“Sister, this is awesome! We finally get to compete again.”

Griffin’s eyes lit up with interest – clearly there was some history between Anastasia and Valeria.

Anastasia looked at Griffin coolly. “Mr. Orlando, you only said you’d ‘consider’ a partnership. So I’m not interested in this little competition.”

“Unless you can give me a straight answer – if I win, you have to agree to work with me.”

Sharlene’s eyes went wide. Holy shit, Ana’s got balls! That was so direct – isn’t she worried about pissing him off?

Not just Sharlene – even Griffin was impressed by Anastasia’s boldness. Griffin was genuinely curious what the hell Anastasia had that made stone-cold Cassian fall for her.

“Sister, don’t you think that’s a bit much? You’re basically holding him hostage,” Valeria said. Valeria was internally freaking out. Why is Anastasia so confident? Does she actually think she can win? Or is she just bluffing? Either way, Valeria refused to lose to Anastasia.

“Mr. Orlando, let’s just treat this as friendly competition. We won’t pressure you,” Valeria said sweetly.

Griffin barely glanced at her. Who the hell does she think she is? Why would I listen to her?

“Deal. I accept your terms.”

Everyone except Anastasia looked shocked when Griffin agreed. Griffin studied Anastasia curiously, wondering how she could stay so calm. She’s got some of Cassian’s ice-cold composure.

The group headed toward the riding facility. Griffin went in first, but then had security close the gates behind him.

Valeria called out frantically, “Mr. Orlando, we’re not inside yet!”

Griffin stopped and turned back with a distant smile. “That’s weird – aren’t you here as paying customers?”

Shit. Are you kidding me? Who was actually going to pay to get in here? Just the membership fee was two million dollars.

Several people immediately started panicking. Most of them couldn’t even ride; they’d just planned to fake their way through and hope for an opportunity. Now they couldn’t even get past the entrance. Their companies would never approve such a risky expense without advance approval for the two-million-dollar fee.

Just like that, half the competition was eliminated. Anastasia looked at Griffin with newfound respect. Smart bastard. Not only is he vetting partnerships, he’s making money off his own facility.

“What about the rest of you?” Griffin addressed the remaining contestants. He was actually testing their financial backing – if a company couldn’t afford club entry fees, they definitely couldn’t handle a major project. So he didn’t feel bad about those people leaving.

Anastasia reached into her bag for her card, but Valeria beat her to it.

“I have a membership here.” Since Valeria had said she was coming here for business, Jasper had given her his club card.

After the doorman verified it, Valeria was waved through. She looked back at Anastasia smugly. “Sister, you don’t have one? Want to use mine?”

Valeria was being deliberately provocative – she knew Anastasia would never accept her help. If Anastasia actually took the offer, Valeria could mock her for being pathetic.

“I have my own card,” Anastasia said.

She handed her membership card to the doorman.

The guard respectfully took the card, but his expression quickly changed. “Miss, your card is identical to the previous lady’s card. But our memberships are strictly one card, one entry. So who’s the actual owner of this card?”