Chapter 4

"It was completely premeditated," Dad’s voice was as cold as marble. "When you picked up that bag, she was watching from around the corner. She left it there on purpose. She stood in the hallway for three minutes waiting for you to go in before she walked away."

Outside, the traffic was heavy. I stared at the red brake lights of the car ahead of us.

"How far are they planning to take this?"

"Apex promised Brooke half a million dollars, split into four payments. She got the first hundred grand. The rest is contingent on her completely ruining your reputation. Ideally, she wants to force you to quit after making a massive scene, and then take the whole thing viral online."

"Viral?"

"Yes. They want to paint a story about the 'spoiled Miller heiress abusing common workers' to get it trending.

They’ve already lined up several trashy gossip accounts, just waiting for you to snap. The moment you argue back or hit her, they will edit the video to make you look like the villain.

I bet they already have the headline written: "Billionaire Heiress Crushes Working-Class Employee Because of Her Family's Wealth"."

I closed my eyes.

What a brilliant plan.

If I didn't fight back, Brooke would brand me a thief. If I did fight back, Apex would drag my family's name through the mud online.

They thought they had me in a corner.

"Half a million dollars," I repeated. "Just to ruin me?"

"Just to ruin you," Dad said. "Because you are my daughter."

I rolled the window down an inch. The cool autumn wind rushed in, blowing my hair across my face.

"Dad, why is Apex trying so hard to destroy us?"

"They want to force us to sell."

My dad's voice was flat, as if he were reading a financial report. "Miller Enterprises owns three prime development projects right in the heart of downtown.

Apex wanted to build a luxury complex there, but they couldn't get the land. They tried to buy us out, and I rejected them. Then they sent brokers to negotiate a hostile takeover, and I laughed them out of my office."

"So they want to tank our stock price by ruining our family reputation, forcing us to sell cheap?"

"Smart girl." Dad sounded proud. "The business world is much dirtier than you think, Chloe. They don't actually need to hurt you physically.

They just need to make the public hate us. If our reputation goes down, banks will tighten our credit, partners will back out, and our stock will plunge. That’s when they’ll swoop in and buy us out for pennies."

I rolled the window back up, shutting out the city noise.

"So, tomorrow..."

"We go ahead as planned," Dad said, a smirk in his voice. "If Apex wants to play dirty, we'll show them how it's done. Our family has plenty of money and time. They can't afford a war of attrition. We can."

"And Chloe," Dad added, "when you get to the office tomorrow, don't explain anything. Let them scream. Let them make the biggest scene possible."

I smiled. "I get it, Dad. Get some rest."

"You too. Lily missed you today. She said her mommy hasn't colored with her in days."

My chest tightened.