Chapter 3 Ghosts in broad daylight

THIRD PERSON'S POV.

Serena woke up, a smile instantly forming when she spotted the gold band around her finger. The day was off to a great start so she opted for a long bath with Lana del Rey blasting through the speakers. She and her father were always at loggerheads. It seemed he found fault in everything she did, everything that brought her happiness. But this time felt different, this engagement with Jonathan was perfect, Surely, even he couldn’t object. She couldn’t wait to tell him.

When she got out of the shower her phone lit up with a message notification.

Good morning sweetie, I hope you slept well. I’m at this meeting with all these people and all I can think about is you. Can’t wait to see you. Xoxo

Cue the smiles, it’s things like this that Jonathan does that makes her heart melt, and makes her want to marry him all the more. Before she could reply she heard screaming downstairs. She shot a quick text back and rushed downstairs to see what the chaos was about. 

Downstairs, Clara was angrily pointing a plate of bacon at the chef “why do we pay you if you are going to keep serving the same thing every other day?” She snapped. 

Serena stared between them, frowning. “what’s going on?” She asked, to no one in particular. 

“Why do we have help if they are not offering any help?, we’ve been having the same breakfast spread for a week now”. Clara said, breathless from all the yelling.

Serena looked at the table, the meal looked and smelled delicious she couldn’t tell what the problem was. “But everything looks so good though”, she said softly. 

Clara looked at her like she had grown an extra head “ you know I can’t have gluten Serena. Ugh!! why is everyone trying to piss me off this morning . 

Serena rolled her eyes. Clara changes diet like she changes her clothes and it wasn’t because she liked being healthy, she just adopted whatever her favorite influencers were doing at the moment.

“You are right, I completely forgot.” She turned to the chef with an apologetic look,

“Constance, you have to always confirm from Miss Clara what she would like to have before making it, you know she takes her health very seriously”. Constance nodded. Turning back to Clara she asked “Clara what would you like Constance to make for you today?”.

Clara huffed and stood up. “She already ruined my mood, I’m going out for breakfast. I need a cup of cold matcha to calm myself”. She grabbed the first car keys she could find and headed for the door, turning back asking "Aren't you coming?”

“Uhm…” Serena hated Matcha and she would much rather have the delicious food at home, but she hated disagreeing with Clara so she grudgingly grabbed her phone from the table and followed Clara out. 

“This entire place smells like coffee,” Serena said, pinching her nose.

“It’s a coffee shop Serena, what else is it supposed to smell like?”

“I don’t know…. milk?” Serena gestured towards her cup of warm milk just as the sunlight caught her ring.

Clara’s eyes widened. Instantly, she grabbed Serena’s hand.

“What is that?” She demanded. 

Serena blushed, not sure what to do. “Shhhh. Don’t overreact, okay, it’s not an engagement ring.”

“Well of course it’s not, it would have diamonds if it were,” she observed the ring more closely “who gave it to you” Clara was a good liar, the oblivion in her voice could have fooled any one into believing she’d never seen that ring before when in reality she was the one who picked it out. 

Serena thought about it for a moment, her relationship with Jonathan was still a secret from the rest of her family but this was Clara, her sister, she could trust her.  

“Okay promise not to say a word to anybody?” Clara mimed locking her lips, a playful smile tugging at her lips 

Serena waited until the waiter finished serving their croissant before leaning in. 

“you know Jonathan… Jonathan Hales?We've been seeing each other for a while and last night he proposed… well he promised to propose”

For a few seconds Clara said nothing, then her gaze softened.

“Jonathan Hales?” She repeated her voice light, almost teasing. “The Jonathan Hales?”

Serena nodded, unable to hide the flush of excitement that rose to her cheeks.

“I know it sounds crazy but he really makes me happy “

“Of course he does “, Clara said, reaching across the table and squeezing her hand. Her touch was warm and reassuring. “But what exactly is a promise to propose”?

“Well he says he can’t properly propose until he knows how my family will feel about him. So I have to tell dad about us” She lets out a heavy sigh “I’m not going to lie, I’m really nervous. The last 2 years have been perfect, it’s been just us two but once I tell dad the entire media is going to know and you know how I feel about publicity”

Clara leaned back in her chair, the smile never leaving her face. “Everything is going to be fine and I’m sure Father will be thrilled.” 

Her eyes sparkled with an idea. “We are going to celebrate tonight” she declares standing up abruptly “ We are going to go clubbing tonight” Serena blinked at her “ But first we are going to go shopping for an outfit”.

Serena was about to argue but Clara was determined. She dropped a few dollar bills on the table to pay for their food and pulled Serena up with her as they headed out.

They were already halfway to the door when Clara suddenly turned back. “Hold on, I need to use the restroom real quick,” she said, disappearing toward the back of the café.

Serena sat alone, absently scrolling through her phone.The café was warm, filled with the hum of low chatter and the hiss of the espresso machine. Until the door opened. 

The air shifted instantly, you could feel it before you even looked up. Conversations slowed, the music seemed quieter, the kind of silence that follows someone who shouldn’t need an introduction. Heads turned instinctively even the barista paused mid-pour. Someone powerful had just walked in.

Serena’s stomach tightened. She felt his presence immediately, She didn’t need to glance up to know who it was. The shift in the room was unmistakable. 

Damian Crowne.

What on earth is he doing here? she thought, straightening unconsciously. Men like him don’t grab their own coffees. They have people who do it for them.

A bitter taste filled her mouth before she even looked at him. Damian Crowne had a way of showing up when she least expected and least wanted to see him. Well she has never wanted to see him. Monterra was big enough that she could have gone months without crossing paths with him, but somehow, he always seemed to orbit her life. Quietly. Watching. Close enough to remind her that he still existed, far enough to pretend it was coincidence.

Her grandfather had practically handed her life over to him, first by making him her guardian since their childhood then by placing her under his “care” as though she were some fragile heirloom in need of guarding. He had even sent her off to the same university he attended so he could “watch over her.”

For years, she’d actually believed it, believed in him. She even looked up to him. He was older, sharper, impossibly capable, the kind of guy everyone respected and feared. The perfect role model and older brother she never had. Until the day everything changed.

She was nineteen when her grandfather announced that she was to be betrothed to Damian. A merger of bloodlines, he’d called it the perfect union between Gregory and Crowne. Her future, reduced to a business deal. She could still remember the humiliation, the rage. Damian hadn’t even flinched when the arrangement was announced. He’d stood there, calm, composed, silent , as though her life had already been decided. Like she was just another part of the empire he was destined to own.

That was the day her hatred began. In that moment she realized he didn’t see her as a person just a deal merger. 

She remembered the rage that had consumed her, the desperate defiance in her voice when she told her grandfather she would rather disappear to Africa, change her name, and live selling coconuts on a beach before she’d let him control her future or ever let Damian Crowne own her. She’d meant every word.

It wasn’t until weeks of fighting, crying, and silence that her grandfather finally relented and called off the engagement. But the damage had already been done. 

From that moment on, Damian Crowne became the symbol of everything she refused to become , cold, strategic, and transactional.

And now here he was again, standing in a café he’d never step into under normal circumstances, commanding attention like the air itself belonged to him.

He moved through the coffee shop with that deliberate ease that always seemed to announce him, confident, composed, impossibly sure of himself not with arrogance, but with the certainty of a man who had already conquered every room he’d ever stepped into. There was something unreadable in his eyes, a quiet storm behind the polish, like he carried both power and danger with an ease that made people instinctively wary.

She hated that he could make people notice without trying. And yet, as he drew closer, she found herself noticing too, the sharp line of his jaw, the way his suit fit like it had been made for him, the cool indifference in his gaze.

He’s good-looking, she admitted inwardly, grudgingly. The kind of good looks that came with consequences. He might even be better looking than Jonathan… She exhaled sharply, as if to push the thought away. 

“Didn’t expect to see you here, Serena,” he said, his voice low and smooth, and self assured as he stopped beside her table.

Serena’s pulse betrayed her. She hated that, hated that he could make her notice him. His presence was unnerving and yet impossible to ignore but still she didn’t look up. 

“Maybe that’s because this is the first time you’ve actually ever been inside a coffee shop.”

He smirked, a familiar, infuriating expression. But then his eyes caught on something: the glint of gold around her finger.

“Wait,” he murmured, Surprise and anger laced in his voice. “Don’t tell me you’re engaged.”

Serena’s hand froze midair before she quickly turned it over, hiding the ring. For reasons she couldn’t explain , she didn’t want Damian to know she was to marry another man

He leaned closer, voice steady. “Don’t tell me it’s to Jonathan Hales.”

Her eyes widened. “How do you even know about Jonathan and me?” she asked sharply, then scoffed. “You know what, don’t answer that, you’re taking this stalker thing to a whole new level.”

“I’m a billionaire,Serena,” he replied coolly. Lips curving up in that infuriating almost-smile “I don’t stalk….. I hire people to stalk for me.”

Serena pushed her chair back, anger flaring. “You’re unbelievable.”

He reached out, his hand resting gently but firmly on her wrist. “Serena, listen to me. You’re making a big mistake. Jonathan isn’t who you think he is. You can’t trust him. He’s....”

“Damian.”

Both of them turned. Clara stood behind him, arms folded, her tone sharp but her eyes sweet. She brushed past one his bodyguards without flinching “What are you doing here?”

Serena seized the moment, pulling her hand free. “It doesn’t matter. We’re leaving.”

“Serena, don’t be stubborn....”

She looked back on more time meeting his gaze “Goodbye, Damian.”