Coleman had been right all along.

    Long before Israel went to fetch the assistant, Ste had already given Joshua, her bodyguard, clear instructions.

    "If anyone dares toy a hand on me, don''t hold back. I don''t care who you offend."

    As Ste''s protector, Joshua couldn''t just act on his own every time-one rash move could ruin her ns.

    When they reached the door to Skyler''s office, chaos greeted them. Papers were strewn everywhere, the furniture knocked askew. Skyler sat behind his desk, his face dark and twitching with anger.

    Israel''s gaze swept the room andnded on Ste, who was calmly sipping tea on the sofa as if nothing had happened. Fury surged in him; he stormed over and knocked the cup right out of her hands.

    "Ste, how can you sit there drinking tea? Do you have any idea what kind of trouble you''ve brought down on the Williams family?"

    His voice was low and venomous, eyes burning with resentment.

    "Did you even bother to find out who you shot at? Do you know what kind of family they belong to? We have a major partnership with them-one I''m in charge of!"

    The project at risk was, of course, overseen by Israel himself. If Ste had ruined things, his entire negotiation might copse.

    Ste arched an eyebrow, her tone calm. "Brother, they were the ones who made the first move. I had no choice but to defend myself.

    He pulled a gun in Dad''s office-right in front of us. How could I possibly know who he intended to shoot? Maybe me, maybe he wanted to take advantage of the chaos and turn the gun on Dad.

    If I hadn''t made sure he was no longer a threat, what if the gun went off by ident? What if Dad got hurt?

    Dad is the head of the Williams Group. We can''t afford for anything to happen to him.

    Anything—or anyone-that could threaten his safety needs to be nipped in the bud, no exceptions."

    Her voice rang with conviction.

    Skyler, always the suspicious type, was momentarily taken aback. The anger faded from his face, reced by contemtion.

    She made sense.

    Who could say if the oil tycoon had really meant to shoot Ste-or if this was all a setup to get at Skyler himself?

    Israel jabbed a finger at Ste, his voice rising. "You''re just making excuses! You did this on purpose, didn''t you? You came back to the Williams family just to bring us down!"

    pet

    Ste couldn''t helpughing. "Brother, have you lost your mind? Why

    Will I want to ruin the

    family? Give up my life as

    an heiress for what-nothing?

    In a few months, I''ll be joining the Williams Group myself. The better this family

    does, the more I stand to gain. Do you really think I''m that stupid?

    Besides, you were the one who called me here today to apologize. I barely said a word before that guy pulled a gun.

    It''s a small office-if the gun went off, who knows what might have happened to Dad?

    Everything I did was for his sake. If something happened to him, who''s going to keep us living in thep of luxury?"

    Israel''s face flushed red with rage at Ste''s righteous speech. He opened his mouth to argue, but Skyler cut him off in a cold, authoritative voice.

    "That''s enough. Stop arguing. Ste did nothing wrong-she was only trying to protect me."

    He shot Israel a withering re, making it clear he sided with Ste.

    Skyler hadpletely epted her way of handling things. Whoever those men were, they''de to his office armed. That alone meant they had bad intentions.

    Ste pressed on, "Dad, at the end of the day, this whole mess started because of the people who came

    after me. Why not track them

    and hand them over to the oil on

    and that financier? At least that

    would give those families some kind of exnation."