Mia returned the next afternoon with a laptop and a folder.

Her expression told me everything before she spoke.

—Olivia, Vanessa didn’t just put roses in your backpack.

I stared at her.

—What did you find?

She opened the security footage from the equipment room.

Vanessa appeared on screen twenty-seven minutes before our jump.

She looked around, removed my parachute pack from the rack and carried it outside the camera’s view.

Six minutes later, she returned with it.

Then Ethan entered.

He spoke to her.

There was no audio, but Vanessa pointed at my parachute and laughed.

Ethan looked directly at it.

Then kissed her forehead.

My hands went cold.

He knew she had touched my equipment.

Maybe he hadn’t expected me to be seriously hurt.

But he had known enough to keep silent.

Mia placed another document beside me.

—There’s more.

The skydiving club had recorded the equipment serial numbers.

The reserve parachute in my pack wasn’t the reserve originally assigned to me.

Someone had switched it.

—Can they prove who?

—Not yet.

I closed my eyes.

—Send everything to my lawyer. Keep copies somewhere safe.

Mia nodded.

Then I asked:

—What about Stone Group?

Her expression changed.

—Ethan has been busy.

During the three years I’d stayed away from management, Ethan had gradually replaced several executives with people loyal to him.

He acted like Stone Group belonged to him.

But there was one problem.

It didn’t.

My father had founded the company.

The controlling shares remained in the Stone family trust.

And the trust named only one controlling beneficiary.

Me.

I called our chief legal officer.

—Mr. Harris.

His voice became alert immediately.

—Ms. Stone?

He hadn’t called me that in years.

—Convene an emergency board meeting for Monday.

Silence.

—Does Mr. Rivers know?

—No.

—Should I inform him?

—Not yet.

I looked at my injured leg beneath the hospital blanket.

—And freeze his authority over transactions above fifty thousand dollars.

This time the silence lasted longer.

—Understood.

Three days later, Ethan finally came to the hospital.

Not because he was worried.

Because his corporate card had stopped working.

He entered my room furious.

Vanessa followed him.

—Olivia, what did you do?

I looked up from my tablet.

—Good morning.

He threw his card onto the table.

—My accounts are frozen.

—The company’s accounts aren’t yours.

Vanessa immediately softened her voice.

—Olivia, Ethan has important clients. Whatever argument you two have shouldn’t affect the company.

I looked at her.

—Why are you speaking?

Her face stiffened.

Ethan stepped between us.

—Don’t take your anger out on Vanessa.

Even now.

I almost admired the consistency.

I picked up an envelope from beside me.

—Since you’re here, take this.

He opened it.

Divorce papers.

His face changed.

—You’re serious?

—Very.

—Because of an accident?

I stared at him.

—You abandoned me in the air, blocked me while I was injured, ignored the hospital, and told me to apologize to the woman who tampered with my parachute.

—Vanessa didn’t mean—

I interrupted him.

—Be careful what you say next.

For the first time, Vanessa looked nervous.

Ethan frowned.

—Are you threatening us?

—No.

I smiled.

—I’m advising you not to make statements your lawyers will regret.

Vanessa grabbed his sleeve.

—Ethan, let’s go.

He didn’t move.

—I’m not signing.

—That’s your choice.

I returned to my tablet.

—My attorney will handle it.

He stared at me.

—And Stone Group?

—The board will handle that.

His expression changed.

—What board?

I looked at the clock.

—The one meeting in forty minutes.

Ethan left so quickly Vanessa almost had to run after him.

He arrived at Stone Group headquarters believing he could stop me.

Unfortunately for him, the board meeting had already started.

I attended remotely from my hospital room.

Twelve faces appeared on the screen.

Then Ethan burst into the conference room.

—What is this?

Mr. Harris calmly answered:

—An emergency governance meeting.

Ethan laughed.

—Without the CEO?

I finally spoke.

—You’re not the CEO, Ethan.

He turned toward the screen.

His face froze when he saw me.

—You’ve been acting chief executive under authority delegated by the controlling shareholder.

I paused.

—Me.

He stared at the directors.

Nobody contradicted me.

I continued.

—Effective immediately, that delegation is revoked.

Vanessa, standing behind him, went pale.

Ethan slammed both hands on the table.

—You haven’t worked here for three years!

—Correct.

—You gave me the company!

—No.

I almost smiled.

—I gave you a job.

The vote took seven minutes.

Ethan was removed from executive management pending an audit.

Vanessa’s company access was suspended.

Corporate cards canceled.

Vehicles returned.

Executive apartment surrendered.

Everything Ethan had mistaken for personal wealth disappeared before lunch.

But the audit revealed something I hadn’t expected.

Mia came to my hospital room that evening.

—We found payments to Vanessa.

—How much?

—Almost six million dollars over two years.

I frowned.

—Salary?

She shook her head.

—Consulting fees. Housing. Travel. Jewelry. But that’s not the strange part.

She turned the laptop toward me.

One payment had been made to the skydiving company.

Two hundred thousand dollars.

Authorized by Ethan.

Three weeks before our anniversary.

I stared at it.

—Why?

—The invoice says “exclusive event preparation.”

My pulse slowed.

The jump hadn’t been a spontaneous anniversary gift.

Ethan had planned it weeks earlier.

I called Mr. Harris.

—Trace everything related to that payment.

The answer came the following morning.

The two hundred thousand dollars hadn’t gone directly to the club.

It had passed through an event company registered six months earlier.

The owner?

Vanessa Shaw.

I immediately sent the records to my attorney.

Then I waited.

Ethan called seventeen times that day.

I answered the eighteenth.

—What?

His voice was different now.

No arrogance.

—Olivia, we need to talk.

—Talk.

—Not on the phone.

—Then we have nothing to discuss.

—Vanessa lied to me.

I almost laughed.

—That’s your problem.

—She told me the roses were just a prank. She said the original parachute would still function.

I became completely still.

—So you knew.

Silence.

That silence was enough.

—You knew she altered my equipment.

—Olivia—

I ended the call.

Two weeks later, I left the hospital in a wheelchair.

My recovery would take months.

But I went directly from the hospital to Stone Group headquarters.

Employees filled the lobby.

Some looked shocked.

Some applauded.

I didn’t give a speech.

I simply entered the elevator and returned to the office I’d left three years earlier.

My nameplate was already waiting.

OLIVIA STONE
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

But before I could sit down, Mia entered.

—We found something else.

She closed the door.

—The event company wasn’t Vanessa’s idea.

She placed incorporation documents on my desk.

The company had been created using Vanessa’s name.

But the original funding came from another account.

I recognized it immediately.

A private Stone Group investment vehicle.

Only two people had authority to use it.

Me.

And Ethan.

My chest tightened.

Mia placed one final document beside it.

A message recovered from Ethan’s corporate backup.

Sent to Vanessa one month before the jump.

“On the anniversary, take care of the parachute arrangement. After that, Olivia won’t be able to interfere with us anymore.”

I read it twice.

Then a third time.

Mia whispered:

—Olivia, I don’t think he was talking about divorce.

Before I could answer, my office phone rang.

Security.

—Ms. Stone, Mr. Rivers is downstairs.

—Don’t let him up.

The guard hesitated.

—He’s not alone.

I looked at Mia.

—Who is with him?

The answer made both of us silent.

—Federal investigators.