Chapter Ten

Chapter Ten: The plan 

Two days later, Sarah drove to the Reed Cooperative building for the new project meeting. The moment she stepped inside, one of Nathan’s men was already waiting. He led her straight to the top floor without saying much.

She stopped in front of the big office door, took a breath, and knocked softly. Only when she heard “Come in” did she push the door open.

The office was bright and huge. Nathan sat behind his desk, leaning back lazily in his big chair. A document lay open in front of him, and he was slowly twirling a pen between his long fingers. When the door opened, he lifted his head. A small smile touched his lips.

“Ms. Irish, please have a seat.”

Sarah felt uneasy the second she saw his face. It looked too much like his son’s. Maybe it was because of the trouble Alex had caused two days ago.

She sat down quickly and went straight to the point. “Mr. Nathan, for the first step of this collaboration between my international fashion company and the Reed Cooperative, I suggest we create a new brand and launch it to test the market.”

Nathan looked relaxed, almost bored. He raised one strong eyebrow slowly. “Ms. Irish, if I remember correctly, your main focus is haute couture.”

Sarah nodded. As chief designer, her days were not always crazy. She mostly handled exclusive custom orders for important clients or designed the key pieces for big shows.

“For this collaboration,” she continued, “everyone wants to break into the market. Right now, haute couture is still the best way. To make sure everything goes smoothly, I will work directly with your company’s designers. So starting today, I would like to join the Reed Cooperative design department.”

Nathan studied her serious face for a moment, then gave a small nod.

Sarah let out a quiet breath of relief. She had not expected him to agree so easily. She was about to stand up and leave when the door suddenly clicked open.

“Nathan, I made your favorite,” Emma’s voice sang sweetly as she walked in carrying a food container.

The moment she saw Nathan sitting with Sarah, her smile froze. For the past two days she had barely seen him, so today she came with his favorite meal, hoping to win him over. But now bitter anger rose fast inside her. Even though she still couldn’t find anything on her stepsister, she was sure Sarah was hiding something.

Her face twisted. She glared at Sarah with red eyes full of hate.

Sarah noticed immediately. She stood up calmly. “Mr. Reed, I don’t think there’s anything else for me here. I’ll take my leave.” She turned to go.

Emma was already shaking with rage. Her hands clenched tight, nails digging into her palms. She stepped forward fast and blocked the door so Sarah couldn’t leave.

“Why are you suddenly in such a hurry to leave? Is it because I walked in?”

Sarah gave a small smile but said nothing. She looked past Emma. “Mr. Reed, could you please tell your fiancée to get out of my way?”

“Emma, move,” Nathan said. His voice was cold and sharp.

Emma stiffened. She couldn’t believe Nathan was taking Sarah’s side. Her chest burned with humiliation.

When Emma finally stepped aside, Sarah didn’t wait. She walked out quickly without looking back.

The second Sarah was gone, Emma turned to Nathan. He was still glaring at her with hard eyes.

“Why did you take her side?” she asked, voice shaking. “You know she has bad intentions. If she doesn’t, why did she run out the moment I came in?”

“Leave,” Nathan said again, even colder. “She was here for work. I already told you if you have any problem with her, go talk to her yourself. Do not bring this attitude into my office again. Now get out.”

Emma felt like he had slapped her. She had been nothing but kind to him. She even cooked his favorite food and brought it all the way here. And now he was telling her to leave. Her lips trembled. Tears filled her eyes. She sniffled, looking small and pitiful.

“Nathan, I’m just worried… Sarah might be deceiving you. She’s two-faced.”

Nathan’s brows pulled together. His long fingers tapped the desk impatiently. “Sarah is a partner the Reed Cooperative wants to work with. It is not your place to interfere.”

His icy voice filled the room. Emma looked up and met his cold stare. Fear made her step back. She had no choice but to turn and leave.

Emma was fuming by the time she reached her car. She gripped the steering wheel so hard her knuckles turned white. Without thinking, she drove straight to the Reed family estate.

Back at the office building, it was already noon and Sarah was about to head out. Her phone buzzed with a message from her father. She ignored it. She had made sure her father and the rest of the family knew nothing about her kids. She had wiped every trace of them.

She had expected Nathan to bring up the subject of his son and maybe ask for DNA, but he never said a word. And she was not going to be the one to mention it. What she didn’t know was that Nathan was already handling it quietly behind the scenes.

Adin, the little genius, was one step ahead of everyone. He had already planned something for himself and his sister Aria. He knew Nathan’s men could show up at any time, so he was going to play along and give him the hair sample if he asked for it.

Across the city, in Nathan’s office, his assistant walked in.

“Sir, we are going to the school, to collect the sample,” the assistant said.

Nathan nodded. “Make sure you approach him carefully. Don’t scare the children. Do it clean, no attention.”

The assistant nodded and turned to leave.

“Wait,” Nathan said suddenly. His voice was low and sharp.

The air in the room grew heavy, like something big was about to happen.

Nathan leaned back slowly. The lazy smile was gone. His eyes looked darker now. His fingers stopped moving on the desk.

“Change of plans,” he said quietly, but every word carried weight. “I’m going myself.”

The assistant froze for a second. He didn’t dare ask why. He just nodded quickly and left the office.

At the same time, Adin and Aria stood at the school gate, waiting for their mom to pick them up. Adin’s small hand held his bag tightly. His sharp eyes watched everything from the side of his eye. Then a black car pulled up slowly and stopped right in front of them.