Chapter 3
Edward's phone buzzed. His assistant's voice came through, trembling with barely contained shock.
"Mr. Sinclair, we found an overseas marriage registration. The name listed as her husband is—" The assistant paused, as if searching for the right words. "Lucas Hayes."
The name hit Edward like a bomb detonating underwater.
Lucas Hayes was the shadow king of Wall Street. The shadow ruler behind one of the most powerful financial empires overseas. A man that even the Sinclair family had to think twice before crossing.
How was that possible? How could someone like him have anything to do with Natalie?
The shock faded, and something even worse took its place. It felt absurd. Edward dismissed the idea almost immediately. There was no way.
Natalie was the kind of woman who could barely string two sentences together at a dinner party without turning red. She could never land someone like Lucas.
It had to be fake. Maybe it was just someone with the same name. That was it. That had to be it.
A more convincing theory surfaced in his mind, and he latched onto it.
Natalie was nothing but a pawn. A chess piece, Lucas was using to humiliate him and destabilize the Sinclair family.
She was too stupid to even realize she was being played.
That thought soothed his bruised ego, if only slightly.
He felt the sense of control settle back into place.
A cold smirk twisted his lips, and his eyes turned sharp.
He would find out exactly what game this woman, back from the dead, and her so-called backer, Lucas, were playing.
He booked a flight to Aulore on the spot.
He was going himself. He would drag that clueless woman back and get his answers face-to-face.
*****
Under a bruised gray sky, a sleek glass tower cut through the clouds.
This was the headquarters of Elysian, the largest investment firm under Lucas' empire.
Edward hadn't made an appointment. He had walked straight in, leveraging the Sinclair Holdings name and sheer force of will to push his way up to the executive floor.
But security stopped him at a pair of towering frosted glass doors.
Through a narrow gap in the glass wall, he caught sight of the figure that had been haunting his every thought.
Inside the conference room, a woman stood at the head of the table in a tailored white blazer and pencil skirt.
Her hair was swept up, revealing a smooth forehead and a long, elegant neck.
Her profile was sharp and composed, and her eyes were locked on the holographic display in front of her.
She spoke in a fluent, commanding foreign language, and every gesture she made carried an authority that left no room for argument.
That face. He knew it, and yet he didn't.
The features were still Natalie's, but everything else about her had changed beyond recognition.
She was like a diamond stripped of its dull casing, blazing with a brilliance that had been hidden all along.
Something slammed hard against Edward's chest from the inside.
He could barely reconcile what he was seeing.
The Natalie in his memory had always kept her head down, shoulders hunched, eyes timid. She had been a vine that withered in the light.
But the woman standing before him now was Athena.
She was Wall Street's enigmatic rose, beautiful and thorned. She was the name that had sent shockwaves through the investment world for the past three years.
How could she be Natalie? And how could Natalie possibly be her?
The meeting ended, and Natalie walked out surrounded by a crowd of executives, with Lucas right at her side.
They moved in step, their heads tilted close as they spoke in low voices. Every gesture between them carried an effortless intimacy, as if they had always belonged together.
The sight of it burned through Edward like a blade.
He couldn't take it anymore. He lunged forward and seized her wrist.
"Natalie!" Her name tore from his throat, trembling in a way he didn't even recognize.
Her wrist was slender, and her skin was ice cold beneath his grip.
She stopped walking and finally turned her gaze to his face.
Those eyes. He remembered how they used to brim with longing and quiet devotion. Now there was nothing left but a vast, frozen emptiness, as though every trace of warmth had been buried under miles of ice.
She glanced at him the way someone might look at a stranger who had wandered in by mistake, then turned to the security officer beside her.
She asked, "Excuse me? Who is this gentleman? And why is he allowed to barge in here?"
Her voice was crisp and clear, but it lacked any warmth.
Edward's mind went blank. She didn't recognize him? No. She was pretending not to recognize him.
Lucas stepped forward and positioned himself between them, shielding her behind his back and cutting off Edward's line of sight.
He stood half a head taller than Edward, and his dark eyes held a cold, measured warning that needed no words.
That silent wall of authority was something Edward had never encountered before. For the first time in his life, the man who had always carried himself with unshakable confidence felt what it meant to be outmatched.
"Edward, you're not welcome here." Lucas' voice was calm, almost casual, but every word landed like a hammer.