"She's asleep," Connor sighed, locking the brakes of his chair and leaning his head back in frustration, "That was not good timing for her. At all."

"If she followed us from the hospital, it's only a matter of time before she finds out about the penthouse," Ezra noted seriously, his eyes moving to Jackson.

"The parking level for residents is private," Jackson said lowly, though the frustration in his eyes couldn't be missed, "As long as she stays on this floor, and only takes the secured elevator from this level to the garage, there's no way for her to reach her."

"That's only going to work for so long, Jackson," Connor said seriously, his frown deepening, "She's going to want to visit Blaise. The hospital is not secure. She's going to need to go to physical therapy, and eventually to work-"

"It doesn't need to be forever," Jackson waved his hand impatiently, "I will arrange for the physical therapy to take place here for now. We'll convince her to remain here just until I can arrange for better security. She has a long way to go before she's ready to return to work, and now that she and Ezra are married we can start coordinating with her proxies at her companies more freely."

"I still can't believe she named you her temporary replacement," Ezra grumbled, clearly still bitter, "I'm her husband."

"You were only her fiancé at the time, and you have a long way to go before you are more than a contract husband to someone like Blair Montgomery, boy," Jackson scoffed, his eyes flashing with a pride that only made Ezra more irritated.

Connor didn't say anything on the matter, but if he was honest he had been just as shocked by that outcome. He hadn't been surprised when the first thing Blair did when she woke up and calmed down as to call the company. She was a lot like her father and brother in that way.

He hadn't even been that surprised that her first thought was to have the Strategic Planning Office issue a temporary directive - one that a legal representative had rushed over for her to sign within the hour.

What had surprised him, though, was that the 'Special Advisor' she'd assigned to take authority while she recovered had been none-other than Jackson King.

The move said everything without needing words about the ultimate trust she had in the man, and Jackson had been preening like a damn peacock ever since.

It was honestly pretty insufferable, but Connor was more focused on Blair's recovery than Jackson's untenable ego.

"I got married. You're supposed to be retired now," Ezra bit, standing up quickly and grabbing the whiskey he was very thankful he'd stored at Blair's place.

"The ink isn't even dry on your marriage certificate," Jackson noted, raising an eyebrow at his grouchy grandson, "But you're right. It's perfect timing. I'll retire as your business advisor so I can support Blair instead."

Ezra slammed his glass down on the countertop and glared at the old man, electricity sparking where their eyes met in a staring battle that had Connor struggling not to laugh at them both.

Two grown men arguing over running companies like children argue over toys - definitely a rich-people problem that Connor, even with all his success, could barely grasp.

"Blair has been hiding from her mother for years," Connor said instead, redirecting the energy back to where it needed to be, "If she knows that Blair has been hospitalized, you can bet she's trying to stir up trouble with the board."

"She is," Jackson confirmed, the playfulness falling away and the sharp edge of a man versed in corporate battlefields returning in an instant, "The day after Blair's accident, while she was still unconscious and I hadn't been appointed yet, Ruby tried to walk into the emergency board meeting that was called. She clearly has people on the inside to feed her information. I have no idea how deep her ties go right now, but she didn't make it into the board room."

"I'm surprised," Connor admitted, blinking, "It should have been the perfect opportunity for Ruby to walk in and claim Blair unable to lead. She could have had the board appoint her to lead in Blair's stead until Blair recovered."

"She could have, if she had any actual leverage in the company or brains to pull something like that off," Jackson scoffed, "Blair's father was brilliant, and had a brilliant and loyal leadership team at his back before he died. He had everything prepared in advance for transferring power to his son, and Blair was named as his secondary."

Jackson smirked, but there wasn't a hint of humor in his eyes as he spoke.

"When he died and Blair went missing, there was an intense power struggle, and Ruby tried to use that first year or so to wiggle her way in. She claimed Blair was incapable of leading because of the grief, and tried to be named interim CEO until Blair could take the role.

She failed because she's an idiot. No mind for business, finances, or management. Her husband is a mediocre businessman with limited success. They walked in barely understanding how to play checkers and thought they stood a chance in a chess tournament. The board and leadership team never even entertained their nonsense. Even with Blair initially missing, Ward had arranged everything too neatly and had too many people loyal to him for Ruby's scheme to play out.

She learned quickly she needed a Montgomery's physical presence and signature with the board as witnesses if she wanted the transfer of power to happen. After I helped Blair get reinstated and put procedures in place to eliminate even the smallest gaps in procedures Ruby could exploit, any possibility of finding a work around vanished."

"You think she's behind it, right?" Connor said quietly, his eyes lowered to hide the churning emotions within, "Ruby had Jack and Ward killed?"

"I think she is the most likely culprit," Jackson agreed, "but she's not smart enough to have done it alone. She had to have had help. A backer that pulled the strings."

"That's why Blair said she couldn't disappear," Ezra nodded in understanding, his suspicions only deepening with Jackson's words, "Ruby is the link between the accident and the real power player behind it."

"Yes," Jackson agreed, rubbing his face roughly, "Ruby isn't particularly impressive. She may be a fine actress and have a pretty enough face to secure her a rich man's money in exchange for a child... but arranging a boating accident that left no evidence? Kidnapping Blair and keeping her captive for months as she tried to manipulate the board into giving her the CEO office? All these years of playing the face of Montgomery Enterprises at galas, auctions, and events that she had no business attending? No... there's clearly someone else behind it. Someone that likely wants Ward's company to fail with Ruby at the helm, if I had to guess."

"A competitor," Ezra said, sitting back down and sliding a glass to both Connor and Jackson that matched his own, "but not just any competitor. Ward Enterprises isn't short on competition, some of which are definitely dangerous, but this isn't an instant reward kind of scheme. Even if Ruby had succeeded, the company would be able to survive for years before the cracks really started to shine through. There's the board, the VPs all vying for power, the standard politics involved... Ruby wouldn't be able to walk in and nuke the whole thing in a day. Whoever backed her was in it for the long haul."

"Unless the goal wasn't to actually nuke it, right?" Connor asked off-handedly, not really understanding any of the business nonsense they were spinning.

To him it sounded like a movie drama he wouldn't pay the price of a ticket to go see. Family conglomerates fighting each other over business projects like ancient royal families used to fight over land didn't appeal to Connor one bit.

"What do you mean?" Ezra asked, pulling Connor's attention back to the present.

"Well, what if the goal wasn't to nuke the company but just to injure it enough to need saving?" Connor said, shrugging, "Isn't that one of those stupid movie tropes that everyone loves? A heir or heiress to a giant company falls on hard times and everything goes to shit just in time for some rich billionaire to sweep in like a knight in shining armor and save them? Sometimes by marriage, sometimes with a company merger, maybe even some huge favor that isn't purely business - whatever the ridiculous romantic billionaire webnovels online that end up getting movie deals think will appeal to the audience more."

Both Ezra and Jackson just stared at Connor blankly, clearly at a loss for words.

They had no idea what he was talking about, but it sounded so ludicrous that all they could do was stare in silence until Connor shifted awkwardly.

"What?" Connor asked, scratching his cheek, "I work in a hospital... there are always soap operas playing the waiting rooms..."

"I'm already investigating companies that have both the means and players smart enough to pull off something this complex," Jackson finally said, turning to Ezra without acknowledging Connor at all, "So far I haven't been able to find a link between Ruby or her husband and anyone that fits the bill."

"What about her sister?" Ezra asked, tilting his head, "She stole Blair's painting identity, and she throws around the heiress title very publicly to prop up her acting career. Her social media account is basically just a testament to her living the high life since none of her roles have actually taken off. Is it possible she's the connection?"

"That seems unlikely," Jackson said, furrowing his brow, "but... admittedly I didn't spend much time on her after a cursory glance to say I did my due diligence. As far as I can tell, she's never stepped foot into one of the Montgomery offices, or been involved with the business at all."

"You don't need to be in the business to play messenger," Ezra pointed out, leaning back and crossing his legs thoughtfully, "Investigate the sister. Just to be sure. There's a connection somewhere and we're missing it... time to start expanding the search."

Jackson nodded thoughtfully, swirling his glass even as his eyes drifted toward the hallway that led to Blair's door.

He was already planning to help Blair investigate what happened to her father and brother before the accident. After she signed that directive, he was bound and determined to help her clean house and prepare for her to take over the company as well.

Ever since she'd passed the torch to him, however temporarily, he'd moved in fast and brutal to do just that. He'd already ordered a full investigation company by company of all staff, finances, and current contracts - the preliminary results were enough for him to fire more than a dozen senior management staff across four companies.

So far, he hadn't found any direct ties to Ruby, but even a whiff of it was enough for him to cut someone loose at the moment. He hoped that by the time Blair was ready to return to the role that he'd have paved the way for her to feel safe enough to work in person.

Jackson knew Blair was a brilliant businesswoman, and she deserved the chance to shine the way her father would have wanted her to. She should be drinking with clients over signed contracts while discussing profitable portfolios, not going by an alias and running away from cheating exes who had no idea she was worth billions.

It was time for her to stop working in the shadows.

He couldn't eliminate the very real dangers of being the Ward heiress - even he couldn't change how the world worked. He could, however, eliminate the immediate threats and make it so Blair could focus on the work itself - not possible kidnapping attempts and threats against her life by the very people that stole her father and brother from her.

This kind of work was Jackson's lifeblood, and he was going to use every skill he'd ever acquired to protect the young woman that gave him a reason to keep living after his wife died.

After his son and daughter-in-law died.

A fire that Blair had stoked to life three years ago was suddenly blazing deep in Jackson's soul, and he was determined to use that fire to burn Blair's enemies to the ground.

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