HIS TERMS OF WAR

Adrian Wolfe didn’t believe in coincidences only in control. And right now, he was losing it.

The boardroom’s double doors burst open like a clap of thunder. He didn’t have to look up to know who it was. He’d been warned the daughter would come. That she wouldn’t go down quietly like her father.

But he hadn’t expected her to look like this.

Sienna Blake walked in like she owned the building—chin lifted, heels clicking with a deliberate rhythm that sounded too much like a declaration of war. She wore a black suit tailored like armour, lips painted the same shade as rebellion, and eyes that blazed with the kind of fury men didn’t usually survive.

The silence in the room cracked. The executives shifted. Adrian stayed seated at the head of the table, calm as a loaded gun.

“You must be Mr. Wolfe,” she said, stopping across from him. “Though I expected someone... taller.”

Adrian arched a brow. “And you must be the grieving daughter, here to throw a tantrum.”

“Only if tantrums include exposing your shady acquisition deal and suing you into next year,” she replied, pulling out a chair without invitation.

Adrian’s lips curved slightly. Bold. Predictable.

He leaned forward, elbows on the table. “Your father’s company is drowning in debt. What exactly do you plan to do? Cry it into solvency?”

Her eyes narrowed. “Funny. I don’t remember selling it to a predator.”

“You didn’t,” Adrian said coolly. “Your father did. Weeks before he died. It was all perfectly legal. Your grief doesn’t change contracts.”

The others watched in stunned silence. No one interrupted the power play unfolding between the billionaire shark and the flame in heels.

Sienna tilted her head. “I don’t care how legal it is. I’m not letting you gut what my father built just to feed your ego.”

Adrian stood slowly, walking around the table like a lion circling its prey. He didn’t stop until he was beside her chair.

“Listen closely, Miss Blake. I don’t do ego. I do profit. And Blake Enterprises is now mine. If you want to be useful, stay out of my way. If you don’t...”

She looked up at him, her voice a blade. “You’ll what? Sue me? Threaten me? Buy me off like everyone else?”

He smiled, but there was no warmth in it. “No. I’ll destroy you.”

Her laugh was soft, dangerous. “Then you’d better make it count. Because I don’t go down easy, Mr. Wolfe.”

The challenge hung in the air like static. For a second, Adrian saw something flash behind her eyes—grief, yes. But also defiance, sharp as steel. And something else. A flicker of attraction. Unwelcome. Inconvenient.

He hated inconvenient.

Sienna stood, closing the space between them. She barely reached his chin, but her presence hit like a punch.

“I’m not leaving,” she said softly. “Not until I prove you stole this company.”

Adrian didn’t move. “Then you’d better buckle up. This isn’t a playground.”

“No,” she whispered, stepping past him, heels slicing the silence. “It’s a battlefield.”

She left without another word. The door slammed shut behind her like punctuation.

Adrian stared after her, jaw tight.

Damn it.

He hadn’t planned for this.