The First Move
1333 Words
POV: EVELYN
I didn't look back when I left the event.
I wanted to.
That was the problem.
For two years, I had imagined what it would feel like to see Adrian again.
In some versions, I slapped him.
In others, I walked past him without recognizing him.
Sometimes I imagined him begging me to forgive him.
I had never imagined him looking at me like he was trying to remember where he'd seen my face.
That had been worse.
Much worse.
I got into the car and shut the door.
“Home?” Nora asked from the driver's seat.
I stared through the window.
“Office.”
She glanced at me.
“You're supposed to be going home.”
“I changed my mind.”
“You always change your mind when you're upset.”
“I am not upset.”
Nora gave me a look.
I sighed.
“Fine. I'm irritated.”
“That's better.”
She started the car.
For a few minutes, neither of us spoke.
Then she said, “He recognized something.”
I turned toward her.
“What?”
“You know what.”
I looked back out the window.
“He didn't recognize me.”
“Not your face.”
I said nothing.
Nora had known me long enough to understand silence.
“He felt something,” she continued.
“He'll forget.”
“Will you?”
I didn't answer.
She didn't push.
That was one of the reasons I trusted her.
The city moved past the window in streaks of light.
I reached for the folder beside me.
Blackwood Group.
The first acquisition.
The first real move.
I opened it.
A supplier contract sat on top.
The company supplied a significant portion of Blackwood's commercial developments.
They had been struggling for months.
Blackwood had delayed payments.
The supplier had borrowed money to keep operating.
If I acquired the debt, I could force the contract into renegotiation.
Blackwood would have to come to me.
It was clean.
Legal.
Efficient.
And personal.
I stared at the figures.
Nora glanced at me through the mirror.
“You're still thinking about him.”
“No.”
“You've been looking at the same page for five minutes.”
I turned it over.
“Happy?”
“Not particularly.”
I smiled despite myself.
Then the smile disappeared.
“Let's do it.”
Nora's expression changed.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
“This is the first move against Blackwood.”
“I know.”
“And once we start, they're going to notice.”
“I know.”
“You can't undo it.”
I looked at the folder.
“No.”
My voice was quieter.
“That's the point.”
---
The meeting was the next morning.
Four people sat around the table.
Marcus.
Our legal adviser.
The supplier's representative.
And me.
The representative kept adjusting his glasses.
“You understand the position we're in?”
“Yes.”
“You understand that if we restructure this debt, we may have to terminate our agreement with Blackwood?”
“I understand.”
He looked uncomfortable.
“They've been good to us.”
“Have they?”
He hesitated.
“They've given us business.”
“And delayed your payments.”
His mouth closed.
I pushed a document across the table.
“We're not asking you to betray anyone.”
He looked down at it.
“We're offering you a way to stay solvent.”
He read the first page.
Then the second.
His expression slowly changed.
“You'd acquire the outstanding debt?”
“Yes.”
“And restructure it?”
“Yes.”
“In exchange for what?”
I leaned back.
“A new contract.”
“With whom?”
I held his gaze.
“With us.”
He looked at Marcus.
Then back at me.
“What happens to Blackwood?”
I paused.
“That depends on what they do next.”
The meeting lasted another forty minutes.
At the end, he signed.
I watched the pen leave the paper.
There was no celebration.
No smile.
Just the quiet sound of a company changing hands.
Marcus collected the documents.
“It's done.”
I nodded.
“Send the notice.”
“To Blackwood?”
“Yes.”
He hesitated.
“Today?”
I looked at him.
“Especially today.”
---
The call came two hours later.
I was reviewing another file when my assistant walked in.
“Blackwood is asking for you.”
I didn't look up.
“Who?”
“Mr. Adrian Blackwood.”
My hand stopped over the page.
Of course.
“Put him through.”
The phone rang.
I waited before answering.
Then I picked it up.
“Hello.”
There was a brief silence.
Then his voice.
“Who exactly are you?”
I leaned back in my chair.
The sound of him saying those words shouldn't have affected me.
It did.
“I believe you called to discuss a contract.”
“You bought our supplier's debt.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because they were selling it.”
“That doesn't answer my question.”
“It wasn't a question.”
His breathing changed slightly.
I could almost picture him sitting at his desk.
Impatient.
Annoyed.
Trying to understand a problem he couldn't control.
“You've been acquiring positions connected to Blackwood for months.”
“So you've been paying attention.”
“I have.”
I smiled.
“That must be exhausting.”
“Who sent you?”
Nobody.
The answer almost escaped.
Instead, I said,
“No one.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“I don't particularly care what you believe.”
Silence.
Then he said,
“You're making a mistake.”
I looked at the contract on my desk.
“Maybe.”
“You don't know what you're getting into.”
I almost laughed.
“Neither do you.”
He went quiet.
For one second, I was afraid he'd recognize me from my voice.
Then he said,
“I want to meet.”
My fingers tightened around the phone.
“Why?”
“Because I don't like dealing with people I can't see.”
I looked out the window.
Neither did I.
“Send your lawyer.”
“I want you.”
My eyes closed.
There was something painfully familiar about the way he said it.
Not romantic.
Not yet.
Just Adrian being Adrian.
Direct.
Stubborn.
Certain that if he pushed hard enough, people would eventually give him what he wanted.
Two years ago, I would have.
Now?
“No.”
His voice hardened.
“Why?”
“Because you don't get everything you want.”
The line went silent.
Then, unexpectedly, he laughed.
A quiet laugh.
The kind I remembered.
My chest tightened.
I hated that my body remembered before my mind could stop it.
“You sound like someone I used to know,” he said.
I stared at the city outside my window.
For one dangerous second, I almost told him.
Instead, I said,
“Then you should forget her.”
I ended the call.
I sat completely still.
Nora appeared in the doorway a few minutes later.
“How did it go?”
I placed the phone on the desk.
“He wants to meet.”
“And?”
“I said no.”
She smiled.
“Good.”
I looked at the Blackwood file.
Then at the signed acquisition agreement.
“No,” I said quietly.
“I don't think it's good.”
Nora's smile disappeared.
“Why?”
I looked down at my hands.
Because somewhere beneath the anger, beneath the plans, beneath the two years of work, I had heard Adrian laugh.
And for one terrible second, I had remembered exactly why I had loved him.
I pushed the thought away.
Then I picked up the next file.
“Because this is only the beginning.”
END OF CHAPTER 8
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