Chapter 2- The Deal

Elena's POV 

Two years.

That’s how long it took to kill the old me.

After my car accident it was like I was reborn as a whole new person. The doctors said my heart stopped for exactly 3 minutes and I was lucky to be alive but I believed I died and was reborn. 

No longer the Old Elena.

The girl who believed in forever.

Who thought love could fix people.

Who begged a man who cheated on her… in public…like she didn’t have a damn spine.

Yeah. That girl’s dead.

Now I don’t beg.

I don’t wait.

And I sure as hell don’t love.

When I looked in the mirror this morning, I barely recognized myself.

The soft girl with long wavy hair? Gone.

I chopped it off last week..shoulder-length and dyed it black. Liam used to say he loved my long wavy hair and it made me look “innocent.”

Well, guess what? Innocence doesn’t keep you alive.

I wiped my lipstick once, added a little gloss, and stared at my reflection.

The elevator doors opened with a soft ding. Carter Industries Tower…. my father’s empire. I hadn't been here in two years. 

I stepped out of the elevator. Heads turned. People whispered. Maybe it was the haircut or maybe because they hadn't seen the runaway heiress for two years.

“Miss Carter,” the receptionist stammered, standing quickly. “Mr. Carter is expecting you.”

“Of course he is,” I said coolly.

I took the private elevator up to the 52nd floor. 

The doors slid open, and there he was.

Richard Carter.

My father.

The man who built empires and ruined people for fun of it. The most popular New York mobster alive. The fucking devil himself.

He stood by the floor-to-ceiling window, a glass of scotch in hand, staring down at the city like it belonged to him…. because in a true sense, it actually did.

“Two years,” he said without turning around. “And not a single call from you.”

I crossed my arms. “If you really cared daddy you would have put out all your resources to actually look for me after my accident.”

He chuckled, low and cold. “Touché.”

When he finally turned, his gaze swept over me…slow, assessing,....lusting. 

“You’ve changed,” he said finally.

“I had to,” I replied. “The world isn’t kind to stupid girls.” 

He smirked, setting his drink down. “No. But it rewards the clever ones…..It's a shame though, I loved your hair….Reminds me of your mother.”

I didn’t sit until he gestured to the chair opposite his desk. The man still liked control even over something as small as where I placed my body. I was wise enough to know that.

“ I know you didn't call me all the way from Hong Kong just to talk about my haircut and the dead,” I said defiantly.

“No,” he admitted, lowering himself into his chair. “I called because I have a job for you.”

My pulse stilled.

I knew this tone….it was the one he used when things got dangerous.

He opened a black folder and slid it across the desk.

“Adrian Blackthorne,” he said.

I glanced down at the photo. it was a man in his late forties. He had dark hair. Cold, seductive grey eyes and a firm chin for a man his age. His face and name looked familiar like I had seen and heard it somewhere before. Those green sexy eyes reminded me so much of something.

Something I wanted to forget.

I raised a brow. “You’re giving me… a man?”

“I’m giving you an empire,” he corrected. “Adrian Blackthorne is the head of Blackthorne Holdings…the same empire currently drowning in scandal.”

He leaned back, hands clasped. “Money laundering, political bribery, and a rather nasty sex scandal involving one of his board members. My sources tell me he’s desperate to clean his image.”

I lifted my gaze from the file. “ Right?.... so you want to drag me into your corporate wars now. Also why the hell are you telling me this….what exactly do you want me to do? Write him a letter of sympathy?”

A smirk ghosted his lips. “He needs a wife, Elena.”

My breath hitched, just slightly. “A wife?”

He nodded. “A contract marriage to be precise.A clean, respectable woman to stand beside him so the scandal can all blow over.”

I laughed. low and humorless. “And you think I look like the kind of woman who can clean up a billionaire’s mess?”

His smile didn’t waver. “You look like someone who can destroy one. That’s exactly why he’ll want you.”

There was a brief silence. 

I stood, pacing slowly toward the window. The city stretched beneath us 

“What do I get out of this?” I asked finally.

His tone dropped. “Your birthright.”

I turned to him. “Carter Holdings?”

He nodded once. “Every share. Every asset. Everything that should’ve been yours. You no longer need to hide in the shadows.”

There it was. The thing he’d dangled over my head for years.

I crossed my arms, my voice low. “And what’s the catch?”

“The catch,” he said, standing, “is that you bring Adrian Blackthorn to his knees before you walk away.”

I blinked. “You want me to ruin him?”

“I want you to infiltrate him,” he corrected softly, stepping closer. “Learn his weaknesses. Gain his trust. Then take everything that makes him powerful.”

“First of all, you could have just assassinated him like you do a lot of people. Secondly, why?....what do you have against this guy?" 

He was closer now…too close. I could feel his warm breath on my ear. His cologne was expensive and choking. It reminded me of nights when he’d come home late and I’d pretend not to see the blood on his cuffs.

“He killed your mother,.... slit her throat clean right in front of me and acted like it was nothing" I could hear the pain in his voice.

My breath caught. So this was my mum's murderer Dad always talked about.

I swallowed. “And when I’m done with him?” My voice low and angry.

He smiled faintly. “When you’re done, you’ll have the Carter empire, his empire, and…”

He paused, watching me carefully. “You’ll finally get to see your mother’s resting place.”

The air left my lungs.

“You’re lying.”

He tilted his head. “Am I?”

My hands curled into fists. For years he’d hidden her from me….He said I was not ready enough to see her grave. 

“Why now?” I asked quietly.

“Because now you’re ready,” he said simply. “The girl who cried for Liam is gone. And the woman standing in front of me…”

His eyes flicked over me again, sharp and assessing. “She’s angry, dangerous.”

For a moment, neither of us spoke. The silence between us was heavy…. thick with unspoken things, control and defiance.

Finally, I picked up the photo of Adrian Blackthorne again.

“Tell me what I need to know.”

He smirked. “That’s my girl.”

“Don’t call me that.” I said bitterly 

He chuckled softly but didn’t apologize. “Adrian’s people are interviewing candidates this week. He doesn’t know you’re a Carter. You’ll apply under a new identity….Elena Reed. He’ll think you’re a poor girl trying to pay your poor mother medical bills.”

“How are you so sure he's going to pick me?" He stared at me long and hard with a emotions I wasn't able to pin in his eyes

“Oh…he will!” He said with confidence.

I stared at the man in the photo. The way his mouth didn’t quite smile. A man like that didn’t trust just anyone easily.

But I didn’t need his trust. I needed his downfall.

“Fine,” I said. “I’ll do it.”

My father’s eyes glinted with satisfaction. “Good.”

He moved closer, brushing a strand of my short hair behind my ear. He stared at my face as his lips closed in on mine. I held his gaze, breathing steadily but slowly.

 His hands touched my knee and began to slide upwards. My breath shook.

“You remind me so much of your mother….you're so grown now." His voice now almost a whisper as his lips hovered closely over mine. 

I couldn't stop him…couldn't push him away…he was my father,yes!.

But resisting him could mean death even as his daughter…. I wasn't dum enough to resist the Devil. That was suicide.

My eyes pleaded for him to stop…to end this sexual obsession he had had for years. 

The gesture was strangely intimate, almost tender, but his tone was anything but.

“Don’t let him see your weakness, Elena,” he murmured. “Men like Adrian can smell fear.”

“I’m not afraid,” I whispered.

“Good,” he said again, voice low. “Because if you fail me or get discovered, you lose everything including your life.”

He stepped back, just enough for me to breathe again.

I turned toward the door, but his voice stopped me.

“Oh, and Elena?”

I looked over my shoulder.

“This time,” he said softly, “don’t fall in love.”

The words hit harder than I wanted to admit.

“Don’t worry,” I said coldly. “That part of me doesn’t exist anymore.”

He smiled like he didn’t believe me.

And as I walked out of his office, I remembered where I knew him from.

I never asked his name that night. Didn’t need to. Something in me already knew. The way he moved, the way he looked at

me like he owned the world and everything in it…  

He was that man.  

And if my father ever found out what I did with him, who he really was…  

It would destroy everything.  

Especially me.