A Billionaire's Prize

ChapterTwo

My hands tremble as I stare at the message on my phone.

Does Noah know about the baby you lost?

I blink rapidly, as if clearing my eyes will make the words disappear. But they don’t. They remain etched on the screen, black against the white background, taunting me with a truth I’ve spent years trying to bury.

A cold sweat breaks out across my back. My breath hitches in my chest, as though the walls around me are closing in, suffocating me. I feel the weight of those words pressing down on me, threatening to crush me under their unbearable truth.

Who the hell knows? And how?

The phone slips from my numb fingers, clattering against the marble floor with an almost mocking sound. My heart thunders in my chest, a frantic drumbeat that drowns out the world around me.

I bend to pick it up, my knees shaking as I do, and the moment my hand wraps around the cold metal of the phone, a new message pops up, this one from a different number, but the same chilling question:

Does Noah know?

I feel a sickening knot twist in my stomach, and the room seems to tilt. I stand up too quickly, feeling lightheaded, and grip the edge of the reception desk to steady myself.

I swipe to read the message again, my thumb moving on autopilot as panic surges through me like an electric current.

How do they know?

My pulse races as I scan my surroundings—empty hallways, sterile walls, the faint hum of air conditioning—nothing but silence. I should be running, running back to my office, locking myself in, but something keeps me rooted here, stuck in place.

This can’t be happening again.

I send a quick message back, typing in a hurried panic:

Who is this?

The response comes almost instantly:

You know who this is, Ava. Or should I say, Mrs. Carter?

I freeze.

My body goes rigid, every muscle locking into place. My heart skips a beat, then doubles its pace. The floor beneath me feels like it’s been pulled out from under my feet, and I grip the desk harder to keep myself upright.

It’s him.

The past I’ve been running from, hiding from, for five years, is catching up with me—and it’s coming for me with a vengeance.

I’m still staring at the message when I hear the click of heels against the polished floor. I turn around, but it’s too late to hide.

Elaine Carter.

Her piercing gaze meets mine, unreadable and cold.

“Ms. Montgomery, are you all right?” Her voice is smooth, and calculated. She’s studying me, her eyes narrowing slightly as she takes in the tension I’m sure is written all over my face.

“I’m fine,” I manage, forcing the words out with an effort. I can’t let her see that I’m unraveling, can’t let her see the crack in my armor that Noah has managed to exploit so effortlessly.

Elaine’s eyes flick down to my phone, then back to me, and I know she saw the message. She’s not stupid. She knows something’s wrong.

I can feel the weight of her presence, the silent judgment hanging in the air like a guillotine ready to fall.

“I’m going to need you to follow me, Ms. Montgomery,” she says after a beat, her tone brisk, no room for argument.

I nod, swallowing the lump in my throat. I’ve been here before. I’ve dealt with Elaine before. But I wasn’t prepared for her to come for me like this—like a predator circling its prey, waiting for the right moment to strike.

I walk behind her, my footsteps hollow in the quiet, and the buzz of my phone still pulses in my pocket like a reminder of the storm brewing just beneath the surface.

We pass through the long corridor again, the same stark, minimalist design that made me feel small and insignificant when I first walked through it, but now it feels suffocating like I’m being herded toward something inevitable.

She opens a door at the end of the hall and steps aside, allowing me to enter first.

Noah.

He’s standing by the window, looking out at the city, his back to me, his posture rigid, like he’s just waiting for the right moment to turn and face me.

A shiver runs down my spine as I step inside. I can feel him before I see him—his presence in the room, the weight of the air thickening with tension. The last time we were in a room together, we couldn’t look each other in the eye without the past shattering through. Now, the silence between us feels even more loaded, even more dangerous.

“Mr. Carter,” I say quietly, my voice barely above a whisper, yet it feels like it echoes in the space between us.

Noah doesn’t turn around at first. He stands there, his hands braced against the glass, staring out at the skyline like the city belongs to him. He’s still the man I remember, but something about him has changed. He’s harder, sharper, more guarded.

And my heart… my heart aches with the weight of everything unsaid between us.

Finally, he turns, slowly, deliberately. His eyes meet mine—those same eyes that once held all the love and trust I thought would last forever. But now, they’re filled with something darker. Anger, disappointment, betrayal.

“I don’t want to do this, Ava,” he says, his voice low, like it’s taking everything in him to keep calm.

I can’t breathe. The words he’s saying don’t even seem to register fully in my brain because all I can think about is the baby. The secret that’s haunted me for years.

“You don’t get to walk in here and pretend like everything is fine,” Noah continues, his voice growing colder, sharper with each word. “Not after everything you’ve done. Not after how you left me.”

“I didn’t want to hurt you,” I reply, the words escaping before I can stop them.

He scoffs, and it cuts deeper than any of the words he’s said. “And yet, you did.”

The silence stretches on, thick and suffocating.

I try to speak, to explain, but the words get stuck in my throat. It’s not just that I’m afraid. It’s that I don’t know how to tell him the truth. Not after all this time.

And then, as if my thoughts are my undoing, my phone buzzes again, pulling me back into reality.

I reach into my pocket, my fingers trembling, and I pull it out.

Another message.

Does Noah know?

This time, it’s not the question that chills me.

It’s the name attached to it.

The message is signed:

Olivia Harper.