Lavern had it all planned out, but Marina wasn’t taking the bait.
“Who’s teaming up with you? Shawna?” Marina shot back.
A
At the mention of Shawna’s name, everyone in the room held their breath.
Lavern’s face went cold, his eyes boring into Marina like he wanted to burn a hole right through her.
Marina stayed cool, not a hint of fear in her eyes as she met his gaze and let out a cold laugh.
“It’s your lack of integrity that landed Ross Group in this mess. I’m the one paying the price here, so why should I just give up 20% of my shares to bail out the company?” Marina snapped.
“Just because I own more shares doesn’t mean I have to be the one to take the hit,” she added. “Whoever wants to sell, go ahead. But I’m not selling.”
As she spoke, Marina grabbed the stack of documents from the table and flung them toward the manager.
“What a crappy plan. If I were you, I’d be too
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embarrassed to even take that 5% stake.” She scoffed and strode right out of the conference room.
Lavern rose from his chair.
“The meeting’s not over yet. Where do you think you’re going?” he said, voice low.
Marina paused at the doorway, giving him a frosty look. “Why bother with a meeting that has nothing worth discussing?”
Lavern frowned, his voice low and serious.
“So now you won’t lift a finger for Ross Group, is that it?” he asked.
Marina’s lips curled into a cold smile. “Haven’t I given enough already? When Ross Group was first founded, every cent of the funding came from me.”
“Mr. Ross, you’ve been freeloading off me for years, and now you want to act all tough?” she sneered.
Lavern’s expression froze, his jaw clenched as anger flashed in his eyes.
Marina gave him a challenging look, didn’t give a damn about how he felt, and strode right out of the conference room.
The crash of something being hurled across the room echoed behind her.
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Her lips curled into a smirk, eyes glinting with
scorn.
‘Already losing your cool? Pathetic, Marina thought. “This is just the beginning.
While the meeting was still going on, Robert had already arranged for someone to move the documents upstairs.
Upstairs, there was an office Marina had fixed up just for Lavern. The plan was for him to move in after the wedding, so he could show off his status.
But with the wedding disaster and all the chaos that followed, Lavern had been so swamped he’d totally forgotten about the move.
So now, it was all hers.
Honestly, she was genuinely disgusted by him and couldn’t even stand working on the same floor as him anymore.
With Marina gone, there was no point in continuing the meeting.
When Lavern stepped out, he saw the staff from the president’s office moving things upstairs, one item at a time.
“What are you doing?” he snapped.
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After bottling up all that anger in the meeting, he finally found an outlet for it.
The people moving things froze in place, heads
down, no one even dared to make a sound.
Everyone turned to look at Robert.
When Lavern saw Robert, his face darkened instantly.
“What are you doing here?” he demanded.
Robert kept his professional smile, all polite on the surface, but his respect was clearly just for show. He was keeping his distance.
“Ms. Finley brought me back to Ross Group,” he said.
After leaving Ross Group, Robert had been sending out resumes left and right, but not a single company ever called him back.
It was only after asking around that he realized Lavern had quietly warned every HR in the industry. No one dared to hire him.
After all, who’d risk ticking off a powerful CEO just
for some ordinary employee?
Good thing when Marina fired him, she made sure the severance was more than generous.
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That way, he didn’t have to worry about his future for a while.
He’d been planning to move to another city for work, but when Marina called yesterday, he jumped at the chance to follow her back to Ross Group.
Truth be told, Marina was way more fit to run the show than Lavern ever was.
From the moment Lavern let Shawna step in and take Robert’s spot, Robert knew Lavern was never meant to be in charge.
“Keep moving the stuff.” Completely unfazed by Lavern’s glare, Robert just told the others to keep going.
Seeing Robert being so dismissive, Lavern, without warning, grabbed him by the collar and yanked him close.
He lowered his voice, anger simmering. “Robert, Marina only brought you back to Ross Group. Know your place. You’re just a dog she keeps on a leash for
- me.
“Once we’re back together, she gets pregnant and leaves the company, trust me, I’ll have plenty of ways to deal with you.”
Robert stood his ground, his expression still polite and professional as he faced Lavern’s fury.
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“Mr. Ross, that’s a matter between you and Ms. Finley. It’s not my concern,” he said coolly.
Lavern’s face grew even darker, fist raised and ready to strike–until he caught sight of Marina nearby, phone up and recording every second.
Marina cocked her head, a look of genuine confusion on her face as his fist stalled in the air.
“Why’d you stop? Aren’t you going to hit him?” she asked.
She already had the clickbait headline ready to go.
Lavern clenched his jaw, shoved Robert out of the way, and stormed over to Marina, his face dark as thunder.
Marina was still shoving her phone in his face when Lavern suddenly grabbed her wrist, trying to haul her off to his office.
“We need to talk,” he said, voice low and commanding.
No way was Marina going to talk to him. She yanked her hand free.
“There’s nothing for us to talk about,” her tone icy and final.
Lavern, jaw clenched, just bent down and threw
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Marina over his shoulder, hauling her off toward his
office without a second thought.
Robert tried to step in and stop him.
But Lavern just slammed the door and locked it tight behind them.
Marina struggled violently, grabbing a handful of his hair and ripping at it with all her strength.
Lavern’s scalp tightened in pain as he hurled her onto the couch, then moved in close, dominating her space.
“Are you out of your mind?” Completely unfazed by Lavern’s glare, Robert just told the others to keep going.
Seeing the fury boiling in Lavern’s eyes, she chose not to provoke him any further.
She just stared at him, expressionless, as his face twisted with rage.
Lavern stared at her serene face, and for a moment, the anger in his eyes faded. He leaned in, burying his face close to her neck. “Marina, it shouldn’t be like this between us.”
His breath was hot against her skin, and Marina felt a wave of revulsion rise up inside her.
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‘God, this is revolting,‘ she thought.
She glanced at the ashtray on the coffee table, her hand moving toward it in silence.
Lavern kept talking, almost to himself.
“Marina, I know you’ve given so much to our relationship and to Ross Group all these years. I messed up, I admit it. I deserve all the punishment in the world. But Ross Group is innocent. It’s what we built together, the proof of our hard work. It’s been there through all our best and most genuine
moments.
“Marina, you have to believe me. I only love you. Shawna and I? It was just a fling, nothing real.
“I made sure that baby was never going to be born. From the start, I never planned to let that child live. My child will only ever come from you.”
Marina stayed silent, her hand inching closer to the ashtray.
Lavern hadn’t held Marina in forever, and her
subtle scent kept teasing his senses. His mind
started to slip, and his body couldn’t help but respond.
“Marina, have my baby,” he said, his voice thick with longing.
Sara Lili is a daring romance writer who turns icy landscapes into scenes of fiery passion. She loves crafting hot love stories while embracing the chill of Iceland’s breathtaking cold.
