The Return

Chapter 5

Zara Frost descended upon her home city on a rainy Wednesday afternoon.

She did not return as a heartbroken, confused or frustrated girl in a ruined wedding dress. She arrived in a sleek black SUV, accompanied by six pieces of designer luggage her four-year-old son, his nanny Sofia, and a highly secured hard drive containing the next twelve months of Frost Industries' aggressive corporate strategy.

Her executive assistant, Priya a razor-sharp twenty-seven-year-old poached from a top Geneva law firm watched Zara step out of the vehicle in grand style.

Later, Priya would privately describe Zara’s expression in that moment as the face of a woman stepping onto a battlefield she had been studying for five years.

Priya was not wrong.The luxury penthouse Zara had leased sat on the thirty-eighth floor of a skyscraper in the heart of the financial district. Geographically, it was four blocks east and exactly seventeen floors below the Cole Technologies tower.

On her first morning, Zara stood at the floor-to-ceiling window with a cup of black coffee, looking out at the sprawling skyline.

Five years ago, this city had been her entire world. It was where she had loved, and where she had been destroyed.

Now, looking down at the crawling traffic and steel buildings, she realized it had shrunk. It wasn't her whole world anymore. It was simply a chessboard. And she already knew all the opening moves.

Behind her, sitting cross-legged on a plush Persian rug, Leo was aggressively tapping the screen of his tablet. He was deep in conversation with Sofia, lecturing his nanny about the penthouse’s structural engineering.

The architect is wrong about the load-bearing estimate, Leo muttered, his small brow furrowed in deep concentration. "The tensile strength needs to be calculated higher, given the soil composition near the riverbank."

"Is that so?" Sofia replied smoothly, using the exact tone of a woman who was humoring a toddler, while simultaneously suspecting the toddler was absolutely correct.

"Yes. Look at the blueprint overlay. "Zara turned away from the window, a faint smile touching her lips. She walked over and crouched down to his level.

Leo looked up. He had dark hair that fell softly across his forehead her hair, her coloring, thank God. But she could never look into his face for too long without her breath catching.

He had Ethan's eyes. Steel-gray, piercing, and terrifyingly intelligent. The kind of eyes that made strangers in coffee shops pause and look twice.

"Leo," Zara said softly.

He blinked, giving her his full attention. He was very particular about eye contact.

"Tomorrow is your first day at the new academy. Have you packed your bag?"

"I packed it last night," Leo replied, setting the tablet down. "I also reviewed their mathematics curriculum for the semester. They're starting long division."

"Does that concern you?" "No, I already know how to do it. I was just wondering if I should ask the headmaster to let me take the year-three exams instead."

Zara pressed her lips together to hide her amusement. "How about we give them a chance to get to know you before you completely restructure their academic program?"

Leo tilted his head, considering the logic. "I suppose that’s more strategic."

"Exactly." Leo paused. The slight shift in his posture told Zara a different, heavier topic was incoming. "Mom?

Yes, baby? is this the city where you grew up? Yes, it is. And... is this the city where my dad "Leo." Zara's voice was gentle, but the firm boundary was instantly drawn.

"I'm just asking." She looked at her son. At his directness, and the way he held information with the same careful patience he applied to his math problems.

She had never lied to Leo. When he was old enough to ask why he didn't have a father like the other children in his playgroups, she had given him a simplified truth.

She told him his father was a man she had known a long time ago, a man who had gotten very sick, lost his memories, and couldn't be with them.

She hadn't lied. But she hadn't told him the man's name was currently plastered across half the tech buildings in this city, either.

"We will talk about it more when you're a little older," Zara promised, smoothing a lock of dark hair off his forehead.

Leo regarded her steadily. "You always say that." "And one day, you really will be older." The four-year-old let out a soft sigh. Then, he nodded once, with a quiet gravity that made Zara's chest physically ache. "Okay. I trust you."

Zara pulled him into a brief, fierce hug, pressing a kiss to the top of his head. Then, she stood up. She turned back to the window, her eyes locking onto the distant, towering spire of the Cole Technologies building.

Somewhere in that glass tower, Ethan Cole was sitting at his desk. He was looking at her company’s name on a piece of paper, seeing nothing but a nameless European competitor.

He had absolutely no idea what was coming for him.

Zara Frost adjusted the lapels of her tailored designer jacket, letting the warmth of a mother slip away, replaced by the freezing calm of a CEO.

"Priya," she called out. Her assistant appeared in the doorway instantly, tablet in hand.

"Set up a meeting with the Meridian Development Group for this afternoon," Zara ordered, her voice clipping through the air. 

"Tell them Frost Industries is prepared to move faster, and bid higher, than anyone else they've spoken to. And book a table at La Couronne for Friday night. I want to see who comes to the right restaurants in this city, and who I need to buy."

"Done," Priya said, her fingers flying across her screen. She hesitated for a fraction of a second. "There is one complication, boss. Cole Technologies filed a highly aggressive competing bid on the Meridian project this morning."

Zara went perfectly still. She didn't flinch. She didn't gasp. She simply looked out at the city skyline, right at the Cole tower.

A slow, razor-sharp smile spread across Zara’s face. "Good," Zara whispered. "Let's see how much he's willing to bleed."