She Was Never Just the Billionaire’s Wife (Natasha and Chase) novel Chapter 113

(Mason)

"Natasha, the revised drafts are-"

I stop in the doorway.

Chase is leaning over her, his hands gripping the armrests of her chair.

They’re breathing hard, staring at each other, the space between them humming with electricity.

Natasha shoves her hands hard against his chest the second I speak.

I don’t blink.

I don’t give Chase the satisfaction of seeing my jaw tighten.

"Oh, good. You’re already here, Chase," I say smoothly, stepping into the office like I didn't just interrupt a disaster.

"Let’s go to the boardroom. We need to discuss the Bauer merger."

Chase glares at me. He looks like he wants to tear my head off.

I couldn't care less.

I’m incredibly glad I walked in when I did.

Chase has spent years keeping Natasha off-balance, dragging her back in just to push her away again.

I'm sick of watching him hurt her.

Even if Natasha never looks at me the way she looks at him, I want her safe.

I want her to have a life that isn't a constant, bleeding negotiation.

Ten minutes later, we’re sitting around the long mahogany table in the boardroom.

Natasha has recovered her composure, her spine straight, her mask firmly back in place.

"What's the issue?" Chase demands. He’s still vibrating with irritation.

"Jeffrey Bauer is trying to frame you," I say simply.

I pull up a single sheet of data on the monitor.

"Someone inflated your offshore assets in the merger documents," I explain.

"The digital paper trail was designed to look like your office cooked the books. But Natasha tracked the IP address of the original data entry. It came directly from Jeffrey Bauer’s private terminal."

Chase stares at the screen.

"Then we cancel the deal. I’ll report him to the SEC today. I don’t want to do business with him anymore anyway. This is a relief, not a disaster."

"We can't," Natasha says.

"He routed his changes through our proxy servers. If we blow the whistle right now, without hard, undeniable proof of the IP spoofing, it just looks like Warren Global got caught stealing and is trying to blame the victim."

Chase drags a hand over his face.

"Bauer’s lawyer called me right before I came here. They want the deal finalized by the end of the week, or Bauer pulls out."

"He’s trying to panic you into signing a bad contract," I say. “And if you don’t sign and the deal falls through, he’ll report you to the SEC.”

I close the file and look at Chase.

"Natasha and I will come up with a solution. You can go back to your office. We’ll let you know when we have a play."

Chase hates it. I can see the ego bruising in real time.

He wants to stay and fight, but this is my firm, and this is my arena.

He gives Natasha one last, heavy look, and walks out.

An hour later, a team of Bauer’s legal and financial executives file into the boardroom.

They’re slick, evasive, and pushy.

They spend twenty minutes tap-dancing around our requests for server access, smiling like sharks.

"Mr. Bauer has been very clear," their team leader says, tapping his expensive pen on the table.

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