Page 53 of The Billionaire’s Contract Bride

Aria ignored him, studying the projected numbers. “What happens to the current patients?”

“They will be transferred,” Damien said.

“Where?”

“Other regional facilities.”

“How far away?”

“This is not the time or place,” Damien said coldly.

“It became the time the moment you required my vote to pass it.”

The chief financial officer hesitated before speaking up. “Some patients would need to travel upwards of forty miles. Most of those clinics serve families without private insurance.”

“No,” Aria said.

The room fell dead quiet. Damien turned his head slowly. “Excuse me?”

“I vote no.”

“You do not understand the underlying debt structure—”

“Then explain to me why a company that moved five hundred thousand dollars into an offshore escrow account overnight cannot afford to keep twelve neighborhood clinics open.”

No one breathed.

Damien’s face hardened into absolute stone. “Private discussion. Now.”

“My vote is registered as no,” Aria repeated to the attorney. “If you want it changed, present a restructuring plan that protects the patients and the staff.”

At the head of the table, Augustus smiled for the very first time.

The motion failed.

Damien waited until the heavy double doors of his private office clicked shut before turning on her.

“You embarrassed me in front of the board.”

“I disagreed with you,” Aria said, setting her handbag on his desk.

“Publicly.”

“That is where you brought the vote.”

“You revealed internal financial movements.”

“I revealed that you move money quickly,” Aria countered, stepping closer. “Forbes already knows that.”

Damien closed the distance between them, bracing one hand against the wall beside her head. “You enjoyed that.”

“Stopping you?”

“Having power over me.”

Aria looked up into his gray eyes, thinking of the new deadbolt on her bedroom door and the heavy pulse of his heart beneath her fingers hours earlier. “Maybe.”

“Power makes you reckless, Aria.”