Unseen

Chapter Twelve

The house was quiet after dinner. Too quiet. Helena and the rest remained in the living room, their voices a low, constant murmur filled with the sharpness Olivia had learned to live beneath. She slipped out the back door with careful steps, her breath catching when the night air touched her skin.

The backyard garden was small, but it was hers in a way the house never was. The mango tree stood tall and familiar, its branches stretching wide as though trying to shield her from the world behind her. The old swing hung from its thickest limb, its wooden seat worn smooth by years of use. Olivia sat on it, the cool grass brushing her ankles, her pulse quick and uneven.

She took the phone from her bag. It was still wrapped in the soft handkerchief she had used to protect it, treating it as if it might shatter under the wrong touch. Simon Jimenez’s number was the only one saved inside. It made the device feel heavier than it was, as though it carried more than hardware. As though it carried choice.

She hesitated once. Twice. Then pressed call.

The line rang only once.

“Olivia.” His voice was low, steady, and unwavering, as if he had been waiting for her precisely at this moment. No greeting. No question. Only certainty.

Her throat tightened. “Mr. Jimenez… I called to tell you my decis—.”

Simon cut her off, calm and absolute. “A driver will pick you up in twenty minutes.”

She blinked, startled. “I only meant to tell you about—”

“You will say it to me in person.” His voice did not rise. It simply closed every door. “Be ready.”

The line ended.

Olivia stared at the screen, her breath shaking. She stood from the swing, wiping her damp palms on her skirt as panic crept through her. She slipped quietly through the back gate, keeping to the shadows, the silence of the garden chasing her down the dim road.

Twenty minutes later, a black SUV glided to a stop beside her. The tinted window lowered with mechanical precision. No words were exchanged. She climbed inside.

The drive felt suspended, neither long nor short. Laoag’s evening lights shimmered like scattered jewels as the car cut through the city. Olivia clutched her hands in her lap, repeating the lines Helena demanded, the lies she had been ordered to deliver.

The SUV pulled into Java Hotel.

At the entrance of Eagles’ Nest Bar and Restaurant, Simon stood waiting.

He did not check his watch. He did not shift his stance. He simply stood, tall and composed, as if the entire evening bent itself around his existence. His expression was unreadable, but the weight of him filled the space like a quiet storm.

He did not greet her. He only turned and walked inside, expecting her to follow.

She did.

He chose a secluded corner near the windows overlooking the pool, where the low golden lights reflected off the water like broken stars. Before she could sit, Simon spoke.

“You came to decline.” No accusation. No disappointment. Only fact.

Olivia nodded slowly. “Yes—”

“Helena instructed you to do so.” His gaze sharpened, slicing through the dimness. “She thinks if you refuse, I will marry Clarisse instead.”

Olivia flinched. The way he said Clarisse’s name was cold, stripped of any humanity.

Simon leaned back slightly, but the air around him tightened as if drawn in by gravity. “I do not intend to bring a w***e into my family.”

The word struck the table like a blade. Space itself seemed to recoil from it.

Olivia gasped softly. It was not only the vulgarity. It was the precision. The absolute lack of hesitation. Simon did not speak carelessly. He said it because he meant it, because the truth to him was neither fragile nor negotiable.

He waited until she could breathe again.

“She also threatened you,” he said. “Your job. Your friends. Mae’s mother. Jonathan’s future.”

Olivia’s voice shook. “How… how do you know?”

Simon’s expression remained carved from stone. “Because I am always steps ahead of anyone foolish enough to believe they can manipulate me.”

His certainty made her pulse thud painfully.

“You think declining me protects your friends,” he continued.

Olivia lowered her gaze. “It will. My mother has connections.”

His tone sliced clean. “Helena’s reach is a matchstick. Mine is an empire.”

She blinked, stunned.

He leaned forward slightly, voice low and controlled. “If you take my hand, Helena cannot touch them. Not your job. Not Mae. Not Jonathan. No one within your circle. You choose who stands under my protection.”

Olivia swallowed hard. “Why would you protect them? I am only… a pawn.”

He did not soften. “I am using you. That is true.” The bluntness sucked the air from her lungs. “But you will be my wife. And no one connected to me is permitted to be harmed.”

He continued, each word deliberate. “When you marry me, you become untouchable. And anyone you shield becomes untouchable by extension. Helena knows it. The province will know it.” His voice deepened, heavy with the authority of a man accustomed to being obeyed. “Power is not something you ask for. It is something you inherit by proximity.”

Olivia felt something cold settle inside her. Truth. Fear. And a glimmer of something unfamiliar.

Possibility.

Simon watched her with that same unreadable precision. “Now,” he said quietly, “say what you came to say. And look at me when you say it.”

She lifted her eyes slowly, breath trembling.

And for the first time, she truly understood what kind of man Simon Jimenez was.

Cold. Ruthless. Unyielding.

And in the world she lived in, perhaps the only shield strong enough to survive the storm her life had become.