CHAPTER TWO:THE TRAP HE HATES
663 Words
Xavier Ravencrest didn’t believe in coincidences.
The very idea of them felt like a myth—something people told themselves to make sense of things they couldn’t control.
He believed in precision.
In planning.
In outcomes that were carefully engineered.
So when he saw her—laughing freely in the middle of Beverly Hills Park, completely unaware of his presence—
he knew this was not one.
From the tinted windows of the black SUV, his gaze remained fixed on her.
Arianna.
The woman he was bound to marry.
She sat on a picnic cloth with her friend, her laughter light and unguarded, her movements effortless. There was something almost careless about her… something that didn’t belong in his world.
Too soft.
Too unaware.
Unprepared.
A faint scoff left him.
“She has no idea what she’s walking into.”
The words were low, almost lost in the silence of the car.
“Sir?”
The voice came from the front seat—his assistant, careful and measured.
Xavier didn’t respond immediately.
Outside, Arianna tilted her head back in laughter again, her entire expression open in a way he found… inconvenient.
“Sir,” the assistant tried again, more cautiously. “If we don’t leave now, you’ll be late for the meeting.”
Xavier finally looked away.
“Start the car.”
The engine came alive instantly.
His phone buzzed almost at the same time. He picked it up without hesitation.
“Yes.”
“Mr. Ravencrest,” a voice spoke quickly from the other end, slightly tense. “The board members are already seated. They’ve been waiting for over fifteen minutes.”
Xavier leaned back into his seat, his expression unreadable.
“Then they can wait another five.”
There was a pause.
“…Yes, sir.”
The call ended.
The SUV pulled smoothly onto the road, leaving the park behind as if it had never been there.
“She doesn’t know, does she?”
The question came again from the front.
Xavier’s jaw tightened slightly.
“No.”
A brief silence followed.
“And when she finds out?”
Xavier’s eyes darkened, his voice calm—too calm.
“She won’t have a choice.”
That was the end of it.
The assistant said nothing more.
Xavier adjusted his cufflinks, his thoughts already shifting.
Meetings.
Contracts.
Control.
That was the world he understood.
Yet, for the briefest second—
his mind drifted back.
To her.
He shut it down immediately.
Irrelevant.
Everything about this arrangement was.
Except the outcome.
“Drive faster.”
“Yes, sir.”
The car sped forward.
The room was dimly lit.
Quiet.
Controlled.
“Everything is in place, sir.”
Xavier didn’t look up from the document in front of him.
“And her family?” he asked.
A brief pause followed.
“They’re… unaware of the full extent of the agreement.”
Of course they were.
That was the point.
Xavier signed the document without hesitation, the scratch of his pen echoing faintly in the silence.
“This should have been settled years ago,” the voice continued carefully. “Even before she was born.”
For a fraction of a second, Xavier’s hand stilled.
Then continued.
“It will be,” he said flatly.
Silence settled again—heavier this time.
“There are still… unresolved matters concerning her father.”
That got his attention.
Xavier leaned back slowly, his gaze lifting—cold, sharp, deliberate.
“I’m aware.”
“Do you intend to—”
“No.”
The interruption was quiet.
But absolute.
Whatever question remained died instantly.
Not because it didn’t matter—
but because Xavier had decided it didn’t.
He adjusted his sleeve, his expression returning to its usual calm.
“This marriage is not up for discussion,” he said. “Everything else will be handled when the time comes.”
And just like that, the conversation ended.
Not because it was finished—
but because he was.
- Writer
