Chapter 17

• Liam
• "She's rejecting the partnerships her stepmother arranged," Alex said, walking beside me as I exited yet another tedious dinner.
• Sheila Hayes had orchestrated the evening as a thinly veiled date—a move I already regretted. I hadn’t agreed to impress her or give her any false ideas. My goal was simple: to extract crucial details about her company. She’d done a commendable job keeping it afloat after her father’s death, and that was the only reason I’d tolerated this ordeal.