Chapter 33

"To be honest, I barely had to try," Joseph said smugly over the phone. "The guy's more desperate than I thought. The second he heard the Butterfields were talking to you, he panicked." "Nice work. Set the meeting at Moonlight tomorrow. I want to handle it myself." "Got it. I'll make sure everything's ready." Joseph hung up and glanced once more at the thank-you text Russell had just sent. He sneered, deleted the message, and wiped the chat history. … Meanwhile, Russell sat alone in the empty office. He stared out at the city lights. He wasn't stupid. He had just been clinging to false hope. He had thought Esther was someone he could control. But now, he realized he had never been anything more than a temporary distraction. If anything, she had always thought of him as a toy. That was until Aaron showed up and ruined the fun. "Aaron… Aaron…" he muttered through gritted teeth. "If they want to play dirty, then I'll do it too." He pulled out his phone and logged into the company'