Chapter 1 A Deal With Lady Devil

• “Step down, Liam.”
• He froze. The words lingered between them like smoke. It was bitter and unexpected. Very unexpected.
• From behind the desk, Liam Rodriguez lifted his gaze slowly. “What did you just say?”
• “You heard me,” Izzy said, voice flat. “Step down as CEO. Effective immediately.”
• She watched the flicker in his expression. Disbelief, bruised ego, and that flash of annoyance he always wore when someone challenged him. Typical.
• “Are you insane?”
• “You’re broke,” she said simply. “You’ve got lawsuits piling up, no liquid capital, your CFO quit last week, and I’ve seen the books. The company’s dying.” She pulled out a folder and laid it on his desk. “These are the numbers. You’re two weeks from bankruptcy. Five lawsuits. Three unpaid supplier chains. And one very loud ex-fiancée talking to tabloids and spilling your secrets.”
• He pushed back from his chair like it offended him. “You’ve seen what?”
• Izzy walked closer to his desk. She smiled sheepishly, her sharp canine teeth showing. Does he think she's just a dumb blonde Barbie doll?
• “I was the anonymous investor who helped you keep your name from getting dragged through the business section like a cautionary tale last week.”
• He laughed. A short, bitter sound. “So that’s what this is? A saviour complex?”
• Izzy didn’t smile. Her hands remained at her sides, steady. “This is a deal.”
• He stood up—slowly, like he was remembering he was taller than her. “And why the hell would I give a stranger control of my company?”
• She met his gaze. “You don’t have another choice.”
• She had thought about this moment for three years, eleven months, and fourteen days.
• Back when she was still eating canned soup in a cracked apartment, surrounded by newspaper clippings of Knox Enterprise, court documents, and her brother’s half-burnt suicide note.
• Back when she still cried.
• Now she didn’t feel anything at all.
• They had taken everything—Thomas Rodriguez, that bastard, and his boardroom wolves. First, he destroyed her father’s company. Then his reputation. Clients fled, partners vanished, and the media fed on the collapse like hyenas. David Knox, her father, died eight months later. Heart attack, they called it.
• Izzy didn’t believe that. It was shame. Grief. A body giving up. Or even a setup. And she wants all of them dead.
• Her younger brother, Nolan, lasted a year longer. He kept a straight face, but Izzy saw the cracks. When the calls stopped coming and the lawsuits didn’t—he left. Hanged himself in his room, suffered a severe broken neck and died.
• She buried two bodies in two years, both because of this Rodriguez empire.
• And now here she was, standing in the marble-and-glass monument Liam called a company, offering him money…her money. Earned in silence. Built from scraps. Invested early when no one believed in crypto. Blood money, cleaned and hardened by time.
• She was rich now. Richer than he knew. But that wasn’t the win.
• The win was watching him squirm and gaining control over him. But Liam wouldn't budge. He was almost as strong as her.
• “I’ve rebuilt companies bigger than this,” Liam said, pacing now. “You think I’m just going to let you walk in and take over?”
• “You already let it fall apart,” she said. “I’m just picking up what’s left.”
• He turned on her. “Who the hell even are you?”
• Izzy kept her face blank. “A woman with money. Vision. And leverage.”
• He stared at her for a long time. Liam wasn’t stupid—arrogant, yes, but not stupid. He knew she wasn’t bluffing. The numbers didn’t lie.
• “You must want something,” he muttered. “No one gives money away for free.”
• She tilted her head. “Don’t you?”
• “Not unless they’re trying to buy something.”
• “Exactly.”
• They stared at each other, both unmoving. A silent war in glass walls and tailored suits.
• Then, abruptly, he snapped. “You know what? Get the hell out.”
• When she didn’t move, he grabbed her arm. Not hard, but enough to shove her aside.
• Her shoulder hit the wall. Pain jolted to her skin. Any more, she could end up with an ugly bruise.
• Izzy straightened without a word; she tossed her hair back, walked right up to him, and shoved him backward.
• He stumbled a little, hitting his behind against the desk’s edge.
• Then she slapped him hard.
• Liam staggered back, eyes wide open from the sudden hit.
• It was fast and sharp, the kind of sound that stopped time.
• “You did this,” she said quietly. “You let men into your boardroom who sold you rot in golden wrappers. You were too proud to ask for help. You ran this place into the ground, and now you want to act like I’m the problem?”
• He stared at her.
• “You think I came here out of pity?” she continued. “No. I came here because this is personal.”
• “What do you fucking want from me?” Liam asked.
• I'm here for your father, Thomas. And I'll kill him and use you as my pawn. She shouldn't say that out loud, but her fuming anger begged to differ. Her eyes had gone cold, like she couldn't care even if she revealed her motives.
• “I want to ruin Thomas. I want him to beg, crawl and cry for my help, with your aid, of course.” There, she said it.
• “Isabella Knox”, she said. “That's my name. Remember your father’s old partner, David Knox? That was my father.”
• Liam's expression was above being shocked. So that's why she came here? To use me for her revenge? Who the hell was she to reveal such a disgusting plan?
• She reached for his tie, grabbed the silk, and yanked him close until their faces nearly touched.
• And then she smiled. A small, wicked smile. The kind that meant war.
• “But I have a better idea,” she murmured.
• She released his tie, letting it slide through her fingers.
• Liam didn’t speak. His breath caught in his throat.
• She leaned in close, eyes mimicking a cunning fox.
• “Instead”, she said, voice cool and crisp, “you will…”