---
Behind me, the screen lit up.
Scrolling across it: Lily's forum archive. A year's worth of posts. The crowing after every gift, every public slight against me, every "he only keeps her around for the money." The entry about deleting me from the company system and wondering if I'd find out. The photo of the ring.
All of it, in front of every journalist, every board member, every family representative in the room.
I turned back to the mic, voice warm with feeling.
"As someone who grew up alongside Garrett — practically a sibling — I know how much it cost him to maintain this engagement out of loyalty to our families. The evidence of his true feelings has been building for over a year: from the day they met, through every moment captured here. It took me some time to reach this decision. But for Garrett's happiness, and for Lily's — I'm stepping aside."
The Holloway contingent had seen enough of Garrett and Lily's dynamic in the office to find none of this surprising. Their eyebrows climbed, though, at the part about Lily being afraid of being targeted.
"As if our Jenna would waste a second thinking about her," one of them said.
"Exactly. Not everyone is playing steal the man, darling."
The Ashford people were watching the screen with the particular expression of people whose family has just been publicly embarrassed.
"Deleting someone from the company system isn't an accident. There's a twelve-step verification process."
"Keep your voice down — this is our lot's mess to deal with."
The more practical ones had already slipped out to call Lord Ashford's people.
Lily had gone quite pale. She was struggling to stay upright.
I leaned in, voice quiet.
"In your forum, you could delete any comment that disturbed your peace. You could build yourself a little world where everyone agreed with you and no one contradicted anything. You got to play the heroine of your own story."
"But real life doesn't work like that. Real people aren't NPCs. Everyone who watched you this year saw exactly what you were doing. So the question is: how do you intend to close their mouths?"
The journalists had a different agenda entirely.
"So Garrett Ashford has been effectively removed from Holloway? And what exactly is the nature of the relationship with Davenport Capital?"
I stepped back and let Felix take his place beside me.
"We're also delighted to announce that Holloway Group and Davenport Capital have formally entered a long-term strategic partnership."
The Holloway contingent broke into applause.
The Ashford representatives exchanged glances of collective embarrassment.
Felix turned to Garrett with the look of a man who had been waiting for this exact moment.
"Garrett. Remember me?"
I tugged his sleeve, trying to communicate that being aggressively smug about it was optional.
He turned a pleading look on me. "You promised this was my birthday present. I've been working toward this for months and you haven't let me enjoy a single moment of it. I'm allowed to be a tiny bit passive-aggressive."
"Besides," he added, "I assumed Garrett was tolerant of that sort of thing. How else did he put up with Lily for this long?"
Garrett's eyes went red.
He snapped the ring box shut.
"Jenna Holloway," he said, "you will regret this."
He turned and walked out.
Lily tried to follow. I caught her arm.
"Holloway Group has a lot to get through," I said pleasantly. "We don't leave early."