Chapter 5 - The Lawyer's office

She waits. The message doesn't come.

She puts the phone down. Stares at the ceiling.

Tomorrow, she marries a Logan. Tomorrow, she becomes the enemy.

But tonight, she is still Olivia Hughes. Still her father's daughter. Still fighting.

She closes her eyes.

Sleep doesn't come.

Sebastian Logan stands by his penthouse window, watching the sun rise over Los Angeles. He hasn't slept. He doesn't need sleep. Sleep is for people who can afford to be weak.

His phone buzzes. A text from his security team: "No movement from the Hughes apartment. Subject did not leave overnight."

He reads it twice. Then he deletes it.

Olivia Hughes stayed home. She didn't run. She didn't go to the police. That could mean she knows nothing. Or it could mean she knows everything and is smart enough to hide it.

He thinks about the accident. Robbin's car, flipped on its side, smoke rising from the engine. A purple car with no plates. Someone hit him deliberately. Someone saved her.

Who?

He picks up his phone again. Calls the hospital.

"Robbin Jonathan," he says. "What's his condition?"

The nurse hesitates. "He's stable, but still unconscious. The doctors say it could be days before he wakes up. He suffered significant head trauma."

Sebastian hangs up.

Robbin is useless. Whatever he told Olivia…whatever she knows….he can't confirm it. Can't stop her. Can't do anything except lie in a hospital bed and dream.

But Sebastian has never relied on other people to do his work. If Olivia Hughes knows the truth, she needs to be handled. Personally.

He dials another number.

"I need someone followed. A young woman. She'll be at a lawyer's office this morning." He pauses. "If she doesn't show up, come to me directly. We'll handle it another way."

He hangs up. Stares at his reflection in the dark glass.

If Olivia comes to sign the contract, she's either innocent or playing a dangerous game. If she doesn't come, she knows everything….and she becomes a problem that needs to disappear.

Either way, Sebastian is ready.

Olivia arrives at the lawyer's office at 9:57 AM.

She didn't sleep last night. Couldn't. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw her father's face. The pills. The woman in black. The car crashing behind her.

She told Chloe everything again this morning. Whispered it in the kitchen while their mother slept.

"If anything happens to me…." Olivia started.

Chloe cut her off. "Nothing is going to happen to you. You're going to sign that paper, marry that Logan, and come back to me. End of story."

Olivia wanted to believe her. She still wants to believe her.

Now she stands outside the lawyer's office, staring at the dark wood door. Her hands are shaking. Her heart is pounding so hard she can hear it in her ears.

She pushes the door open.

The room is cold. Too cold. Air conditioning humming, windows sealed shut, gray light filtering through the blinds. A long table sits in the center, two chairs on each side. The contract lies in the middle, thick pages, small print, waiting.

And standing by the window, back to her, is a man.

He turns when she enters.

Aiden Logan is taller than she imagined. Six feet four, maybe more. Platinum blonde hair, perfectly cut. A face carved from stone….sharp jaw, straight nose, lips pressed into a thin line. His suit is black, expensive, flawless. His eyes are the color of winter. Ice. Cold enough to freeze the ocean.

He looks at her like she's a stain on his expensive shoes.

She looks back with the same expression.

No one speaks. No one moves. The silence stretches between them, thick and suffocating.

A lawyer she doesn't recognize clears his throat. "Please, sit."

Olivia walks to the table. Each step feels like walking through water. She keeps her chin up, her back straight. She will not let him see her shake.

She sits. Aiden sits across from her. The contract lies between them like a wall.

The lawyer pushes two pens across the table. "You've both had time to review the terms. One year. After that, either party may file for dissolution without penalty."

Olivia stares at the paper. Her father's handwriting flashes in her mind. A contract he signed with Sebastian Logan. The contract that ruined them.

She picks up the pen.

Aiden picks up his.

Neither looks at the other. Neither speaks. The only sound is the scratch of pens on paper, signing their lives away.

When she finishes, she sets the pen down carefully. Aiden sets his down too. Their eyes meet for one second. Two.

There's something there. Something beneath the ice. A crack. A flicker. She can't name it, but it makes her stomach tighten.

Then it's gone. His face closes off again. Cold. Untouchable.

The lawyer gathers the papers. "The ceremony will take place Saturday. A small affair. Just family."

Olivia stands. Her legs feel weak, but she doesn't show it. She looks at Aiden one more time.

He isn't looking at her. He's staring out the window, hands in his pockets, already somewhere else. Already done with her.

She turns and walks out.

In the hallway, she stops. Leans against the wall. Breathes.

She just signed a contract to marry a Logan. The son of her father's murderer. The man with ice in his eyes.

But she also signed something else. She signed her way into his house. His life. His secrets.

And when she finds the proof she needs, she'll destroy everything he loves.

Her phone buzzes.

Chloe: "How did it go?"

Olivia types back: "I'm in."

She walks toward the elevator. Her hands are steady now. Her heart is calm.

She is Olivia Hughes. Her father was murdered. And she will have justice.

Behind her, in the office, Aiden watches her go.

He doesn't know what he expected. Someone different, maybe. Someone who would cry, beg, try to charm him. Someone weak.

She wasn't weak.

She looked at him like he was nothing. Like the Logan name meant nothing. Like his money meant nothing.

He doesn't know whether to be relieved or furious.

His phone buzzes. A text from his investigator: "Found something on Magdalene Hughes. You'll want to see this. It goes back forty years."

He stares at the screen.

Forty years. His father and Olivia's mother. Something happened between them. Something his father has never forgotten.

He types back: "Send it. Everything."

He looks at the door where Olivia disappeared.

She's hiding something. He saw it in her eyes. Beneath the hatred, something else. Something she's keeping close.

He should be careful. He should keep his distance. He should remember that this is just a contract, just a year, just a game his father is playing.

But there's something about her. Something that makes him want to know more.

And Aiden Logan has never been good at letting things go.

He walks out of the office, phone in hand, already reading the file.

In the parking lot, a man in a dark car watches Olivia Hughes drive away. He picks up his phone.

"She signed. The wedding is Saturday."

Sebastian's voice is calm. "Good. Keep watching her. If she goes anywhere near Doctor Weiller, I want to know immediately."

The man hangs up. Pulls out of the parking lot, keeping distance, keeping watch.

Olivia Hughes doesn't know it yet, but she's

not just marrying into the Logan family. She's walking into a trap that has been set for forty years.

And the man who set it has no intention of letting her escape..