Page 74 of Once Upon a Prince

“I would never,” Cheryl said and Ella laughed.

“You almost got away with it. The will never stated you had control over my shares, but I did. The only way you would have was if I hadn’t done anything with them before I turned twenty-six. You tried to manipulate me and what my father wanted. That ends tonight. Sign the paper.” Ella pointed at the paper.

Cheryl looked at the paperwork quickly and then looked up at Ella and me. We were standing next to each other and while I wanted to put my arm around her and show that we were a united front, I didn’t need to.

“You aren’t going to get away with this. You can’t manipulate me like this,” Cheryl said.

“Like you tried to do? What did you think was going to happen? Did you think I was going to side against Dax? Did you think that I would want to stay with the company and that it would matter more to me than him? Did you think that I was going to come crawling back to you and work to save the company you almost ruined? What were you hoping to do, lock me in my room like you did when I was a kid and have me work ungodly hours?

“You might have been able to do that to me when I was younger. You might have been able to manipulate me because I cared so much about the company and making my father proud, but you underestimated how much I love Dax and how much stronger I’ve gotten since I got out from under your thumb.

“The problem was you never thought I could find a way to have both Dax and the company. I can make my father proud and still be with him. You underestimated me, as you have since I was a child and you’ve done it for the last time. Sign the papers, get out, and never talk to me again,” Ella said.

Cheryl stared at Ella for a few more moments. She was trying to find a way out, to see if she could get Ella to cave. Ella stood tall next to me and held Cheryl’s gaze. Ella wasn’t going to back down on this or anything anymore. I watched Cheryl as the realization of those facts slowly sunk in.

With a huff, Cheryl signed the papers and tossed them at Ella. “This isn’t the end. This isn’t the last you will hear from me,” she said as she walked past us and out the door.

Ella didn’t watch her go but waited until the door had closed and shook her head. “Fat chance of that, you witch,” she said and smiled at me.

Chapter 43

Ella

The relief was immediate and intense. Seeing Cheryl walk out of the conference room, and knowing that it was the last I was ever going to see her was incredible. I had known she was up to something. The financial records she had been sending me were too neat, too perfect, and too similar. I knew immediately she was doing something wrong; it had just taken longer than I thought it would to figure it out.

I had never really thought she would be so bad at running the business that she would almost run it into the ground. Nor had I thought she would go so far and be that vindictive to try and bring Dax into this and ruin his career.

There was a part of me who had always hoped that she would turn around, see that we could work together, that we both loved my father and it was what could bring us together not tear us apart. I saw now that she never loved my father, she only loved what he could give her. With him gone, she only wanted to get everything she could out of the company, even if it meant she had to destroy it in the process.

While Cheryl controlled my shares, I technically could transfer them to whoever I wanted. I couldn’t sell them until I was twenty-six or have any decisions with what was done. If she wanted to have them, she would need to do something to force me to transfer them to her. With me looking into the finances it had pushed her to show her hand, which was exactly what we wanted her to do.

Her bringing Dax into the mix was a twist I hadn’t seen coming and only showed how desperate she was. I knew there was something she was going to threaten me with. It was why I had made sure I recorded our encounter.

“Well, that should be the end of her in my life,” I said as I turned to look at Dax.

“If she’s smart, she has learned never to mess with you,” he said as he pulled me into his arms. “You were incredible. Talk about great timing.”

“I came over as soon as I could. I had wanted to be here when you got out of the meeting but I got delayed. I hadn’t expected Cheryl to come and find you so soon. She really wanted to gloat.”

“Too bad it didn’t happen for you,” Dax said.

“No. Thank you for believing in me, for trusting me, for going along with this crazy scheme.”

“Ella, haven’t you figured out yet that there isn’t anything that I wouldn’t do for you? I would have slayed a dragon, fought a thousand evil stepmothers, or done whatever I had to do in order to be with you.”

“Would you have followed me to Nebraska?”

“I would follow you anywhere. There isn’t anywhere that you can’t go that I won’t find you. If you disappeared on me, I would have searched the world until I found you.”

“You love me that much?” I asked. He had never said the words but his actions and what he just said to me were almost as good as those words.

“More,” he said and brought his lips toward mine.

I put my hand out and stopped his lips before they were inches from mine. “I love you, too,” I said.

“You told me.”

I leaned back and gave him a questioning look. “I did?”