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I dip my head until I’m a breath away from her face—close enough that every HR executive would implode if they walked into this room—and drop my voice to a whisper meant only for her. “And you think you can teach me?”
“I think someone has to.”
We stare at each other, the air cracking between us with something that has nothing to do with business and everything to do with the dark, twisted attraction I’ve been fighting for three years. She hates me, and I fucking love getting a rise out of her. “Leave us,” I bark at my brothers.
A chair scrapes across the floor before Kaden and Xander’s heavy footsteps retreat toward the door. Kaden pauses, his expression murderous. “Vance—”
“I said leave.”
The door clicks shut, and the moment we are alone, Sophia finally takes a hesitant step back, putting distance between us. She walks to the window and stares out over Lake Michigan, gray and choppy under the rainy September sky.
“You can’t intimidate me,” she says, facing the glass.
“I know,” I admit. “That’s the problem.” Surprised by my admission—as much as I am—she turns on her heel. I loosen my tie, suddenly uncharacteristically warm in this climate-controlled tower. “You might think you do, but you don’t know how to run this company better than me.”
“I think I know how to do it differently,” she opines, crossing her arms over her chest. “Roman has groomed me to be ruthless, same as you.”
An unfettered, condescending laugh rattles from my lungs. “In the boardroom, sweetheart. He taught you how to be ruthless in the boardroom. I was bred to be merciless—a monster. We are not the same.”
“I believe you can get what you want without being a monster,” she musters.
“Then you believe in fucking fairy tales.”
When I stalk toward her predatorily, she holds her ground, her back pressed to the glass and forty-two floors of empty air behind her. I don’t stop until we’re toe-to-toe and I can see the faint green flecks in her otherwise blue eyes.
“Let me tell you how the world works, Sophia,” I whisper gravelly. “The monsters win. The monsters always win. And do you know why, sweetheart? Because the good little girls are too busy following the rules to see the knife coming.”
“I’m not a little girl,” she breathes.
“No,” I agree, my gaze dropping to her mouth. “You’re not.”
The silence stretches between us as I stare at her pale pink lips. I could kiss her right now, bend her obstinate ass over the boardroom table, and ruin her for good. Fuck. Her stubbornness always gets me like this—the way she has to fight me on every single thing, creating a constant friction between us. No one else in my life is like her. Men bow, and women part their legs for me, but Sophia Bennett looks at me like she’s ready to set me ablaze. It’s not her that excites me; it’s the prospect of being challenged.
“Implement your relocation package,” I instruct, stepping away and walking toward the table. “Draft your proposal and have it on my desk by morning.”
“What?”
“You heard me. Try it your way. The soft way. The smart way.” I gather my papers without bothering to look at her. “You have three weeks. If those tenants aren’t out in twenty-one days, we’ll do it Kaden’s way. And you’re coming to watch.”
“You can’t be serious.”
“I’m always serious.” I turn to let her see the truth in my eyes, the emptiness where my soul should be. “This is your chance to prove that mercy works. Prove me wrong. Show me your way is better.”
“And if I fail?”
My lips curl into a devilish smile that makes grown men pale. “Then you’ll learn what I’ve known since I was nine years old: the world belongs to the ruthless. And you’ll be wishing you took my side when you had the chance.”
She stares back at me, her composure cracking slightly, giving me a view of the uncertainty hiding beneath her professionalism.
“I won’t fail,” she insists, lifting her chin.
Poor, brilliant, foolish girl.
“We’ll see.”
Her heels click sharply on the floor as she makes her way to the door. With her hand on the handle, she pauses. “Why are you giving me this chance?”
I consider lying, telling her it’s because my father thinks she and her expertise are invaluable to the company. But I’m tired of lies and bullshit today.
