His Rival Her Sin

Chapter 11: Playing His Games

Ryan didn’t move away from Nina immediately.

He studied her face, his thumb resting beneath her chin, as though he were trying to discover what she had carefully hidden behind her beautiful eyes.

“Tell me something, Nina. What exactly do you want from me?”

Her heart gave a nervous kick, but she smiled.

“Must I want something from you?”

“Everyone wants something.”

“Perhaps I just want you.”

Ryan’s mouth curved slightly.

It was a convincing answer. Almost.

He had spent enough time examining Nina’s background to know that the woman standing before him was a mystery wrapped in carefully arranged details. Her records revealed little of significance. Her history was unusually difficult to trace, and the more he investigated, the more questions he accumulated.

Then there was the night she had tried to drug him.

He remembered the drink, her insistence that he finish it, and the strange urgency with which she had attempted to get him into his house. He remembered waking to find evidence that someone had searched through his private belongings.

Nina had believed herself clever.

Ryan had allowed her to believe it.

Now he intended to discover what she was looking for.

“Then prove it,” he murmured.

She raised an eyebrow. “How?”

“Spend more time with me.”

“That sounds suspiciously like an invitation.”

“Consider it one.”

He kissed her forehead before stepping away, leaving her uncertain whether she had just won something or walked deeper into his trap.

“Tomorrow,” he continued, “we’ll have dinner. Somewhere private.”

Nina nodded, concealing her relief. More time with Ryan meant more opportunities to gain his trust and eventually reach the information she had spent years searching for.

“Tomorrow, then.”

Ryan watched her leave.

His expression changed as soon as she disappeared behind the doors.

“Let’s see what you’re really after, Nina Wells.”

Alex’s car pulled into the driveway of his mother’s mansion shortly after midnight.

He found her waiting in the drawing room, still dressed in an elegant silk robe, a glass of wine untouched beside her.

“Finally,” she said. “I’ve been calling you.”

“I was at the reception.”

“And?”

Alex loosened his tie and dropped into an armchair.

“Ryan is getting closer to Nina.”

His mother’s face tightened.

“Nina? The girl you’ve been entertaining?”

“She’s not just some girl, Mother.”

“Then what is she?”

Alex had no answer he was willing to share.

His mother rose and crossed the room, her heels tapping against the marble floor.

“Your brother has spent his entire life taking what should have been yours. Your father gave him authority, the board listens to him, and now you tell me he has another woman distracting him?”

“Ryan doesn’t know what he’s doing.”

“Don’t be foolish. Your brother always knows what he’s doing.”

The words irritated Alex because they came too close to the truth.

His mother had never forgiven his father for placing so much trust in Ryan. She had spent years reminding Alex that the Cole empire should have belonged to him, that his father’s decisions had humiliated them, and that allowing Ryan to remain in control was an insult they could no longer tolerate.

“I’m working on it,” Alex said.

“Working on what? Waiting for Ryan to hand you the company?”

“I said I’m working on it!”

His voice cracked across the room.

His mother stared at him.

For a moment, neither spoke.

Then she lowered her voice.

“You’d better remember what is at stake. Everything we have depends on you taking your rightful position. I will not spend the rest of my life watching that woman and her son enjoy what should belong to us.”

Alex looked away.

His mother’s hatred had always been convenient. It gave him someone to agree with, someone who understood his resentment.

But she didn’t know everything.

She didn’t know what had happened the night their father died.

She didn’t know about the will.

And she certainly didn’t know what Alex had done after discovering that the document threatened to leave the greater share of the family empire under Ryan’s control.

He could still remember his father’s voice that night, the argument that had grown out of control, and the terrible moment when anger had overwhelmed every rational thought.

One violent decision had changed everything.

Afterward, Alex had done what was necessary to protect himself.

He had hidden the will and allowed the circumstances surrounding his father’s death to remain unexplained. The company had continued operating, Ryan had assumed greater responsibility, and Alex had spent every year since then trying to regain the power he believed had been stolen from him.

Now Nina Wells had appeared.

And Ryan was looking at her as though she might be the answer to a question he had been asking for years.

Alex couldn’t afford another complication.

“Find out everything you can about that girl,” his mother ordered.

Alex looked at her.

“Already trying.”

“Then try harder.”

The following morning, Ryan arrived at his office to find a folder waiting on his desk.

He opened it and examined the information his investigator had gathered about Nina.

There were gaps in her history, unexplained movements, and a trail of searches connected to his family.

The most revealing detail concerned her interest in the Cole estate.

She hadn’t simply researched Ryan’s company. She had spent years examining the family’s business dealings, its history, and the circumstances surrounding the death of his father.

Ryan leaned back in his chair.

“What are you looking for?” he murmured.

He turned another page.

There was nothing conclusive about her motives, but the pattern was unmistakable. Nina had been watching him long before their first proper conversation.

And when she finally got close, she had attempted to incapacitate him.

He should have confronted her.

Instead, he had chosen to let her remain close.

A knock interrupted his thoughts.

His assistant entered with a tablet.

“Mr. Cole, your mother is asking whether you’ll attend the family luncheon on Sunday.”

“Tell her I’ll be there.”

“She also mentioned that Mr. Alex has requested an additional meeting with the board.”

Ryan’s eyes narrowed.

“On what grounds?”

“He hasn’t specified.”

Of course he hadn’t.

Alex had always preferred to make his ambitions look like reasonable business proposals. Their mother encouraged him, but Ryan had never believed she understood the full extent of her son’s intentions.

“Send me the request,” Ryan said. “And don’t confirm anything with the board until I’ve reviewed it.”

When the assistant left, Ryan returned his attention to Nina’s file.

Two problems were developing at once: his half-brother’s growing ambition and a woman whose motives remained hidden.

He intended to understand both.

But he would start with Nina.

Nina spent the morning reviewing the notes she had collected over the years.

She had researched the Cole family for so long that she knew the public history almost by heart. She knew the company’s early acquisitions, its internal disputes, the changes in ownership, and the unanswered questions surrounding her father’s downfall.

Yet the most important evidence remained beyond her reach.

Ryan’s private records.

She had once believed she could obtain them by getting him alone, making him vulnerable, and searching his home while he was unable to stop her.

That attempt had failed.

Worse, Ryan had continued treating her with an unsettling warmth afterward.

She couldn’t decide whether he was genuinely attracted to her or deliberately encouraging her to make another mistake.

Her phone rang.

Ryan.

“Good morning,” she answered.

“Have you made plans for tonight?”

“Nothing I can’t change.”

“Excellent. I’ll send a car for you at seven.”

“Where are we going?”

“Somewhere you won’t have to pretend to enjoy yourself.”

Nina frowned.

“Are you accusing me of pretending?”

“Not yet.”

The call ended before she could respond.

She stared at the screen, unsettled by the last two words.

Not yet.

Ryan was testing her. She could feel it.

But she couldn’t afford to withdraw now. If he suspected her, she needed to understand how much he knew and whether he possessed evidence that could expose her investigation.

She would go to dinner.

She would smile, flirt, and make him believe that his attention was becoming irresistible.

If Ryan wanted to play a game, she would play it better.

At seven o’clock, Nina arrived at Ryan’s private residence.

She had expected a restaurant, but the housekeeper ushered her into a dining room overlooking the illuminated gardens.

Ryan stood beside the table in a dark shirt, his sleeves rolled to his forearms.

“You look surprised,” he observed.

“I thought we were going out.”

“Would you prefer a room full of strangers?”

“Not particularly.”

“Then sit.”

Dinner was served, but Nina barely tasted it. Ryan spoke about business, travel, and the company’s plans, occasionally asking questions about her childhood or her family.

His interest seemed natural.

His questions were not.

“Have you ever been here before?” he asked.

Nina’s fork paused.

“No. Why?”

“Just curious.”

She forced a smile.

“Should I have?”

“Perhaps.”

His eyes held hers for a moment too long.

Then he changed the subject.

Nina understood the warning. He remembered something about her presence in his home, even if he hadn’t openly accused her of anything.

She needed to regain control.

“Ryan, why did you invite me here?”

He set down his glass.

“Because I want to know you.”

“That’s all?”

“For now.”

She reached across the table and touched his hand.

“What if there’s nothing interesting to discover?”

Ryan turned his palm upward and threaded his fingers through hers.

“Then I’ll have wasted an evening.”

“And if there is?”

His smile was quiet, almost intimate.

“Then I’ll have to decide what to do with what I find.”

Nina’s pulse quickened.

He was giving her nothing, yet somehow making her feel that she had already revealed too much.

She leaned forward and kissed him.

For a moment, he allowed the kiss to deepen, his hand resting at her waist. Then he drew back just enough to meet her eyes.

“You’re very good at changing the subject.”

“Maybe you’re very good at asking questions.”

“Perhaps.”

He brushed a strand of hair from her face.

“Tell me, Nina. If you discovered something terrible about my family, would you tell me?”

The question struck at the heart of everything.

She forced herself to hold his gaze.

“That depends on what I discovered.”

Ryan studied her in silence.

Then he smiled and kissed her again.

“Interesting answer.”

She couldn’t tell whether he believed her.

She couldn’t tell whether he wanted to believe her.

And that uncertainty followed her long after the dinner ended.

Later that night, Alex stood alone in his study, looking through the locked drawer where he kept the few things he had never dared destroy.

His mother’s voice echoed in his mind.

Take what should be yours.

He had spent years following that advice, hiding his mistakes and building a path toward control. The will remained the one piece of unfinished business that could undo everything.

Ryan must never find it.

Across the city, Ryan watched Nina’s car disappear through his gates.

He had let her leave without demanding answers. He had kissed her, listened to her lies, and given her every opportunity to believe he was falling under her spell.

That was precisely what he wanted her to think.

Tomorrow, he would arrange another opportunity for her to get close to the information she seemed so desperate to find.

And this time, he would be watching every move.

Nina believed she was playing his game.

Ryan intended to let her continue.

Because the closer she came to the truth, the closer he would come to discovering who she really was—and why she had chosen him.