Chapter 5 - Unraveling the PastThe transition of power at Dubois & Laurent was swift, brutal, and entirely legal. By noon, the company had been rebranded as Bennett & Cipriani Holdings, and my name was etched in gold lettering across the primary executive suite.
Yet, beneath the whirlwind of corporate restructuring and media frenzy, one burning question kept eating away at me.
That evening, after the office had cleared out and the city lights began to twinkle against the glass windows of my new corner office, Matteo walked in carrying two takeout coffees. He set one on my desk and leaned against the edge, watching me with a quiet, knowing expression.
"You're still thinking about it," Matteo said softly.
I looked up from a stack of financial portfolios. "Six weeks ago, you said you watched me stay late on West 34th Street. But I’ve checked our company archives, Matteo. My name was never on the Kensington brief. Jean made sure my name was stripped from every document before it ever crossed your desk."
A slow, knowing smile curved Matteo's lips. He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a worn, slightly crumpled yellow sticky note.
I gasped.
It was a note I had left attached to the back of the Kensington presentation—a hand-drawn diagram detailing a critical flaw in the shipping route that Jean had tried to cover up. I had written: If we don't fix this line item, the entire distribution network collapses in November. - A.
"Jean threw it in the recycling bin on his way out of the meeting," Matteo said quietly, tracing his thumb over the edge of the yellow paper. "My secretary found it. She brought it to me because she said whoever wrote it understood my logistics network better than my own vice presidents."
He looked up, his gaze locking onto mine with an intensity that made my chest tighten.
"I asked around the building for three days trying to find the ghost who signed her name with a simple A. When I found out Jean Dubois was paying you sixty thousand a year to run his entire operation while he took the credit... let's just say I decided your boss was drastically underpaying you."
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"So you bought the company?" I asked, my voice barely a whisper.
"I bought the company," Matteo repeated, stepping closer until the distance between us vanished entirely. "And then I saw you standing under that chandelier looking like you were ready to wage war against the entire world in a ninety-dollar dress. I realized then that a lie at a high-society gala was the only way to get you to look at me."
