He bought her loyalty

Chapter 5

ADRIAN’S POV

The day went by swiftly as I buried myself deeply in work. My assistant walked in. “Sir, it’s past 8 p.m.”

Without sparing her a glance, I told her to go home. I tidied up documents here and there before packing up my things to head home.

Inside the car, I tried to piece together everything about Daren’s photograph. Something was definitely off.

A smile crept across my face.

“Victor… Victor… Victor…” I murmured.

They don’t call me the Devil of Wall Street for nothing, you know…

I couldn’t sleep.

Not because of the company.

Not because Victor Kane had spent the last seventy-two hours tearing apart everything I’d spent years building.

It was her.

Elena.

I stared at the ceiling of my bedroom, one hand resting behind my head as I replayed the events of the previous night.

Her frightened eyes.

The way she had looked at me.

The way she’d stood there, completely unaware of the danger surrounding her.

I had seen fear before. I had caused it before.

But something about the fear in her eyes had unsettled me.

I turned onto my side.

This was ridiculous.

I didn’t know her. At least, I shouldn’t.

Yet I couldn’t get Elena out of my head.

Every time I closed my eyes, she was there.

Why?

I had no answer.

What bothered me even more was the feeling that had taken hold of me when I’d realized she was in danger.

Protect her.

The thought had come so naturally that I hadn’t questioned it.

Until now.

I wasn’t a man who protected strangers.

I wasn’t a man who cared about people simply because they looked vulnerable.

My world didn’t allow that kind of weakness.

People survived because they were strong enough to survive.

That was the rule I’d lived by for years.

So why had Elena made me want to break it?

Who is she?

I sat up and reached for the glass of water on my bedside table.

“She better be worth it…”

My phone buzzed.

I glanced at the screen.

Mr. Hart.

I answered.

“Tell me.”

His voice was unusually serious.

“We have a problem.”

I almost laughed.

“We’ve had a problem for weeks.”

“This is different.”

I stood and walked toward the window. The city was still dark, the skyline covered in scattered lights.

“How bad?”

There was a pause.

“Three more investors pulled out this morning.”

My jaw tightened.

“Who?”

He gave me the names.

I knew every one of them.

Large investors. Important partners. People who had stood beside Cole Industries for years.

And now they were gone.

“Victor,” I said.

“Most likely.”

I stared at the city.

Victor Kane wasn’t simply trying to hurt me anymore.

He was trying to destroy me.

“What’s the board saying?”

“They’re calling an emergency meeting.”

“Of course they are.”

“Adrian—”

“I’ll handle it.”

“You need to be careful. Some of them are already questioning whether you should remain CEO.”

Silence filled the room.

They wanted me out?

I laughed.

A low, humourless laugh.

Victor had managed to turn my investors against me, and now the board was beginning to believe the company would be safer without me.

My grip tightened around the phone.

“They’ll have their meeting.”

“And what are you going to do?”

I looked at my reflection in the glass.

“I’ll remind them who built Cole Industries.”

I ended the call.

For several seconds, I stood there without moving.

Then, against my better judgment, my thoughts returned to Elena.

I closed my eyes.

“Why you?”

I didn’t know whether I was asking her or myself.

My phone buzzed again.

This time, it wasn’t Mr. Hart.

It was my assistant.

There was an emergency meeting scheduled for nine.

I had less than two hours. I needed to focus.

Victor was coming for my company.

The board was turning against me.

My investors were disappearing.

And yet somehow, all I could think about was a woman whose last name I barely knew.

Elena.

I picked up my jacket.

Whatever this strange obsession was, I would deal with it later.

Right now, I had an empire to save and a few people to remind who runs the company.

*********************************************************

Elena’s POV

I needed a job.

That was the first thought that entered my mind when I woke up.

Not tomorrow. Not eventually.

Now.

I sat on the edge of the bed, staring at the small room around me.

Everything felt different. My father’s arrest, my mother’s condition, the debt ,humiliation.

The uncertainty.

It had all happened so quickly that sometimes I wondered if I was going to wake up and discover that none of it had been real.

But the bills were real ,the hospital was real my mother’s condition was real and so was the fact that I had almost nothing left.

My phone lit up beside me another message from the hospital. I didn’t open it immediately.

I already knew what it would say.

Payment.

Everything required payment.

I pressed my fingers against my temples and took a deep breath.

I couldn’t break down.

Not now.

I needed money I needed to work.

I needed something that could give me enough stability to keep my mother receiving treatment while I figured out what had happened to my father and the Reyes Group.

Maya had mentioned several companies hiring.

I’d applied to two already.

No response.

Then my eyes landed on a name I’d seen several times during my search.

Cole Industries.

One of the largest corporations in New York.

I hesitated.

The company was almost intimidating. Their vacancies required experience I wasn’t sure I had.

But I had learned something since my life fell apart you couldn’t afford to reject an opportunity before it rejected you.

I opened the application.

My heart pounded as I filled in my information.

Name.

Elena Reyes.

Education.

Work experience.

Skills.

I stared at the final box.

Position applied for.

I chose one of the available entry-level positions.

My finger hovered over the submit button for a moment, I almost closed the page.

What if they rejected me?

Then I thought about my mother.

I pressed submit.

Application successful.

I exhaled.It wasn’t a job.

Not yet.

But it was something.

For the first time in days, I allowed myself a tiny bit of hope.

*********************************************************

Adrian

“Mr. Cole.”

I looked up from the documents on my desk.

My assistant stood in the doorway.

“What?”

“There’s something you should see.” She placed a folder in front of me.

“I’ve shortlisted the new applications for the position.”

I barely glanced at it.

“Leave it. I think you should look at this one.”

Something in her tone made me stop.I opened the folder.

The first few applications meant nothing to me.

Then I saw the name.

My entire body went still.

Elena Reyes.

I read it again.

Elena.

For several seconds, It felt like mg lungs were tight my fingers tightened around the paper.

Of all the people in New York…

Of all the companies she could have applied to…

She had chosen mine. I leaned back slowly.

A strange feeling settled in my chest.

It wasn’t surprise.

It wasn’t relief.

It was something far more dangerous because suddenly, I understood one thing.

Whatever was happening between Elena and me wasn’t over.

It was only beginning.

And this time, she was walking straight into my world.