangs. Dominic was smolder and seduction, and I was weak in the knees.

The breath left my lungs too fast. His voice wasn’t raised, but it landed hard, with the precision of someone who knew exactly how to strike. “This isn’t about us,” I fumbled and he grinned, head tilted.