Ava’s POV

I stayed pressed against the wall outside the small conference room as Lucas’s footsteps faded away toward his office, but his last words didn’t leave my ears.

“Tonight, the board votes— Nicholas won’t even know what hit him.”

My whole body trembled with anger, and my fists clenched so tightly it hurt.

They were stealing everything Nicholas built while he was gone and the girls were out there, and I had been hiding in a house that wasn’t even mine, but theirs, and they ...