Chapter 0004

Drake's POV

Mia was perched on the edge of my office desk, laughing at something trivial. I leaned back in my chair, watching her twirl a lock of her hair, and wondered how I ever let her go in the first place.

If she hadn’t pleaded with those eyes back then, teary, trembling—I would have never agreed to her leaving for Paris. And if I’m honest, I have regretted it every day since then.

We met at a gala, seven years ago. She was effortlessly elegant with her perfect teeth and porcelain skin. Being with Mia felt like inhaling after years of suffocating. Charlotte, in contrast, had always felt like a negotiation.

She’d appeared at the Watson Foundation internship dinner, sleek and ambitious, the perfect beneficiary of academic pedigree. Our connection, if you could call it that, began at a hotel after a merger celebration. I was drunk. She went for what she wanted.

In the months that followed, she had an MBA, a corner office at my father’s firm, and a very specific plan: me.

The only thing I’d been serious about that night was the whiskey. But Charlotte? She saw an opportunity.

We both gained from our marriage, true. I secured stability in the eyes of my father and the board; she gained access. She acted as though she loved me, but I found out much later that she only wanted to secure her position in my family's business once I inherited it.

She never wanted me, only the title of Mrs. Watson and the power that came with it.

I still remember the letter she sent me before our engagement, emotionless and cold, a masterclass in manipulation:

“Drake, we both know that this isn’t about love. Marriage is power. You’re about to inherit an empire; I can help you protect it. Let’s not ruin this alliance by pretending that it’s anything else.”

I read that letter for hours, searching for something …something to tell me that it’s a prank, that it’s not real…doubt, anything. But I got nothing. And just before I tore the paper, I realized that she was an emotionless bitch!

That was the day I stopped believing in her.

That was the day I decided to shut out my heart to her.

And now? With Mia back beside me, it was time to reclaim what I gave up and push Charlotte out for good.

Our marriage was a façade, held together by quarterly expectations and my father’s obsession with the family’s legacy. He wanted a grandchild. But the idea of building a family with Charlotte had always repulsed me. Every time he pressed for a grandchild, I deflected and found strategic delays, carefully timed excuses.

Because I was waiting. For the day Mia returned.

She leaned closer now, resting her hand on mine. Her voice was honey, but there was iron beneath it. “You said Charlotte’s just your secretary now?”

“She’s also a director,” I said, my lips curving into a smile. My father had said that it was proper for her to be just my secretary and it was agreed to make her the director of strategic planning.

Admittedly, she was good at her job, the best even, but I didn’t want to be tied to her anymore!

“Then she shouldn’t be either,” Mia replied, breaking my string of thoughts. “Replace her.”

I didn’t hesitate. “You don’t need my permission.”

Mia’s smile deepened, satisfied. I knew how she played. Like me, she didn’t just want Charlotte out, she wanted to erase her. And I was ready to hand her the eraser.

“There’s no child, no tie,” I added, more to myself than to her. “Nothing left to salvage.”

Mia laid out her plan as if it had already happened. “You remember Alexandra Winter from Houston?”

I furrowed my brows. I didn’t know any Alexandra, but if she had a plan, I wouldn’t stop her. “What about her?”

“I’ve been speaking to her. I think we should bring her in as the new Director of Strategic Development. That’s step one. Step two, we dissolve Charlotte’s presence in the company.”

I chuckled. “It’s like you’re in my head.”

Mia’s blue eyes gleamed. “That’s why you trust me.”

And she was right.

Mia carried out her plan the next morning. I watched her from my window, her heels echoing through the hallway, each step deliberate and predatory. She stopped just short of Charlotte and Alexandra who seemed to be I. Dorm sort of conflict. Of course, Charlotte wouldn’t want to accept it quietly.

“Alexandra Winters,” she purred, “will be joining us as the new Director of Strategic Development.”

She didn’t need to say more. The implication was a blow. ‘You’re obsolete.’

Charlotte blinked once, hard. I knew that look. She was wounded and trying to process the blow without flinching.

“My department?” she asked, the disbelief in her voice raw.

“You mean your former department,” Alexandra said, her tone slick and polished. “It’s past tense, darling.”

I folded my arms and almost laughed upon seeing the disbelief on her face. She didn’t even deserve the courtesy of being warned.

The betrayal took root in her silence. But she didn’t crumble, she turned on her heel and marched towards my office, her eyes blazing with anger.

Predictable.

Before she could make it to the door, Mia intercepted her, gripping her wrist like a leash. “Where do you think you’re going?”

Charlotte yanked her arm free. “To speak to Drake. This is beyond unprofessional.”

Alexandra’s laugh rang out like a whip. “You mean like sleeping with the CEO to skip five rungs on the ladder? That kind of unprofessional?”

“Careful,” Mia added, “you might make people think you earned your position.”

A hushed silence spread across the executive floor like spilled wine.

Charlotte’s voice was barely audible. “What are you talking about?”

Alexandra stepped forward, her voice smooth and vicious. “Please. Everyone knows. You weren’t qualified. You were convenient. An MBA and a pair of sexy lingeries.”

I stood perfectly still, watching it all unfold like theater. This was what she wanted, wasn’t it? Power. Influence. My name.

Let her wear it like a crown made of thorns.

And yet… i felt a pang if hurt in my chest.&

For a second, I saw her not as the woman I resented but as the one who stood beside me at the altar. I remembered her hand, hovering near mine, waiting. Silent. Hoping.

I had ignored it.

Just like I was ignoring her now.

My jaw tightened and I turned away.

She made her choice the day she turned love into leverage. And I had made mine.