Chapter 8 - Unraveling the Web
Within twenty minutes, the mansion was swarming not with local police—whom Nathaniel no longer trusted, knowing how deep Victor’s corporate tentacles reached—but with Vance’s private security detail and federal marshals specializing in corporate espionage and assassination plots.
The intruder was zip-tied, gagged, and hauled out through the service entrance before the sun even cleared the eastern horizon.
Nathaniel stood in the grand foyer, holding a fresh ice pack against Jo’s bruised cheek. She sat on the velvet bench, wincing slightly as the cold touched her skin.
"Vance has already frozen all of Victor's corporate assets and initiated a hostile takeover audit," Nathaniel said, his voice dangerously calm as he paced the marble floor. "By sunrise, the board will have emergency documentation proving Victor engineered the override on Elise’s SUV. He thought he could seize control of Cole Logistics by eliminating her, and then me."
Jo took the ice pack from his hand, holding it herself. "And you? You're not going to hide behind lawyers?"
"Lawyers are for civil disputes," Nathaniel replied, his eyes flashing with cold steel. "This was murder. Victor is going to spend the rest of his natural life behind bars—or worse."
He stopped pacing and knelt in front of the bench, looking directly into Jo’s eyes. The fierce guardian, the corporate titan, the broken widower—all of it melted away, leaving a man who finally realized what truly mattered.
"When you broke into that sickroom at the Sterling estate with a crowbar," Nathaniel said softly, "did you ever think you'd end up saving my life too?"
May you like
Jo smiled, a small, tired, genuine smile that reached her eyes for the first time. "I didn't plan on it, Mr. Cole. I just wanted to make sure nobody else had to grow up in an empty house."
"Nathaniel," he corrected gently. "My name is Nathaniel."
