Chapter 3 - Public ExecutionTwo of Leo’s security guards—men built like brick walls in identical black tuxedos—materialized out of nowhere, blocking Bradley’s exit. They didn't touch him, but the sheer, menacing weight of their presence forced Bradley to halt, his breath coming in shallow, panicked gasps.
Arthur Sterling turned, his face flushed with sudden humiliation and corporate terror. “Hayes! Get over here right now!”
Bradley swallowed hard, adjusting his tie with trembling fingers as he forced himself back into the open, walking toward the center of the ballroom under the merciless gaze of five hundred New York elites.
“Mr... Mr. Moretti,” Bradley stammered, offering a weak, trembling smile that didn't reach his terrified eyes. “I didn’t realize... I mean, congratulations on the... family news.”
Leo didn't smile. He didn't even look angry. He looked at Bradley the way a scientist looks at a particularly uninteresting specimen under a microscope.
“Bradley Hayes,” Leo said, his voice carrying a quiet, lethal resonance. “You told Miss Bennett yesterday that she had let herself go.”
The silence in the ballroom became absolute. You could hear the ice melting in the crystal glasses across the room.
Bradley’s eyes darted wildly toward Chloe, sheer panic written all over his sculpted features. “I... I was joking. It was just a misunderstanding, Chloe, you know how we used to—we were just bantering—format—joke—”
“You called her fat,” Leo interrupted softly.
“Sir, please—it was a private conversation—”
“Nothing concerning Miss Bennett is private anymore,” Leo stated. He turned his head slightly to look at Arthur Sterling. “Arthur, your firm handles the pension funds for the municipal dockworkers union, correct?”
Arthur nodded rapidly, sweating through his silk shirt. “Yes! Yes, we do, Moretti—!”
“Take them elsewhere tomorrow morning,” Leo said evenly. “In fact, pull every single account associated with Sterling & Vance. Liquidate our holdings in their commercial real estate portfolio by noon. And ensure that no bank in New York, London, or Zurich extends a line of credit to any partner at that firm whose last name happens to rhyme with ‘base’.”
Bradley let out a choking sound, his knees visibly buckling. “Mr. Moretti—no! You can’t do that! That will bankrupt us! That will ruin my career! I’ve worked ten years to make partner—!”
“Your career was finished the moment you opened your mouth to the wrong woman,” Leo replied coldly. He turned his gaze back to Bradley, his eyes narrowing into slits of pure ice. “And if I ever see you within a mile of Miss Bennett again, you won't have to worry about your partnership. You’ll be worrying about whether you can chew your food through a straw.”
Arthur Sterling grabbed Bradley by the expensive lapel of his navy suit. “You incompetent idiot! Get out of my sight! You’re fired! Get out of this building before I have security throw you through the plate-glass window!”
Sobbing softly under his breath, utterly shattered, Bradley turned and fled, tripping over his own patent-leather shoes as the entire room watched him crash into a pillar of tropical flowers.
Chloe stood frozen, her hand resting against her stomach. Her heart was racing a mile a minute. It was terrifying, brutal, and utterly intoxicating.
Leo looked down at her, the lethal mask instantly dissolving into something devastatingly soft. He reached up, gently tucking a stray lock of hair behind her ear.
“Did that satisfy you?” Leo asked quietly.
Chloe looked up into his dark, fathomless eyes, feeling the fierce, unbreakable anchor of his protection wrapping around her.
May you like
“It was a bit dramatic,” she whispered.
“I’m a dramatic man,” Leo replied, offering a rare, genuine smile. “Come. Let’s get you some food. Dr. Ellis said you need protein.”
