Chapter 43 Chapter 43 My Own Terms Aria Hartwell.

Chapter 43 Chapter 43 My Own Terms Aria Hartwell.
Chapter 43
My Own Terms
Aria Hartwell.

It took a while to control my emotions. I couldn't break down in front of these people. It would only make me seem weak in front of everyone. I made sure my nerves were calm even as I tried to ignore each sharp question they were throwing at me.

"Now, you're zoning out? Is this how you behave?" Pemberton shot up from his seat. "And you were being bossy just about a seat. A seat you don't truly deserve. Look at the time you even came in for the meeting while everyone was already seated. Don't you know the meaning of an emergency?"

I took two deep breaths, pinched the space between my brows and slowly massaged my temples. K looked up from the table, at Crawford first, then Reeves, then Pemberton, and I took a slow breath.

"Are you all finished?" I asked, staring at every single person in the room.

Nobody answered.

"Good." I wiped my face with the back of my hand once, without embarrassment, and sat up straight. "Because I want to say something and I'd like everyone in this room to listen carefully."

"I know what this meeting is." I looked at each of them in turn. "I know it was called because Mr. Kent is away and you wanted to see what I looked like without him in the room. I understand that. What I want you to understand is that I have been building a record in this company since my first week, not for your approval, but because this company was my father's life and it will not decline on my watch regardless of whether anyone in this room believes I'm capable."

Pemberton opened his mouth.

"I'm not finished." I said it quietly and he closed it. "I'm going to make you an offer. You want to audit my work? Do it. Every proposal, every initiative, every decision I've made independently since I started. I want each of you to personally review it. If you find anything that doesn't hold up, if you find one figure I can't defend or one decision I can't justify, I will step down. I will resign my position and forfeit my shares to the company without legal contest."

The room was very still.

"But if you review my work and find that it holds up," I continued, "then this conversation never happens again. And we move forward with the understanding that I am a co-CEO of this company in full, not a placeholder." I looked at Reeves specifically. "Is that acceptable?"

Nobody was mocking me now. They knew that I had changed the game into a competition between themselves. One of them would want to grab my shares all to themselves so they would have the opportunity to be nearer to the CEOs seat. Crawford looked at Pemberton. Pemberton looked at his folder. One by one, around the table, heads nodded.

"We'll begin the review on Monday," Pemberton said finally.

"I'll have everything ready Friday." I closed my folder and stood. "Enjoy the rest of your morning."

I walked out of the boardroom on steady legs and made it to the elevator before my hands started shaking.

My phone buzzed in my pocket the moment I got into my office and shut the door behind me. It was Ethan who was checking in on me. I remembered our last kiss, and how he had apologised for doing something silly, but I had waved it off as nothing really serious.

How did it go?

I stared at the message. Then typed back: Buy me dinner and I'll tell you.

His reply came in ten seconds. I'm already on my way.



Ethan took me to a quiet Italian place in Midtown and let me talk for forty minutes without interrupting. He asked two questions, and by the time the pasta arrived I had stopped shaking.

"You did the right thing," he said.

"I know. They're going to try to sabotage the audit."

"Probably." He refilled my water glass. "Let them try."

"Ethan..."

"Aria." He set the carafe down and looked at me directly. "I want to do something and I need you not to argue with me about it."

I looked at him. "That's a terrible opening."

"I know." He smiled briefly. "I want to buy into Hartwell Industries."

I set my fork down. "I'm sorry?"

"I want to buy the shares. A significant purchase that will be enough to earn a board seat." He held up a hand before I could speak. "Not to interfere nor to take anything over. But you are walking into an audit next week with eleven people who want you to fail, and right now you have nobody in that room who is on your side." He looked at me. "And the only person who could have been by your side is Cassian, and he's still on his honeymoon trip, leaving you exposed and vulnerable to those wolves."

"Ethan, that's a lot. Do you know the amount of money—"

"I have the capital, Aria. I have a lot of money that I don't even know where to put it. I've had it sitting in low-yield investments for two years because I couldn't decide what to do with it." He shrugged. "Now I've decided."

"This is insane."

"Is it wrong?"

I opened my mouth but I couldn't find the right words to counter him. "You'd be buying into a company that is currently under internal pressure, with extremely hostile board members, who would probably hate you, and an ongoing legal situation."

"I know."

"The share price will probably dip before it recovers."

"I know that too."

I looked at him across the table and tried to find where he was coming from. Or if he expected anything in return because this was a huge sacrifice and a huge risk. Even I, as the CEO of this company couldn't say for sure that my father's company would be able to pass this phase.

But his face was open and steady and completely unreadable, and I didn't know what to do with it.

"Fine," I said finally. "But I didn't ask you to do this."

"Noted." He picked his fork back up. "Now eat. You haven't touched the pasta."

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