Page 149 of My Big, Fat, Hot Billionaire Enemy

He’s not angry.

He’s not punishing me with silence.

He’s… waiting. And still helping, offering his formidable resources without strings, without demanding access or control, respecting the boundary I drew.

Gratitude washes over me, so intense it makes my eyes sting again.

He’s animpossibleman.

Controlling and dominant one minute, unexpectedly understanding and supportive the next.

He’s backing my play as CEO, even though it means keeping him at arm’s length.

But his understanding, his quiet support… it makes the doubt creep back in, insidious and persistent.

Did I make the right call?

Is this professional separation truly necessary?

Or am I just hiding behind the CEO title, using it as an excuse because I’m terrified of letting him fully in, terrified of failing not just the company, buthim?

Am I sacrificing something real, something vital, on the altar of provingmyself?

I look at the comprehensive defense plan he sent, a powerful weapon freely given.

Then I look at the empty chair opposite my desk.

The wall I built feels suddenly, suffocatingly high.

And I’m not sure anymore if it’s keeping the dangers out, or just locking me in.

43

Christopher

The silence from Lucy’s side is a fucking roar in the back of my mind.

Days have bled together since she stood in that chaotic Hammond boardroom, drew her line in the sand, and became CEO Hammond, separate and distinct from the woman who cried in my arms at the hospital hours earlier.

I haven’t called.

She hasn’t called.

Stalemate.

A professional courtesy that feels like scraping sandpaper over raw nerves.

Doesn’t mean I’m sitting on my hands.

My team is working around the clock, dissecting my father’s hostile takeover bid for Hammond & Co. like vultures picking clean a carcass. Only this time, we’re identifying the weaknesses todefendthe prey, not deliver the killing blow.

Every resource Blackwell Innovations has is quietly focused on shoring up Hammond’s defenses, anticipating Mark’s next move, feeding anonymizedintel to Lucy’s legal team through the comprehensive defense plan I already sent over.

My demeanor in the office? Glacial. My instructions to everyone else? Clipped, bordering on brutal.

Patience is nonexistent. Weakness is not tolerated.

Anyone not directly involved in countering Mark Blackwell’s attack on Hammond or advancing Project Nightingale gets the bare minimum of my attention.