Chapter 110

• Miranda's POV
• The suffocating tension in the boardroom hung thick as I stepped in, the chaotic chatter of the board members ceasing the moment they caught sight of me. All eyes turned toward me as if I were both their savior and their target. My heels clicked sharply against the polished floor, echoing in the sudden silence. Clara, ever the steady presence, followed close behind, her clipboard clutched to her chest. She gave me a supportive nod, though her lips were pressed into a thin, worried line.
• I took my seat at the head of the table—the seat of power—and exhaled slowly, scanning the room. My stepmother’s schemes, my stepsister’s manipulations, and Nolan’s infuriating insistence on our engagement still swirled in my mind like a tempest. But here, in this room, I had to be the CEO they both feared and respected. My heart may have been bruised, but I wasn’t about to let that show.