Page 43 of Alien War Daddy's Got Rizz

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I press my palms flat against the cold surface, like it can hold me up when the world tilts.

And I realize:

I am losing control.

Of my company.

Of my position.

Of the narrative I so carefully plotted since the day my father died.

And, worse…

Of my heart.

The betrayal of logic feels heavier than any corporate breach.

Tidball smiles too easily.

Grau speaks in tones too deep.

And I… I feel all of it.

Pulling me in directions I don’t yet understand.

I exhale.

Slowly.

Like letting air out of a held breath.

I don’t know which of these two men — the one who smiles and the one who protects — will walk out of this with his intentions intact.

But I feel it in my bones:

A reckoning is coming.

And I don’t yet know which one will survive it.

Not the board.

Not the breach.

Not the lies.

Butme.

Fear curls in my belly.

Not because I think I’ll fall.

But because I mightchoose poorly.

CHAPTER 9

GRAU

Idon’t announce myself.

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