Page 104 of Sexting the Boss
“I left because I thought if I disappeared, he’d lose the narrative. I thought if I removed myself, he’d stop.” Her throat works. “I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want you to see me as someone who let that happen.”
“You didn’t let it happen.” My voice is steady even though my pulse is not. “He conditioned you, he isolated you, and he reframed violence as correction.”
She watches me carefully, like she’s waiting for disgust.
All she finds is resolve.
“He doesn’t get to teach you anything ever again,” I say.
Her lips tremble once, and she looks down.
“And you don’t have to carry this alone anymore,” I add. “Not because you’re weak, not because you can’t handle it, but because partnership means I stand where you’re targeted.”
She looks back up at me.
“I’m afraid of making the wrong move,” she says quietly. “I’m afraid of triggering him.”
“You won’t,” I say again, and this time there’s no edge in it. “Because we’re dismantling him.”
“You still crowd,” she says softly.
“I know,” I answer.
“And you still move first.”
“Yes.”
She holds my gaze.
“But you listened.”
I nod once.
“And I’m not waiting for him to strike first,” I say again. “Not this time.”
I bring up the next folder. “We lure Gavin the way he likes it. You reach out, let him think you’re desperate or back in town—he’ll take the bait. He’ll want to meet.”
She shakes her head slowly. “He’s dangerous, Ethan. If he thinks I’m trying to trap him?—”
“You won’t be alone,” I say. “I’ll have surveillance set up in three different points. My guy’s already tracking the car he uses when he’s not logged into the firm system. You’ll meet in public. And law enforcement will be listening.”
She’s still quiet.
I set the phone down and cup her face. “Lila. You said he hurt you. That you had to run. I believe you. But this ends now.”
She closes her eyes.
I don’t rush her. I just let my thumb move against her skin while I memorize every line of her face.
“I hate that you’re good at this,” she mutters.
“Corporate revenge?”
“Strategic warfare.”
“Same thing.”
Her lips twitch, but then her eyes open and the smile fades. “You’re really going to do this? You’re going to drag your name through the mud just to get back at her?”
