Step 20: Say no to 50 million.
Step 21: Deal with what comes next.
The door clicked shut.
And then nothing.
Just silence. The kind that rings in your ears after you make a decision you can’t take back.
Ben let out a breath I didn’t know he was holding. His shoulders dropped like he’d been carrying bricks for 60 stories.
"That was... stupid," he said.
"Stupid?" I echoed, my voice barely above a whisper. My hands were still shaking.
"The bravest, dumbest thing I’ve ever seen," he said, looking at me like I was crazy. Like he was proud and terrified. "You just told off a billionaire’s lawyers. To their faces. In his house. Do you know how many people would’ve taken that deal?"
I sank onto the couch. The leather was cold. My legs felt like jelly. "50 million," I whispered. "I cou
