A message came through Maya just before Grace stepped into her ten a.m. strategy meeting.
"Your father wants you in his office. Now"
Two hours later, Grace sat in the polished leather chair across from Governor Richard Cole the view of the City behind him as familiar as his clipped tone.
He wasn't smiling.
"Grace ," he began, steepling his fingers. "I've let you run your firm the way you saw fit. I've defended your independence , even when your choices made headlines."
Her spine straightened"If this is about yesterday's lunch…"
"It is," he cut in, sharp "Do you have any idea how it looks? You're photographed smiling over wine with the same man whose development is dividing the city. People are starting to whisper, Grace . They think you've gone soft. That you're compromised."
"I'm not," she said firmly "You know me better than that."
He gave a cold smile "Public perception doesn't care how well I know you, what matters is that your face is now tied to Liam Vale's and to every controversial inch of that smart city proposal"
"I'm trying to make the project better," Grace argued "More ethical and more sustainable. That's what you raised me to do and I'm using my power for good."
Richard leaned forward, eyes sharp "Not at the cost of everything we've built. You think you're helping? The donors backing your firm and several of them are threatening to pull out. They think you're letting Vale use you"
Anger burned in her chest "I'm not his pawn. If anything then I'm the reason this city might get a version of his project that actually serves the people."
"Even so," he said tightly, "if you continue this so called relationship, partnership, whatever it is , you will lose funding. I can't protect you from that fallout. And I won't."
Grace stared at him, stunned by the finality in his voice.
He wasn't warning her.
He was giving her a choice.
She could back away from Liam Vale quietly, politically, surgically or watch the empire she'd built crumble beneath the weight of whispered rumors and severed connections.
But there was one thing that Richard Cole had never understood about his daughter.
She had been built under pressure. Molded by it and she had no intention of folding now.
"I appreciate your concern," she said slowly. "But if donors want to walk because I'm doing the right thing, let them. I won't make decisions based on fear"
Her father's eyes narrowed. "You'd risk everything for him"
"I'm not risking it for him," she said calmly. "I'm risking it for me , the vision I believe in. And if that vision happens to include working with Liam Vale, so be it."
A beat of silence stretched between them
Finally, Richard sat back, disappointment heavy in his gaze. "Then I hope you know what you're doing. Because the moment it blows up, they won't just come for him. They'll come for you."
Grace rose from the chair, heels clicking against the floor like gunshots "Let them come"
And she left, her pulse pounding but her resolve stronger than ever.
She'd just declared war on politics-as-usual and she didn't intend to lose