Chapter 167
Elodie’s POV ~
The paper felt heavy. I flipped the page, my eyes scanning the technical specs. Rex Hardin. He’d come later than everyone else, but God, he’d done his homework. This proposal wasn’t just good; it was terrifyingly precise. It matched the schematics I’d drafted in my secret files almost perfectly.
I kept my face stone-cold. Don’t let him see you’re impressed.
A soft knock resounded. The door opened a crack. One of Johnny’s junior secretaries poked her head in, looking terrified. She scurried over to my side and leaned down, her voice a barely-there whisper that tickled my ear.
"Miss Miller? Um... there are visitors downstairs. They say their names are Logan and Sienna Brown. Should I... should I show them to your office?"
The air in the room suddenly felt too thin. Logan and Sienna was here?
My stomach dropped, a cold, heavy stone sinking straight to my shoes.
I didn’t even look at the secretary. I kept my eyes on the document, on the black ink blurring slightly at the edges.
"No need," I said. My voice was quiet, and flat. Dead. "Send them away."
"Oh. Uh, understood." She practically ran out.
I took a breath. In through the nose, out through the mouth. I pushed the image of my father’s disappointed face and my half sister’s smug smile into a box and locked it.
I looked up at Rex, offering a tight, apologetic smile. "Sorry about that. Where were we?"