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I laughed, shaking my head—he had no idea.

Who is Eleanor?

The most beautiful, infuriating woman I’d ever met. The woman who knocked the breath from my lungs, tested my patience, and somehow always knew exactly how to handle me. Unshaken. Unphased.

She was my goddamn sunshine.

“So,” I continued, ignoring his question, “I did exactly what she advised. I called Stacey. Talked to her and her lawyer. She told me everything.”

Bill’s posture stiffened.

“And before you try to deny that, too…” I lifted the final piece of paper. “I have her sworn statement. Signed. Right here.”

I slapped the document onto the desk, my voice razor-sharp.

“She goes into explicit detail on how you bribed her with one condition: She had to take down Stone Ranch.”

I let the words sink in, let the weight of them coil around his throat.

“And, thanks to a little more digging, courtesy of Eleanor, we also found out you had every intention of dropping from the board.”

I dropped the folder onto the desk.

Then I sat back, folding my arms across my chest, and waited.

Because Bill knew as well as I did…

There was no crawling out of this one.

“You son of a bitch…” Bill seethed, his voice laced with venom as he leaned forward, his fists clenched against his knees.

I didn’t flinch. Didn’t react.

Instead, I pulled out my final card, the last tie binding Bill Griess to Stone Ranch. I set the contract in front of him, along with a pen.

“Now, I’m going to give you a choice,” I said, my voice steady, controlled. “Sign this damn contract, binding you to silence and formally resigning from your position on the board. Or…” I paused, letting the weight of my words settle. Letting the moment stretch. “I put everything on blast. Your name—front and center.”

Bill’s eyes flickered to the document, then back to me. His ears were turning red now, his anger simmering just beneath the surface.

I could see it—his mind running through every possible outcome.

He knew exactly what I was capable of. He knew if I went public, it would ruin everything for him.

Was that worth fucking with me?

I doubted it.

“All I want,” I said, my tone dipping lower, calmer, final, “is for you to be gone. Out of my life. Something I should’ve done a long damn time ago.”

I leaned forward, tilting my head slightly. “Tell me, Bill. What’s kept you around all these years? What is it about me that’s made you so damn determined to fuck with my life?”

“People like you—trailer trash—don’t deserve to be here. Don’t deserve to have the success you do.” Bill took an exaggerated inhale. “Somehow even with everything that happened, you managed to get away with it. That pisses me off,” he yelled.

“Get away with what?”

Bill scoffed. “You know. Don’t play stupid.”

Truly, I didn’t know what the hell he was talking about. If he was referring to the years I’d spent causing trouble as a kid, even into my early twenties, fine. But that didn’t warrant what was happening. To put everything on the line for that felt far-fetched.