Chapter 3

Rachel got the check and came straight to the spa with two of my bodyguards.

I'd lost track of time by the time someone forced the storage-room door open.

Rachel rushed in, flanked by the two guards.

The moment she saw the blood smeared on my face and my crumpled, broken body on the floor, the color drained completely from her face.

She hurried over to lift me up. "Ms. Vance, should we—"

I shook my head. Rachel handed me the bank envelope, and I slid the cashier's check across the floor to Chloe.

Chloe picked up the check and checked the name and amount. Then she waved her guards aside. "All right. Get out of here."

"And if you tell anyone about this, I'll beat you to death next time."

I let out a faint, cold sneer and didn't bother replying.

There wasn't going to be a next time. The good life was officially over for her—and for my dear older brother.

Enduring the agonizing, bone-deep throbbing throughout my body, I leaned heavily on Rachel, limping out of that sickening hellhole.

Rachel took me straight to the emergency room for a full medical evaluation, documenting every single injury for a forensic report.

Reviewing the medical file, Rachel's face looked murderous. "Ms. Vance, what on earth happened back there?"

"That's my brother's precious girlfriend," I said with a raspy laugh. "She wanted to put me in my place."

"Now, it's my turn to settle the score."

I unlocked my phone and dialed the Director of Operations for the med spa.

He was the actual executive running the day-to-day business, someone I had personally headhunted and who was fiercely loyal to me.

The call connected. I skipped the pleasantries, my voice devoid of warmth. "You have ten minutes to fire a salon manager named Chloe Miller. If she isn't gone, the Vance family pulls every single dime of investment from that facility. Not a penny stays."

The director on the other end gasped in shock the moment he heard my tone.

He clearly knew better than to ask stupid questions.

I hung up, went straight out the hospital doors, and had Rachel drive me to the police precinct.

Calmly, logically, and without a trace of hysteria, I detailed every single second of the assault and extortion to the detective handling the case.

After my formal statement was signed and filed, I looked at the crisp copy of the police report in my hands. The sight of it chilled whatever warmth remained in my chest.

Now, I needed to settle accounts with Logan Vance.

Rachel found him at a private lounge downtown. I called the detective with the address and told him Chloe might go to Logan when she learned she'd been fired. Then I took my driver and two bodyguards and headed there.

My brother possessed zero business acumen; that private lounge had been funded entirely out of my own pocket so he'd have a playground.

Yet when I arrived, thumping bass and drunken laughter blasted through the double doors.

He was throwing an all-out party. No wonder he hadn't answered my calls.

The entrance doors were slightly ajar, and a familiar voice carried over the music.

It was Chloe, sobbing hysterically.

She was playing the victim before a room full of people, spinning a sob story about how an arrogant side chick had assaulted her and had her wrongfully fired.

"...I just asked her to pay the bill, and she shoved a check for two million dollars at me and got me fired on the spot..."

"Logan, she crossed the line! She doesn't respect you at all!"

"She's doing this to humiliate me! She wants to break us up!"

Inside the lounge, Logan's entourage of trust-fund freeloaders chimed in with performative outrage.

Logan had his arms wrapped tightly around Chloe, comforting her with sickening tenderness.

"Don't cry, baby. I won't let anyone treat you like this."

Then, puffing out his chest to look like a hero, he declared to the entire room, "Once I track that bitch down, I'll make her get on her knees and beg for your forgiveness!"

The crowd cheered him on, egging him on to make me pay.

"Just say the word, Logan, and the boys will drag her in here right now!"

"Yeah! Show her who actually runs this city!"

I nodded to my bodyguard. He shoved the lounge doors wide open.

The music was cut in an instant. The laughter died.

Dozens of stunned eyes snapped toward the doorway.

"Logan Vance. Who exactly are you planning to put on their knees?"