The Ex-Wife's Burning Elegance

Stella recounted the call she'd just received from the shareholders to Joshua, laying out every detail. By the time she finished, she could practically piece the entire scheme together.

"I'm almost certain this is my brothers' doing," she sighed.

As for Skyler, she doubted he'd ever get his hands dirty or leave any evidence behind, but he certainly wouldn't lift a finger to stop them, either.

Stella's gaze drifted to the stack of acquisition documents on the table. "Haynes really does have vision," she mused.

Joshua leaned in with a suggestion. "Maybe we should reach out to that Jake guy first. If he's for real, not only will we have nothing to worry about financially, but we'll even have leftover funds to invest elsewhere."

"My thoughts exactly," Stella replied. "Jake was my first choice, too. Still, we need a backup plan. If he turns out to be a fraud, we can't afford to be caught completely unprepared."

Right now, selling off their original shares had hit a snag.

Their options were clear: Jake, or scraping together loans from various sources.

She trusted Haynes, Foreman, and the others implicitly. They would never cheat her; if it came to it, relying on them as a last resort made the most sense.

But she'd owe them-big time.

With the contract signing looming, this wasn't the moment to dwell on favors owed.

After a moment's thought, Stella decided to contact Jake herself.

if he'd been waiting for her call, Jake answered right away. As soon as she explained her purpose, he set a time and place for them

center-

when she

was alone-no

and greeted her with a warm

he slid the contract

Aicken just yet, so she hadn't told him about the

of it. In his mind, Jake

pocket change. With that much on the line, nobody would just

was well-versed in business: Once Stella had reviewed the Contract and found no flaws,

to him for

over carefully,

the final page,

signature—just

really be legally binding?

phone buzzed in her

pulled it out and

after the five

before finally accepting that the full

Upfront. The entire amount.