They Made Me the Knight, But I Became My Own Princess novel · Chapter 13 of 24

Chapter 13: Fly Carefully

I looked at the ring.

Then I looked at the man who'd paid for it.

Victor Halstead was fifty-six. He had a daughter older than Sadie.

"Congratulations," I said. "Both of you."

Sadie's smile slipped a little. She'd wanted me to scream.

The woman with the stroller was still there. So were a dozen families with balloons.

Halstead turned so they could all hear him.

"Here's my offer, Molly. Sixty million for your forty percent. Cash. Tonight."

"Last month you offered Esther forty-two for half that."

"Last month the company had a real CEO." He spread his hands.

"Now it's got a board run by a girl in a graduation gown. It's only going down from here."

"It isn't for sale."

"Everything's for sale. You just haven't heard the right number."

Mitch moved half a step closer to me.

"Keaton Capital flies Granger," he said. "Every charter. That's eight million a year. It stays that way."

Halstead looked at him with real pleasure.

"Then fly carefully," he said.

He tipped an invisible hat to Arthur Keaton and walked back to his car.

Sadie stayed one second longer.

She leaned in close, the way she had at the Lakeshore Club.

"Victor says I'll be on the board by spring," she whispered. "I'll be your boss, Molly. Isn't that funny?"

Then she ran after him, her heels sinking into the lawn.

Arthur Keaton watched the Bentley pull away.

"Walter hated that man," he said. "Called him a crow in a good suit."

That night Mitch's apartment didn't feel empty anymore.

The couch was out of its plastic. My thesis drawings hung in frames along the hall.

My boots were by his door, next to his.

I sat on the kitchen island in his Keaton Capital sweatshirt while he made eggs at eleven at night.

He was still in his graduation shirt and tie, the tie pulled loose, his sleeves shoved up.

The card I'd written PRINCESS on was propped against the salt shaker.

"You don't have to fix this tonight," he said.

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