Chapter 004

The clock started counting down. Mara didn't know what it meant or what would happen when it reached zero.

Nothing like this had happened during her earlier tests. She quickly recalled Muse from the pocket space.

The countdown stopped the instant the cat returned to her arms.

[LIVING CREATURE STORED FOR THIRTY SECONDS.]

[STORAGE COST: 0.1% OF STORED SUPPLIES.]

[FORCEFUL EJECTION NOT INITIATED.]

Before Mara could understand the second notification, a small fraction of the bottled water and food she had stored vanished from the pocket space.

“Shit. It should have been the clothes,” Mara muttered under her breath.

Muse was unharmed, but Mara understood the price. The longer a living creature remained inside, the more of her stockpiled supplies the space would consume.

Still, she didn't know what might happen at the end of the countdown and it was safer not to try.

That meant she could not keep anything living there unless it was absolutely necessary.

Her mind shifted to her mother. She might hide Evelyn inside for a minute during an attack, but the pocket space could never replace a safe home. Mara had to complete the hotel and learn self-defence and shooting within the forty-four days she had left.

After hours of moving supplies, Mara's whole body ached. She was about to rest when her cell phone started ringing.

Grace was calling.

“What’s up, babe?” Mara greeted. Even her soft voice now carried an urgency that seemed set in stone.

“Good news first. Jason cannot claim ownership of your blueprints because you never signed the transfer agreement. You still have control.”

“And the bad news?” Mara asked through clenched teeth.

“Jason has already contacted Noah Corporation. He gave them the authority letter you signed when he started attending the hotel meetings for you. He also told them that you are mentally unstable.”

The bastard had moved faster than she expected.

“Being your husband does not automatically give him rights to your work,” Grace continued. “However, until we revoke that letter, he can keep presenting himself as your representative. If Noah Corporation believes him, they can freeze the project or terminate the contract.”

Mara paused to process what Grace had said.

“What do you suggest I do?” she finally asked.

“Reach Noah Corporation before Jason finalises anything. You need to prove that you are stable and capable of completing the hotel without your husband. If you don't act fast, Jason will be Jason.”

Mara ground her teeth. Noah Corporation was one of the most powerful technology and hospitality conglomerates on the continent. It had the money and engineers required to complete the hotel before the apocalypse.

Even with Jason's wealth and status, he had never possessed any of those things. He was just the middleman.

Noah Ryan, the head of the corporation, was known to be cold and calculating. If he offered someone a finger, then he expected an entire limb in return.

“At least he would stab me in the chest where I could see the knife,” Mara muttered.

“I requested a meeting, and he agreed to see you at the Noah Grand Hotel tonight,” Grace continued.

“Make sure you look perfectly fine. The divorce is not affecting you, and you are completely capable of leading the project. Remember that.”

“Meeti…”

“That is what friends do for each other,” Grace replied before ending the call.

Immediately after the call, Mara's phone chimed until it felt hot against her skin. Every message was from Jason, and each arrived five minutes after the last.

The first messages carried his usual arrogance.

“If you think this stunt will make me chase you, then you are making a serious mistake. Return home before I cancel every arrangement made for that hotel.”

When Mara refused to respond, his tone became sweeter.

“Baby, I am sorry about what happened yesterday. You made me angry, but I should have responded more calmly.”

Mara scoffed.

“Don't forget everything we have sacrificed to make this marriage work. Don't throw it away because of one little misunderstanding. I promise Selena and our child will not be a problem. I can send them abroad so neither of them will bother you.”

Still no response from Mara.

“Mara, answer me immediately.”

Mara blocked his number. When the messages continued from another one, dumbed her phone in her bag.

She went upstairs, freshened up and slipped into a blazing red two-piece suit. She had avoided colours like that because Jason claimed red was too daring for a respectable married woman.

Tonight, she didn't care.

When Mara stepped into the Noah Grand Hotel, several heads turned. One married man stared long enough for his wife to elbow him, but Mara walked past without blinking.

Grace had arranged the meeting for eight, but Mara arrived forty minutes early. A waiter led her to a table in the VIP section.

Months ago, Mara had paid fifty thousand dollars for the hotel's Imperial Table as Jason's signing gift. The payment was nonrefundable, and the reservation was still in her name.

She changed it from two guests to one.

“I'll have the Imperial Table with A5 Wagyu steak, butter-poached lobster, Beluga caviar, truffle mashed potatoes and vintage champagne.”

The waiter's professional smile faltered as she checked the reservation.

“Of course, ma'am. The fifty-thousand-dollar experience has already been paid for.”

Mara had never taken enough time to care for herself or her mother. At first, they lacked money. Then school took most of her time, and after Jason arrived, her entire life began revolving around him.

She bought him expensive gifts while surviving on spare change and his family's leftovers.

Now she was eating the gift herself.

The waiter soon filled her table with food. The aroma was mouthwatering, and every plate looked too good to touch.

Mara took several pictures and a short video. She was about to begin eating when her cell phone started buzzing again.

The number was unknown, but she knew it was Jason.

Mara selected the clearest picture and sent it with one message.

“Stop disturbing my dinner.”

Her phone remained silent for several seconds before a video call came through. Mara answered because she wanted to see Jason's reaction.

“Where are you, Mara? Tell me right away.” His face was already burning red.

Mara lifted her champagne without answering.

“I have been sweating my ass off trying to fix the mess you made, and you are wasting money on Michelin-starred food?”

Mara took a slow sip.

“Is this why you have been acting like this?” Jason continued. “Have you already found another man to replace me? We aren't even properly divorced, and you are already sleeping with someone else.”

While he was still speaking, Mara paused, not because of his gibberish but because a shadow fell across her table.

She looked up and found a tall, broad-shouldered man in a black suit standing beside her. He wasn't smiling, but the aura around him was impossibly imposing. He was handsome at least.

“You must be Miss Mara,” he said in a low, deep voice.

Jason heard him. The anger disappeared from his face and was replaced by the first trace of genuine panic Mara had ever seen there.

“Noah Ryan?” Jason demanded. “Mara, why is Noah Ryan standing beside you?”

Mara ended the call and turned towards the stranger with unsettling grace.

“That depends on who is asking.”

“Noah Ryan,” he replied as he settled into the seat opposite her.