Novels by OAF

Ethan's POV The shareholder meeting was set for Thursday. Clara’s memo sat open on my screen, every registered name listed in neat black text. I decided to scroll through everything, that was when I spotted her name. Bella Hayes. My finger hovered, then clicked. Her profile filled the monitor—stake percentage, transfer records, purchase dates. I stared at the numbers until they blurred. It's just 15 months since the divorce, and Bella has been able to come up with this much. Because I was pretty sure that in our three years of marriage, I had never known she held shares. Or maybe I had stopped noticing details about her long before the divorce. I forced myself to close the tab, telling myself I had other things to do that were more important than an ex-wife. I opened Marcus’s counter-strategy file instead and scrolled through legal angles. Procedural blocks. Ways to neutralize a shareholder who might demand more than the board wanted to give. But nothing was entering my brai

Bella's POVThe marketing department was the first thing I fixed. Although three other departments were bleeding worse, but I decided to tackle marketing first because it was the most visible and whatever a company puts out into the world is what the world believes. Nathan Holdings had been putting out the wrong thing, and the world had responded accordingly.I called the department head on Monday morning.His name was Felix. He looked like he was in his mid-forties, confident in the particular way of someone who had spent years believing he is the smartest person in every room.He came into the meeting room with a folder and an expression that said he had already decided this conversation would be about things he was supposed to do but hadn't.I let him talk first.He talked about brand visibility, market positioning, and several other things.Then I opened my own folder."Your biggest client," I said. "How long has it been since someone from this company called to check on them?"F

Bella's POVThe twins were not ideal boardroom companions.I had arranged for a sitter — a woman from the building who was warm and reliable. But Zion had woken up that morning with a grip on my shirt that he refused to release, and Zara had taken a look at the sitter and started crying.So they came with me.Nathan's headquarters was a glass building ten minutes from my apartment — clean lines, a lobby that was trying slightly too hard, staff who smiled.The receptionist looked at the twins."Mr. Nathan is expecting you," the receptionist said, recovering smoothly from her surprise."I know," I said.Nathan was standing when I walked in.He was at the window with his coffee, and he turned when the door opened. His eyes went immediately to the twins, his expression moving through surprise before settling somewhere that looked genuinely warm."You brought reinforcements," he said."They insisted."I set Zara down on the conference table. Zion remained in the stroller, still occupied wi

Ethan's' PpOVI called Marcus that night.I stood in my study with the share certificate on the desk in front of me, Samantha asleep upstairs, and the house quiet.Marcus picked up on the fourth ring."Is the shareholder structure legitimate?" I asked.He knew what I meant. I hadn't spoken to him about it, and that was one of the reasons I liked him and considered him an exceptional lawyer.I heard him typing.The silence stretched for two minutes. I stood at my desk and looked at Bella's name on the document, listening to the sound of Marcus moving through databases on the other end of the line."It's legitimate," he said finally.Something in my chest moved."All of it?" I asked."All of it." More typing. "She started with the shares you gave her in the settlement. Used them as the base. Then she began purchasing additional shares—small amounts, consistently." A pause. "Williams, she has been doing this for over a year. Every purchase is clean. Every transfer is documented. There is

Ethans' POVSunday morning was almost a battlefield disguised as breakfast.Samantha waited until I had taken my first sip of coffee before she struck.“I think we should set a wedding date,” she said calmly, her eyes fixed on her phone.The words landed between us like a gauntlet.I turned my coffee cup slowly in my hands."We'll do so when we have time," I said."We've had time for three months." Now she looked up. Her eyes were steady and warm, and behind the warmth was something else—the particular patience of a woman who had been waiting for something and had decided she was done waiting. "The engagement announcement ran everywhere, Ethan. People are waiting for the date.""Okay.""I don't want to keep making them wait." She set her phone down.The morning moved around us. Outside the window, the garden was quiet and grey, the kind of late morning that hadn't yet decided whether it wanted to become a proper day."I have a lot going on with the company right now," I said. "The sha

Williams' POV Henderson barged into my office without knocking on a Monday morning. His fist was clenched at his side, and anger was etched deep into his face. He walked straight to my desk, slapped a sheet of paper down in front of me, and dropped into the chair across from me like a man who had been holding onto bad news for far too long. "Someone is buying us," he said bluntly. I picked up the paper. The report showed someone had been purchasing small pieces of Hayes Holdings quietly and consistently for over a year. Each transaction was small enough not to raise alarms on its own. But added together, the numbers made me sit forward in my chair. "How long has this been going on?" I asked. "At least fourteen months based on what we can trace," Henderson replied, crossing one leg over the other. "Possibly longer." I scanned the figures again, my stomach tightening. "Who is it?" Henderson’s expression didn’t change. "That’s the problem. We don’t know." "Okay thank you, I tol