CHAPTER 3
1160 Words
The elevator doors slid open onto the lobby, but neither Lucas nor Elena moved.
His phone remained in his hand, the screen still lit with the message from his lawyer. The shock hadn’t faded from his face.
Elena leaned in slightly. “She’s suing you? For what?”
Lucas’s jaw tightened. “Claiming common-law partnership. That she supported me while I built Thorne Enterprises. That she contributed financially and emotionally to its growth. She’s saying she’s entitled to half.”
Elena blinked. “That’s ridiculous. You said she wasn’t even a serious relationship.”
“She wasn’t.” He ran a hand through his hair, pacing a short circle in the elevator. “We dated casually on and off. I never shared company equity, never gave her financial access.”
“But perception matters,” Elena said softly. “Especially with someone like Vivian. She doesn’t seem like the type to back down easily.”
“She isn’t,” he admitted bitterly.
Elena stepped out of the elevator, her mind racing. Lucas followed, still staring at his phone like it had betrayed him.
Outside, the rain had softened to a gentle drizzle. The city shimmered in the wet, neon reflections bouncing off slick pavement. A black SUV was waiting at the curb.
Lucas opened the door for her, but Elena paused before getting in.
“Why didn’t you tell me you were being targeted like this?”
“I didn’t know until now,” he said. “But I had a feeling something was off. She kept asking about my company—about shares, legal rights. I just never imagined she’d go this far.”
Elena slid into the car without a word.
The drive to her apartment was quiet, the weight between them stretching thick and uncertain. Lucas stared out the window, lost in thought. Elena watched him from the corner of her eye.
He looked tired. Not physically—but emotionally worn. Like the past seven years had chipped away pieces of him no one could see.
“Do you believe her claim has merit?” she asked gently.
“No,” he said. “But even a baseless lawsuit can do damage. Stocks dip. Investors panic. The board starts to wonder if I’ve lost control.”
“Is there anything I can do?” Her voice was tentative, but sincere.
Lucas turned toward her, eyes narrowing slightly. “Why do you care?”
The question hit her like ice.
“I don’t know,” she said after a pause. “Maybe because I remember the boy who used to draw business plans on napkins. Who promised he’d never let money turn him into someone cold.”
He studied her face, then looked away again.
“I remember her too,” he said quietly. “But I’m not that boy anymore.”
“I’m not asking you to be.”
They pulled up outside her apartment. The rain had stopped completely now, the street calm beneath the city lights.
Lucas stepped out first and walked her to the building’s awning. For a long moment, they stood in silence, the air electric with tension neither of them dared name.
“I don’t regret coming back,” she whispered.
Lucas met her gaze. “Even after all this?”
“I’d rather face chaos with you than keep pretending I’m fine without you.”
Something shifted in his eyes then softer, warmer. But he didn’t kiss her. Didn’t touch her. Just stared like he was trying to remember every detail of her face.
“I have to fix this,” he said finally. “Before I can ask you to stay.”
She nodded. “Then fix it. And come back for me.”
The next morning, Elena stared at her coffee, unread emails open on her laptop, but her mind was far from her inbox. She hadn’t slept. Every time she closed her eyes, Lucas’s face haunted her his anger, his vulnerability, the soft way he’d said her name in the elevator.
Her phone buzzed.
Lucas Thorne: Vivian went public. Press release hit at 8 a.m. Need you.
Her pulse kicked. She grabbed her coat and left her apartment, heart hammering.
When she arrived at Thorne Enterprises, security already had her name on a list. They ushered her up to Lucas’s private floor without question. The media was camped outside the glass building, reporters pressing against barricades like wolves smelling blood.
Lucas met her at the elevator. He looked different now—armored in a navy suit, clean-shaven, cold-eyed. The CEO, not the man she’d kissed.
“Come on,” he said, leading her into his office.
The screens on his wall were lit up with headlines.
“Scorned Fiancée Sues Billionaire Lucas Thorne: Claims Emotional & Financial Betrayal”
“Inside the Storm at Thorne Enterprises: Love, Lawsuits, and Leverage”
Elena’s stomach turned.
“I’ve got half the board calling for a special session. The other half wants me to go dark until legal clears it.”
“And you?” she asked.
“I want to fight.”
He turned to face her. “I need you to see something.”
He opened a folder on his desk—emails. Dozens of them. Sent from an anonymous account to Vivian. Each one tracking Elena’s movements from the last few months.
“What the hell is this?” she asked.
“She’s been watching you since before you came back.”
Elena backed away. “That’s insane.”
“I think she knew you'd return. Or she knew I still cared. She was preparing for this. Waiting to strike the moment you were back in my life.”
Elena's skin prickled. “Why would she go to that extent?”
Lucas held her gaze. “Because you were never a ghost to me, Elena. And she knew that.”
Her breath caught.
“I don’t know where this ends,” he said. “But if you’re staying, you need to be ready for all of it.”
She stepped closer. “I didn’t come back just for you, Lucas. I came back for us.”
He reached for her hand then, slowly, carefully, like touching her was both salvation and sin. Their fingers met, curled together like puzzle pieces.
And just as the moment settled between them—intimate, quiet—his assistant burst into the room.
“Sir. Vivian just scheduled a press conference.”
Lucas’s face darkened. “When?”
“Fifteen minutes. Midtown Hilton.”
Lucas let go of Elena’s hand. “I need to be there. She’s going to spin this whole thing.”
“I’m coming with you,” Elena said.
He hesitated. “Are you sure?”
She nodded. “You said you didn’t want to fight alone. Then don’t.”
He gave her the ghost of a smile. “Then let’s make sure she doesn’t get the last word.”
- Writer
