~ Helena Moore ~
The tea had gone cold, a skin of oil forming over the amber liquid in my bone china cup. I ignored it, staring instead at the bed of prize-winning hydrangeas that lined the stone path of my private sanctuary. Usually, the garden was a place of absolute control. Nature bowed to the gardener’s shears here.
But lately, the world outside these gates was refusing to follow the script.
"The board is asking questions, Helena," Adrian Locke said. He was leaning against a marble pillar, looking entirely too comfortable for a man delivering a death warrant to my reputation. "The 'predatory acquisition' angle is gaining traction. Amara didn't just walk away; she took the Kline Logistics files with her. Legal is saying the subsidiary agreement has more holes than a fishing net."
I
