Chapter 3: Unknown Number

JADEN’S POV

The city always looked different from the top floor. Very clean and quiet. Like all the filth and desperation below couldn’t quite reach the glass walls of my office.

I stood beside the window with one hand tucked into my pocket while the other lazily swirled the whiskey in my glass, my attention fixed on the massive screen mounted across the room.

The wedding clip replayed again, again and again. 

Adrian Cross smiled for the cameras like a man who had just conquered the world.

Beside him stood Elena Langford, glowing beneath the flashes of expensive cameras and media attention, every inch the perfect rich man’s bride.

The internet was obsessed already. Business blogs called it the union of the year. Investors called it strategic.

The public called it romantic. I called it predictable.

A humorless smile tugged briefly at my lips before disappearing just as quickly.

Adrian had always been ambitious, but the problem with ambitious men was that they eventually confused greed for intelligence.

Marrying Leonard Langford’s  daughter was not love. It was business. A move. A transaction wrapped in diamonds and wedding vows. And Adrian was stupid enough to think nobody could see through it.

The office doors opened quietly behind me.

I didn’t turn around.

“Sir,” Ethan said carefully, stepping inside with his tablet pressed against his chest. 

“The Langford shares Elena six percent after the wedding announcement this morning.”

“Expected.”

“And the media is heavily backing the merger rumors.”

I took a slow sip of whiskey.

“Of course they are. People love fairy tales when money is involved.”

Ethan stayed silent for a moment before speaking again.

“There’s something else.”

That finally got my attention. I glanced at him over my shoulder.

“What?”

His expression shifted slightly.

Subtle.

But noticeable.

“The woman from the registry earlier…”

My gaze hardened instinctively.

“Which woman?”

“The ex-fiancée.”

Olivia.

The name slipped into my mind too naturally. Too smoothly. I didn’t like that. Ethan stepped closer and handed me the tablet silently. The screen displayed several photos already circulating online.

Most of them focused on Adrian and his new wife.

But one picture caught my attention immediately.

Olivia.

Standing near the back of the registry hall in a pale dress, her face drained of color while everyone around her celebrated.

Even in a still image, the betrayal was obvious. I stared at the photo longer than necessary.

Not because she was beautiful, though she was. It was the look in her eyes. Shock and humiliation.

Pain she was trying desperately not to show publicly.

Most women would have caused a scene.

Cried, begged or even slapped someone but she didn't. 

She stood there quietly while her entire world collapsed in front of her.

There was something unsettling about that kind of restraint.

“Media outlets are beginning to pick up her identity,” Ethan continued carefully. “Apparently she dated Adrian for six years.”

Six years.

I let out a quiet scoff. And he still discarded her that easily.

Cold.

Even for Adrian.

“Anything else?” I asked.

Ethan hesitated.

“She left the registry crying.”

For some reason, that irritated me more than it should have. Not the crying itself. The fact that Adrian caused it and walked away untouched.

I turned away from the screen and walked back toward my desk slowly.

The office fell quiet except for the soft tapping of rain beginning against the glass windows.

New York rainstorms always arrive dramatically.

Sudden, violent and unpredictable.

Much like the mess Adrian had created for himself.

“You sent the flowers?” I asked.

“Yes.”

“And the hospital bills?”

“They’re still pending review, sir.”

I nodded once.

“Pay half anonymously.”

Ethan blinked.

That reaction alone annoyed me slightly.

“What?”

“Nothing, sir. It’s just…” He stopped himself quickly.

“Just what?”

He cleared his throat awkwardly. “You usually don’t involve yourself personally in situations like this.”

A faint smile touched my lips.

“That’s because situations like this are usually boring.”

And this one wasn’t.

Not even close.

I walked around the desk and sat down slowly, loosening the cuffs of my shirt.

The truth was, Olivia wasn’t supposed to matter.

She was simply collateral damage in Adrian’s latest performance. Unfortunately for Adrian, I had spent years studying him closely enough to know one thing:

His weaknesses were never in business.

They were always people.

And people made mistakes.

Especially arrogant men who believed money could erase consequences. My phone buzzed softly against the desk.

A message notification.

Unknown Contact.

I opened it immediately.

No response from Olivia yet.

Interesting.

Most desperate people answered quickly when money was involved. But she hadn’t. Which meant one of two things.

Either she was smart enough to be cautious…or proud enough to suffer alone.

Both possibilities interested me.

Ethan shifted slightly. “There’s another issue you should know about.”

I looked up.

“The Cross are pushing aggressively for the Langford merger. If the deal goes through, they’ll control almost thirty percent of the shipping ports by next quarter.”

“Not if I destroy the deal first.”

The words left my mouth calmly.

Casually.

Like I was discussing the weather.

But Ethan knew me well enough to hear the warning underneath.

He exhaled slowly. “You think Olivia can help with that?”

I leaned back in my chair thoughtfully.

“No.”

He looked confused.

“She won’t help me destroy Adrian.”

I picked up my phone again, staring briefly at her unanswered chat.

“She’s going to help me destroy him without realizing it.”

Silence settled heavily across the office.

Outside, thunder cracked across the dark sky.

Ethan rubbed the back of his neck carefully. “And if she refuses?”

I smiled slightly.

That question had crossed my mind already.

Because despite everything I’d read about Olivia tonight, one thing remained obvious.

She loved deeply.

Women like that were dangerous in their own way. Not because they were weak. But because betrayal changed them completely.

And a wounded heart was easier to redirect than a healed one.

“She won’t refuse,” I said calmly.

“You sound certain.”

“I am.”

“How?”

I looked up slowly.

“Because life has already cornered her for me.”

Ethan didn’t respond after that.

Probably because there was nothing to say.

The room fell quiet again while rain battered harder against the windows. I glanced once more at the paused image on the television screen.

Adrian looked victorious. Untouchable and happy.

But victory looked ugly on men like Adrian. Maybe because I had seen what the Langford family’s victories did to people.

My father used to smile like that too once. Before Adrian’s father destroyed him. Before forged contracts, stolen shares, and boardroom betrayals turned a respected man into a cautionary tale whispered about in business circles.

People said my father drank himself to death.

What they never talked about was why. They never talked about the night he sat in his office staring at bankruptcy papers while the Cross celebrated buying everything he had built.

I was twenty-three when I buried him. And standing beside his grave, I made myself one promise:

One day, I would return every single favor that family ever gave me with interest.

But the thing about powerful men was that they rarely noticed the beginning of their downfall.

And Olivia?

She was going to become exactly that.

Not intentionally.

Not knowingly.

But eventually.

A soft vibration interrupted my thoughts.

My phone.

Again.

This time, my eyes narrowed slightly.

A new message finally appeared on the screen.

Unknown Number.

My thumb moved instinctively as I opened it.

And for the first time that night…

I smiled genuinely.

“Who exactly are you?”

Simple question.

But be cautious.

Careful.

Not emotional.

Interesting.

Very interesting.

I stared at the message for a few seconds before typing slowly.

“Someone offering you a way out.”

Three dots appeared instantly.

Disappeared.

Then it appeared again.

She was thinking carefully before replying.

Good..That meant she wasn’t reckless.

Her next message finally came through.

“People like you never help for free.”

The smile on my face deepened slightly.

Smart girl…Very smart girl.

I loosened my tie slowly while reading the message again.

Then I typed:

“And people like you don’t survive by trusting easily.”

This time, her reply took longer.

Long enough for me to imagine her sitting somewhere in that hospital room, exhausted and emotionally drained while trying to decide whether I was dangerous or useful.

Probably both.

Finally..

Another message appeared.

“What do you want from me?”

I leaned back slowly in my chair, my gaze drifting toward the storm outside the windows. That question carried more weight than she realized.

Because the truth?

What I wanted from Olivia Bennett  had very little to do with marriage. And absolutely everything to do with revenge.

My fingers hovered briefly over the keyboard before I finally typed:

“I want to make you an offer.”

The message was delivered immediately.

Then came her reply.

Fast this time. Almost nervous.

“What kind of offer?”

I stared at the screen for a long moment. And somewhere deep inside me…Something dark settled quietly into place.

Because Olivia had just done the one thing I needed most.

She opened the door.

And now..I intended to walk straight through it.