She Was Never Just the Billionaire’s Wife (Natasha and Chase) novel Chapter 177

(Bauer)

My office is the highest one in the entirety of Century City, and I have always considered the view to be a cure-all.

Today not even the view can improve my mood.

Three screens are flickering on the far wall.

CNBC on the left,

Bloomberg in the middle.

The Wall Street Journal live ticker on the right.

Three different sets of strangers in nice suits are explaining the same story to me, with mild variations of phrasing, and the story is not what I so carefully planned.

Bauer-Warren Merger Falters Amid SEC Inquiry.

Bauer Subsidiary Sells Off Stake In Energy Spinout.

Sources Close To Bauer Capital: Operational Review Underway.

I’ve been here since five this morning.

I haven’t eaten.

I have had four espressos.

The cup nearest me has a small ring of black at the bottom that I keep tipping side to side and watching slide.

As if it could tell my fortune if I stare hard enough.

It’s been three days since my lawyers, my own lawyers, decided to keep me waiting at the end of a phone for the first time in eleven years.

So I dragged their names through the mud a little with the whole Natasha debacle.

They should be willing to take a bit of a spanking considering what I pay them.

Perhaps they’d care less if Mason Stein hadn’t sent them proof that the changes to the assets document was made from my IP address.

I could make that go away if they’d just give me a bit of time.

But no. They’ve apparently decided I’m toxic.

Theresa knocked twice this morning to ask if I'd seen the markets open.

I barked at her to mind her damn business.

She hasn’t knocked again.

The chair I’m sitting in was custom-built for me.

It’s larger and higher than most standard office chairs.

It’s supposed to feel like the throne of a man whose name is on the side of the building.

The chair is currently feeling, if I’m honest with myself, slightly too big.

I switch from CNBC to the channel running Mason Stein's morning statement on a loop.

It’s annoying how good he looks on camera.

He stands on the steps of the Warren tower in a perfectly cut grey suit with his hand on the brass rail.

He’s speaking off the cuff as he smoothly tells the reporters that Warren Global remains committed to operational excellence and to the continued health of every transaction it has, in good faith, undertaken with its partners.

Good faith.

The little prick.

I rewind. Watch it again.

He doesn't say my name.

He doesn't have to.

He doesn't say Natasha's name either.

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify