“Why would the little whore want our products now?” Bryant swore. “Her family has consistently slandered our company.”

“She’s doing it for the money.” Peter Hannigan was the least likely of the board members to be an accessory to murder. He shrugged. “She has her investments in the Bennett Corporation, and she’ll do whatever she can to maximize profits.”

“That’s not it,” Bryant said. “The Atwoods valued their feud over money. Mark Atwood spent millions to sabotage us.”

“Mark Atwood is dead.” Jacob Fisher heaved his bulk into his seat as he poured another cup of coffee. He added too many sugars for a man already diabetic. “And his troublemaking sons are also dead. This girl has their spirit, but she’s foolish and impulsive. A liability to the Bennett Corporation and Atwood Industries.”

“Screw her farm.” Bryant slammed a hand against the table. “Nick, what the hell is your whore doing? Why does she want our products?”

My father waited in silence. I offered him nothing. “It’s a sound business decision.”

“Bullshit,” Bryant scoffed.

“And it’s a great deal for us.”

I measured my voice with talk of profits and fortunes. My father passed a proposal to me, dragging his fingers across the table as though he’d claw through the wood like her flesh.

“Atwood Industries owns hundreds of thousands of acres,” I said. “Her proposal names us sole agrochemical supplier for the entirety of her farms—corn, alfalfa, almonds, plus the rest of their cash crops.” I paused, waiting for their full attention. “Tens of millions of dollars every harvest, and an end to the slander. It’d be an entirely new facet to the Bennett/Atwood relationship. We’ll earn more customers and money than if we had simply taken over Atwood Industries.”

“You’re not seriously considering this proposal, Nick,” Bryant said.

“Atwood Industries has always been the dream customer. We built this company to capitalize on the mega-conglomerate farms, and now we might take on the biggest in the country.” Christ, I hoped Sarah understood how much she risked making this offer. “If you want her to give the accounts to Montgomery Petrochemicals again…”

The board grumbled. Now they understood.

I continued. “If you want to secure our stocks, forge a profit, and open the company to more customers by virtue of the Atwood name, then you see the opportunity we have here.”

Bryant practically snarled. “What’s her real plan?”

Jacob chuckled. “She thinks she can buy us off.”

“That time is passed.”

Stanley coughed, his frail form wavering under the weight of his amusement. “The girl is bargaining her farm for her life. She won’t give up the land or her body, but she’ll insult the memory of her family to save her own hide.”

Peter took the proposal from my hand and whistled. “This is…substantial. We can’t afford not to bid on this project.”

“No,” Bryant said. “Absolutely not. The little whore is wasting our time. We should have found her the day after she skipped town and ended this. I don’t want her as a customer, I want her dead.”

“Easy.” Stanley tisked his tongue and looked to me. “There are those among us who would disagree.”

I said nothing. Bryant didn’t meet my gaze.

“Now,” Stanley said. “Let’s consider our options. The girl is frightened. She’s ensuring she’s visible within her company to discourage anyone from taking her life while she is so public. So let’s be reasonable for a moment. Nicholas, does she intend to sell her stock?”

No. The lie came easily, for both our sakes. “She’s waiting on the right price and terms.”

“There now. She’s negotiating for a better deal. She’s offered us the contract for her farm which will generate millions in new revenue for us, and she wishes to secure her future.” Stanley nodded. “I am willing to look beyond the events of the past. Mistakes were made, and our plans were executed without the…attention to detail they required. We hadn’t planned for certain contingencies.”

Contingencies being my love for the woman they intended to exploit, harm, and rape. I stayed silent. His words attempted to cleanse the sin of their planned murder as though they could simply wash their hands of whatever evils they committed.

“The only way we protect the Bennett Corporation is if we kill the girl and take the stock,” Bryant said. “We don’t need another customer. We need our liabilities secured. If she dies, the problem resolves itself, right, Darius?”

My father said nothing, watching over the table with mild amusement. He stared hard at the image of Sarah paused over the screen. I hated his expression.

Lust.

Sadism.

Cruelty.

He hadn’t his chance to attack Sarah, despite his promises of horror and pain and suffering. He’d never have the opportunity. His end was near, and then Sarah would be free of him. Forever.

“I’ve spoken my piece before,” my father said. “Sarah Atwood is not to be killed. I’ve grown fond of my daughter, even if she is difficult to break. She lives, and we accept her offer.”

“Darius, she owns a significant portion of this company,” Bryant said.

“And I wish to see what she would do with it.” He leered at the screen once more. “She’s been missing for two months. That is a long time for a young girl to be alone with her nightmares. Perhaps she’s had a change of heart.”

Despite my revulsion, I seldom had cause to vote against my father. In this case, I eagerly sided with him, sparing Sarah’s life yet again.

“You’re making a mistake.” Bryant kicked his chair as he stood. “Your bitch will destroy us.”

He merely smiled. “Not if I destroy her first. It’s a family matter, Bryant. I’ll handle my little girl the best way a father can.”

The rest of the board seized the opportunity to escape from the talk of murder and money. They planned to reconvene for their weekly golf game that afternoon.

I stood once we were alone, save for my father’s bodyguards looming between us.

“Where is she, Nicholas?” he asked. “Our little Sarah wouldn’t do this without your help.”

He had learned nothing about Sarah Atwood during her captivity beyond what color panties she wore and when her cycle was due. Had he paid the least bit of attention, had he respected the Atwood instead of obsessing over the crest between her legs, he’d know.

Sarah was exactly the type to seize her revenge without help.

“She’s come back to you then?” he chuckled. “Right when she presents the Bennett Board of Directors with a proposal to make herself richer from the investments she stole. What did she tell you? That she loved you? That she needed you?”

I wished she had.

“What will you do for her?” he said.

“Anything she asks.”

“I taught you better than that, son.”

“And it’s taken months to unlearn it.”

He folded his palms. I recognized his intimidating stillness. I wish I hadn’t inherited it. “I respect you, Nicholas. I always have. You are the best of both me and your mother. I never doubted the man you’d become.”

“You gave me no choice. You molded me after yourself.”

“No. Not quite. You never accepted everything I taught. Max…” He nodded. “Max might have been worth my time, if he hadn’t ruined that leg.”

As if the injury from the crash was his fault. “Max would never have done your bidding. Not like me. I tried for years to impress you.”

“Max lived to impress me. Every minute of every day, but I had no use for a crippled son, just as I had no need for an emotionally weak child like Reed. Your mother babied him. I should have put a stop to it, but Helena always insisted Reed was special.”

“Why?”

“Because he was the least like me.” My father paused. “Did you know your mother feared you?”

He said it to force a reaction from me. He’d get none. “Is that so?”