Chapter 35
Rowan's POV
The conference room felt too bright. Too loud.
I'd barely slept after last night's argument with Lena. Her words kept echoing—You have no right to interrogate my personal time—and the image of her laughing with Daniel Whitmore wouldn't leave me alone.
"Mr. Reynolds?" Jack's voice cut through my thoughts. "The legal team is ready."
I nodded and walked into the conference room. The usual faces sat around the table—department heads, project managers, legal counsel. But one thing immediately caught my attention.
Nora sat in Lena's usual seat.
"Morning, everyone." I kept my tone neutral, scanning the empty chair where Lena should have been. "Let's keep this brief. I have another meeting in an hour."
The operations director started his report. I listened half-heartedly, my mind still processing the fact that Nora was here at all.
Where was Lena?
"—which is why we recommend moving forward with phase two immediately," the director concluded.
"Approved." I signed off without much thought. "Legal updates?"
Nora straightened in her chair, a pleased smile crossing her face. "Madison & Partners has completed the preliminary risk assessment—"
"Send it directly to our in-house legal team," I interrupted. "They'll coordinate next steps with you."
Her smile froze slightly. "Of course. I just thought if—"
"Our legal team will handle it." My tone left no room for argument. "Anything else?"
Silence.
"We're done."
Chairs scraped against the floor as people filed out. Nora lingered, clearly wanting to speak, but I was already gathering my files.
"Jack," I called as I left the conference room. "Find out why Mrs. Reynolds wasn't at the meeting."
"Right away, sir."
---
Two hours later, Jack knocked on my office door.
"Come in."
He entered, tablet in hand, his expression unusually neutral. That alone told me something was wrong.
"What is it?"
"Mrs. Reynolds has resigned from Madison & Partners, effective immediately."
The words hit like a physical blow. I slowly set down my pen.
"When?"
"Yesterday afternoon. She submitted her resignation to Richard Madison and left the building within the hour."
"Why?" My voice came out rougher than intended.
Jack hesitated. "According to sources inside the firm... it involved the Whitmore contract incident. Internal sabotage. Mrs. Reynolds discovered that a colleague named Brett Morrison had tampered with documents at Miss Kane's instruction."
My hand clenched into a fist on the desk.
"Nora."
"Yes, sir. Mrs. Reynolds exposed the scheme in the firm's group chat, then resigned."
The room tilted slightly. I'd spent last night interrogating Lena about having dinner with Daniel Whitmore—accusing her of God knows what—while she'd actually been dealing with this betrayal at work.
And Nora had orchestrated it.
"Get Lucas Kane on the phone. Now."
Jack nodded quickly and left.
I stood and walked to the window, trying to control the fury building in my chest. This wasn't just business anymore. Nora had deliberately sabotaged Lena's career. Framed her. And used my name and connections to do it.
The intercom buzzed. "Mr. Kane on line one."
I grabbed the phone.
"Lucas."
"Rowan! Good to hear from you, man. What's up?"
"Control your sister." My voice was ice-cold. "Or I will."
Silence on the other end. Then: "What happened?"
"What happened?" I kept my voice level. "She leveraged my name to get into Madison & Partners. Then arranged for an associate to tamper with contract documents—documents my wife was responsible for."
"Christ." Lucas's voice changed. "Rowan, I didn't know—"
"I shouldn't have agreed to this arrangement in the first place." I kept my tone businesslike, though my hand tightened around the phone. "You asked me to help Nora establish herself professionally. I didn't sign up to provide cover for workplace sabotage."
"Look, I was just trying to make up for what happened years ago." Lucas sounded exhausted. "When she was kidnapped as a kid—that was on me. I wasn't watching her properly. She asked me to help her reconnect with you, and I thought... I thought keeping her close would be safer."
"This isn't protection, Lucas. It's enabling." I walked back to my desk. "Lena did nothing to Nora. She was collateral damage in whatever game your sister's playing."
"I know. I'm sorry. I'll talk to her."
"I'm done making allowances," I said quietly. "Next time she crosses a line, I won't handle it privately."
"Understood." A pause. "For what it's worth, I really am sorry."
I hung up without responding.
---
By six-thirty, I'd cleared my desk and most of the fury had settled into something harder. More focused.
I dialed home as Jack drove me out of the parking garage.
"Lakeview Estate," our housekeeper, Martha, answered on the second ring.
"Is Lena there?"
"No, Mr. Reynolds. Mrs. Reynolds left around five. She said she was having dinner at your mother's."
My mother's. Of course.
I rubbed my temple. "Thank you, Mrs. Chen."
I hung up and leaned forward. "Change of plans, Jack. Reynolds Estate."
He glanced at me in the rearview mirror. "Your mother's house, sir?"
"Yes."
He nodded and changed lanes smoothly.
I stared out the window at the passing traffic, trying to organize my thoughts. Lena had resigned. My mother knew—she always knew everything. And now Lena was there, probably receiving the kind of support I should have been providing.
The kind I'd been too busy interrogating her about Daniel Whitmore to offer.
My jaw tightened.
Twenty minutes later, we pulled through the estate gates. Light spilled from the dining room windows. I could see two figures at the table through the sheer curtains.
"Should I wait, sir?" Jack asked.
"Go home. I'll call when I need you."
I got out and stood there for a moment, looking at the warm scene inside.
Then I walked toward the door.