The twelfth week, Lena laughed at Damien.
Not with him.
At him.
And he had never been the same.
---
It happened on a Wednesday.
Damien was in the nursery. Lena was on the changing table. He was trying to put a fresh diaper on her, but she was squirming. Kicking. Doing everything in her power to make the task impossible.
"Hold still," he said.
Lena kicked.
"I said hold still."
Lena kicked harder.
"You're going to make me drop you."
Lena looked up at him.
Her dark eyes. Her tiny mouth. Her soft, perfect face.
And then she laughed.
Not the small, gurgling laugh from before. A real laugh. The kind that came from somewhere deep. Somewhere joyful. Somewhere that recognized absurdity when it saw it.
Damien froze.
"Are you laughing at me?"
Lena laughed again.
"You are. You're laughing at your father."
Lena kicked her legs.
"I'm trying to keep you clean. I'm trying to keep you healthy. I'm trying to keep you alive."
Lena laughed harder.
Damien started laughing too.
---
Christabel appeared in the doorway.
"What's going on?"
"She's laughing at me."
"Why?"
"I don't know. I was changing her diaper."
"That's not funny."
"Tell her that."
Lena laughed again.
Christabel started laughing too.
"Great," Damien said. "Now both of you are laughing at me."
"We're not laughing at you."
"Then what are you laughing at?"
Christabel walked to him.
Kissed his cheek.
"We're laughing with you."
"I'm not laughing."
"You're smiling."
"I'm grimacing."
"You're smiling."
---
She took over the diaper change.
Lena behaved perfectly.
"She never does that for me," Damien said.
"She knows you're a pushover."
"I'm not a pushover."
"You let her laugh at you."
"I let her express herself."
Christabel laughed.
"You're going to be the fun parent."
"I'm going to be the parent who doesn't get laughed at during diaper changes."
"Good luck with that."
---
That afternoon, Sarah came over.
She brought lunch. And news.
"Kline Capital is making another move," she said.
Christabel set down her fork.
"What kind of move?"
"They're trying to rally the other shareholders. The ones who don't have super voting rights. They're trying to make you look like the villain."
"I am the villain."
"No." Sarah shook her head. "You're the woman who saved the company. There's a difference."
"Not to them."
"Then to hell with them."
---
Damien walked into the kitchen.
Lena was in his arms.
"What's going on?"
"Kline Capital," Christabel said.
"What about them?"
"They're trying again."
He sat across from her.
"Then we hit back harder."
"How?"
"We buy them."
---
Sarah stared.
"You want to buy Kline Capital?"
"I want to destroy them." Damien looked at Christabel. "Together."
Christabel was quiet for a moment.
"That's a declaration of war."
"They declared first."
"They're going to fight back."
"Let them."
---
She thought about it.
About the power they would have. The message it would send. The fear it would create.
"Okay," she said.
"Okay?"
"Let's buy them."
Sarah looked between them.
"You're both insane."
"We're in love." Christabel smiled. "Same thing."
---
The next few days were a blur.
Meetings. Phone calls. Strategy sessions.
Damien and Christabel worked side by side. Not near each other. Together.
The world watched.
The press wrote.
The enemies trembled.
---
"Super voting rights," Christabel explained to Damien one night. They were in the study. Documents spread across the desk. "I control fifty-one percent of the voting power. No matter how many shares Kline buys, he'll never have enough."
"Unless he gets other shareholders to side with him."
"He's trying."
"Can he succeed?"
She looked at him.
"Not if we get to them first."
---
They spent the night on the phone.
Calling shareholders. Calling allies. Calling people who owed them favors.
By morning, they had secured enough votes to block any move Kline made.
But that wasn't enough.
They wanted more.
They wanted everything.
---
"We're not just going to block him," Christabel said. "We're going to take him out."
"How?"
"We buy his company. Piece by piece. Share by share. Until there's nothing left."
"That's going to take months."
"Then we take months."
"That's going to take billions."
"We have billions."
He looked at her.
"You're sure about this?"
She smiled.
The dangerous one.
"I've never been more sure about anything."
---
That night, Lena woke at midnight.
Crying. Hungry.
Christabel went to her.
Lifted her from the crib.
"Hi, baby," she said.
Lena cried.
"I know," Christabel said. "You're hungry. You're wet. You're cold. I'm sorry. Mommy's been busy."
Lena stopped crying.
Looked up at her mother.
"Your father and I are going to war," Christabel said. "Not a real war. A business war. But people are going to get hurt."
Lena cooed.
"I know," Christabel said. "You don't understand. You're too small. But one day you will. And I need you to know that everything I do, I do for you."
---
Damien appeared in the doorway.
"She's up," he said.
"She's hungry."
"I'll make a bottle."
"She wants to nurse."
He walked to her.
Sat on the floor beside the rocking chair.
"Are you scared?" he asked.
"Of what?"
"Of the war."
She was quiet for a moment.
"I'm scared of losing."
"We're not going to lose."
"How do you know?"
"Because we're together."
---
Lena finished nursing.
Fell asleep against Christabel's chest.
"She's out," Christabel said.
"She's perfect."
"She's ours."
Damien stood.
Took Lena from her arms.
Laid her in the crib.
Then he walked back to Christabel.
Took her hand.
"Come with me."
"Where?"
"The garden."
---
They sat on the bench beneath the tree.
The city was dark. The stars were bright.
"I never thought I'd be here," Christabel said.
"Where?"
"Starting a war. With a baby at home."
"Life is strange."
"It's terrifying."
"It's both."
She leaned her head on his shoulder.
"We're going to win," she said.
"We're going to win."
"And then?"
"And then we'll find something else to fight."
"Why?"
"Because that's who we are."
---
The next morning, the headlines were different.
Not about the merger. Not about the press. Not about Gregory.
About the war.
"Moreau and Vance Declare War on Kline Capital."
"The Couple That Can't Be Stopped."
· "Love and Business: A Deadly Combination."*
Christabel read the articles.
Then she set down the phone.
"Now they're really afraid of us," she said.
"Good."
"Fear is not respect."
"Fear is a weapon."
---
She went to work.
The office was different now. People looked at her differently. Not with awe. With fear.
She had declared war.
And the world was watching.
---
That night, she came home early.
Lena was awake. Damien was holding her.
"How was work?" he asked.
"Productive."
"Just productive?"
"Productive and terrifying."
He walked to her.
Took her hand.
"You're not alone."
"I know."
"We're in this together."
"I know."
"Then stop being afraid."
She looked at him.
"I'm not afraid of the war."
"Then what are you afraid of?"
"Of losing myself again."
---
He pulled her into his arms.
"You're not going to lose yourself."
"How do you know?"
"Because I'm not going to let you."
She pulled back.
Looked at him.
"Promise?"
"Promise."
---
She took Lena from his arms.
Held her daughter against her chest.
"Your father just made me a promise," she said.
Lena cooed.
"He's very good at promises."
Lena smiled.
"He's very good at a lot of things."
Damien laughed.
"I'm standing right here."
"I know." Christabel kissed his cheek. "That's why I'm saying it."