Chapter 3 THE COLD MAN

Nobody else knew Elise was going to die. Only Elena did.

She kept that thought in her head the whole ride to Cole Group. It was the only thing that stopped her hands from shaking.

The building was tall and made of glass. In her first life, she had walked into it many times as Damien's wife. Always a step behind him. Always smiling for people who did not smile back.

Today she walked in alone.

The lobby went quiet. Two women at the front desk looked at each other. A man in a gray suit stopped talking in the middle of a sentence.

Elena heard it anyway. Small whispers, like bugs.

"Isn't that the Hart girl?"

"Damien's fiancee. What is she doing here?"

"Maybe she wants money. These families always want more."

She kept walking. She had heard worse in her life. Much worse.

"Miss Hart."

A man stepped in front of her. Forty, maybe. Expensive watch. A smile that did not reach his eyes. She knew him. Mr. Collins. Head of the finance team. In her first life, he had once laughed at her in a meeting and Damien had said nothing.

"What a surprise," he said, loud enough for the whole lobby. "Did you come to ask for a bigger dowry? Or are you here to check if the Cole name is worth marrying into?"

Somebody laughed. Just one small laugh. Then it died.

Elena stopped. She looked at him for a long second. She did not feel angry. She just felt tired of men like him.

"Mr. Collins," she said. Her voice was soft. "Your wife called my mother last week. She asked if the Harts could help with your son's school fees. Did she not tell you?"

His face went white.

"I did not say anything," Elena said. "Because I thought you would want to tell people yourself."

Nobody breathed. The woman at the front desk looked down at her keyboard very fast.

"Excuse me," Elena said. "I have a meeting."

She walked past him. Her heart was hitting her ribs, but her back stayed straight.

Behind her, no one whispered anymore.

The top floor was quiet. Too quiet. A tall woman in a black suit met her at the elevator.

"Miss Hart? I am Ms. Reed. We spoke on the phone." She looked at Elena for a moment, and her eyes were curious. "I heard what happened downstairs."

"Already?"

"This is Cole Group," Ms. Reed said. "Everything travels fast."

She opened a heavy door and stepped aside.

The office was big and plain. Gray walls. A long desk. One window that showed the whole city. There were no photos. No flowers. Nothing soft anywhere.

A man sat behind the desk with a file open in front of him. He did not look up.

"Sit," Adrian Cole said.

Elena sat.

She had not planned to feel anything. But when he lifted his head, her breath caught.

Twenty-eight. Dark hair. Sharp face. Eyes so calm they seemed to see through her coat. He looked like a man who had never cried in his life.

She remembered him at the back of the church. Alone. Black coat. Five plain words.

I am sorry for your loss.

He had not known her. He had not owed her anything. And he had been the only one.

Her eyes started to sting. She looked down at her hands before he could see.

"You asked for a private meeting," Adrian said. "You are engaged to my brother. Explain."

"I'm not going to marry your brother," Elena said.

He did not blink. "Go on."

"I want to marry you."

The room was silent for three whole seconds.

Adrian closed the file. Slowly. He folded his hands on top of it.

"That is a strange thing to say to a man you have never spoken to."

"We have spoken," Elena said. "Twice. At family dinners. You asked me to pass the salt."

"I did not say please."

"No. You did not."

Something moved at the corner of his mouth. It was gone before she could name it.

"Miss Hart. You have loved my brother since you were children. Everyone knows it. Your father told mine you cried for two days when the arrangement was first discussed because you were so happy."

Elena's chest tightened.

"That was a long time ago," she said.

"People do not change that fast."

"They do when they have a reason."

"And what is your reason?"

She had practiced this answer. She gave him the half-truth. The safe one.

"Our families want a partnership. The Harts need Cole Group's network. You need our shipping routes. The marriage is for business, not love. I would rather marry the man who understands business."

"That is not what I asked."

"I know."

"You are lying to me."

"Only a little," Elena said.

His eyes narrowed. For the first time, he looked at her like she was a person he had not expected.

"Why me?" he asked. "Not Damien. Me."

She thought of the funeral. The roses. The six words.

"Because he will never choose me," she said quietly. "And I am tired of waiting for someone who won't."

It was the truest thing she had said all day.

Adrian watched her for a long time. Then he leaned back.

"I do not like being used as a door out of someone's heartbreak."

"I'm not using you."

"No?" He picked up a pen and turned it once between his fingers. "Then you will not mind a test."

"What kind of test?"

"One question. If you pass, I will think about it."

Elena nodded.

"Our biggest rival is a man in the shipping industry. He wants Cole Group's port contracts. Many people have tried to guess his next move." He paused. "What do you think he will do?"

Her stomach turned cold.

She knew exactly who he meant. She had learned his name in the worst way possible.

Victor Lane.

In her first life, Victor Lane had waited three years. He had smiled at Cole Group parties. Shaken hands. Then, one rainy night, a car had followed Elise home, and she had never come back.

Elena opened her mouth to say something safe. Something vague.

But the words came out on their own, low and fast.

"He will not attack the contracts. Not at first. He will go after something you care about, because he thinks it will make you weak. He will wait until you feel safe. And he will make it look like an accident."

The pen stopped in Adrian's fingers.

Elena felt her heart drop. She had said too much. Far too much.

The silence stretched. Outside the window, a siren wailed faintly, very far away.

Adrian set the pen down. Very carefully.

"Miss Hart," he said. His voice was so soft it scared her more than anything else. "I have never told anyone in my family the name of the man I am watching."

He stood up.

"So tell me. Who told you about Victor Lane?”