Chapter 7

The engagement party was three days out.

I was in a meeting at the office when the front desk called.

"Ms. Sutton, there's a gentleman here without an appointment. He says his name is Cooper," the receptionist said.

That name got my attention.

"Send him up," I said.

Five minutes later, my office door opened.

A man in his early thirties walked in, wearing a custom dark gray suit with no tie and the top button of his shirt undone.

He was not movie-star handsome, but nobody in a room was going to ignore him.

He carried the kind of easy authority that came from never having to raise his voice.

"Grace Sutton, CEO?" he said.

"And you are?" I asked.

"Ethan Cooper," he replied.

Prime Capital was his firm.

The same Ethan Cooper that David couldn't get on the phone had walked into my office on his own.

"Mr. Cooper, I don't believe we have an appointment," I said.

"We don't. But I heard something interesting and wanted to see it for myself," he replied.

"What is it?" I asked.

He sat down across from me, crossing his legs.

"The Sutton Group heiress spent three years undercover as a housewife in the Langley family, and the week her divorce came through, she took over a tech company that's deep in the red," he said.

"Word travels fast in your world," I said.

"An investor who isn't well informed should close up shop," he replied.

I leaned back in my chair.

"So, what brings you here? Looking to invest?" I asked.

"Just here to chat," he replied.

He glanced at the files laid out on my desk.

"BioKey X1?"

I snapped the file shut.

He gave a small smile.

"Relax. If I wanted to steal your technology, I wouldn't walk in the front door," he said.

"I'm not nervous. It just isn't time to share yet," I said.

"All right." He stood, pulled a card out of his pocket, and set it on my desk. "That's my personal number. If you get BioKey X1 built, Prime Capital will lead your round."

"You'd invest without even seeing the product?"

"I don't look at products," Ethan said.

"Then what do you look at?" I asked.

"The person."

He walked to the door, paused for a moment.

"By the way, I got an invite to David's engagement party," he said.

"Yeah," I replied.

"I wasn't planning on it. But that depends on whether you're going."

"You'd come?" I asked.

"I'll think about it," he said.

The door closed behind him.

I picked up the card.

It was pure black, with just a number on it.

There was no title and no company name on it.

Just then, Sophie called.

"Grace, something's happened!" she said.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"Olivia posted a long piece on social media about her and David, going all the way back three years. You won't believe what she wrote," Sophie said.

"What did she say?" I asked.

"She says she was David's first love, that they were torn apart three years ago because 'someone got in the way,' and that they're finally back together. Grace, that someone is you. She's painting you as the mistress," Sophie said.

I pulled out my phone.

Olivia's post had already been shared more than 10,000 times.

The comments section was flooded with sympathy and congratulations.

[True love's never late, just takes the scenic route.]

[The ex-wife has some nerve. Olivia is the real one here.]

[So that's why Grace walked away with nothing? Guess she felt too guilty to fight for anything.]

After reading through it, I set my phone down.

"Sophie," I said.

"Yeah?" she replied.

"Can you dig up Olivia's travel records from three years ago for me?" I asked.

"What exactly are you trying to find?"

"She claims she and David were torn apart three years ago. But from September to December that year, she was out of the country."

"How do you know that?" Sophie asked.

"Because when David was chasing me three years ago, he swore he'd never dated anyone before."

Sophie went quiet for a moment.

"Grace," she finally said.

"What?"

"I'll check it out right now," she said.