The Four Seasons suite felt like a gilded cage. Natalie paced the luxurious room, the plush carpet doing little to cushion her growing anxiety. The message from "E" haunted her. Lucas plays for keeps. Ask me how I know. Who was E? An ally? Another player in this game she didn't understand?
She arrived at Blackwood early the next morning, determined to focus on work. The three client meetings Lucas had scheduled for today were critical. But as she stepped off the elevator, Margaret stopped her with a tense expression.
"There's a woman waiting for you in Conference Room B," Margaret said quietly. "She refused to give her name, but she's... persistent."
Natalie's stomach tightened. "What does she look like?"
"Blonde. Expensively dressed. Looks like she owns the place."
Sophia.
Natalie considered refusing the meeting. Having security remove her. But curiosity, and a deep, burning anger, won out. "How long has she been waiting?"
"Twenty minutes. I offered coffee. She demanded tea, then complained it was steeped incorrectly." Margaret lowered her voice. "Do you want me to call security?"
"No," Natalie said, straightening her jacket. "I'll handle this."
Conference Room B was a small, glass-walled space overlooking the city. Sophia sat at the head of the table, sipping tea with an expression of utter boredom. She looked exactly as she had in the video, polished, perfect, and entirely too comfortable in Natalie's workplace.
"Natalie," Sophia said without looking up from her tea. "So this is where you've landed. How... quaint."
"What do you want, Sophia?"
Finally, Sophia looked at her, a slow, condescending smile spreading across her perfectly made-up face. "I wanted to see where you work. Adrian's been so worried about you. He says you're not yourself."
"I'm more myself than I've been in years."
"Are you?" Sophia gestured to the room. "Working for Lucas Black? The man Adrian calls a sociopath? This seems... desperate."
Natalie remained standing by the door. "Unlike sleeping with another woman's husband? That's the picture of integrity?"
Sophia's smile tightened. "Adrian and I have a connection you could never understand. We've known each other since we were children. What he and I have is... inevitable."
"How romantic. Does he schedule your abortions in advance too, or is that just for his wife?"
The barb hit its mark. Sophia's composure cracked for a fraction of a second before she recovered. "You always were dramatic. That's why you were never right for him. You're too emotional. Too... common."
Natalie laughed, a harsh, genuine sound. "Common? You're the one who's been waiting in the wings for fifteen years, Sophia. If I'm common, what does that make you? The patient mistress?"
Sophia stood slowly, placing her teacup on the table with precise movements. "I'm not here to trade insults. I'm here to make you see reason."
"Reason? You mean surrender."
"Call it what you want." Sophia moved closer, her perfume, something expensive and floral, filling the space between them. "This little rebellion of yours is hurting people. Important people. Adrian's investors are nervous. His board is questioning his judgment. All because you're throwing a tantrum."
Natalie crossed her arms. "If his business is so fragile that one employee leaving can destabilize it, maybe he shouldn't be CEO."
"It's not about you leaving," Sophia said, her voice dropping to a venomous whisper. "It's about you taking corporate secrets to his biggest rival. That's not just a tantrum, that's treason."
Natalie felt a cold trickle of fear. How much did Sophia know? "I haven't taken any secrets."
"Really?" Sophia's eyes glittered with malicious amusement. "Then how did Lucas Black know about the Zurich Trust loan? How did he know which clients to target? Those weren't guesses, Natalie. Those were inside information."
Natalie's mind raced. The loan information had only been discussed yesterday in private. Either Lucas had a mole in Adrian's company, or...
"Adrian told you," Natalie realized aloud. "He's discussing confidential business details with you?"
"Adrian tells me everything," Sophia said smugly. "We have no secrets. Unlike your marriage."
The implication hung in the air. Natalie forced herself to breathe evenly. "If you're here to threaten me with legal action, get in line. Adrian's lawyers are already working on it."
"Oh, the custody case?" Sophia waved a dismissive hand. "That's just paperwork. I'm talking about real consequences. The kind that can't be solved in a courtroom."
Natalie stepped closer, meeting Sophia's gaze directly. "Are you threatening me?"
"Warning you," Sophia corrected. "This path you're on? It leads to destruction. Yours, not Adrian's. Lucas Black will use you until you're useless, then discard you. And when that happens, you'll have nothing. No job. No money. And certainly no child."
The mention of her baby broke through Natalie's calm facade. "Get out."
"Or what?" Sophia smiled sweetly. "You'll call security? Your new boss? Go ahead. I'd love to meet the famous Lucas Black. I'm sure we'd have... much to discuss."
Natalie's hand trembled at her side. She imagined slapping Sophia, watching that perfect makeup smear. But she'd already played that card with Adrian. Sophia was different, more cunning, more dangerous.
"You think you've won," Natalie said quietly. "But you're just the latest in a long line of women who've thrown themselves at Adrian. He'll tire of you eventually. They always do."
Sophia's smile didn't falter. "That's where you're wrong. You see, Adrian and I... we're having a baby."
The words landed like a physical blow. Natalie actually staggered back a step. "What?"
"Six weeks along." Sophia placed a hand on her flat stomach. "Adrian's so happy. He always wanted children with the right woman. With a woman who understands his world."
Natalie's mind reeled. The timeline, six weeks. That meant... while she was planning Adrian's birthday surprise, while she was buying baby booties and dreaming of their future, he was already creating a new one with Sophia.
"You're lying," Natalie whispered.
"Am I?" Sophia reached into her purse and pulled out a grainy black-and-white image. An ultrasound. "See? There's the heartbeat. Strong and healthy. Just like our love."
Natalie stared at the image, her vision blurring. It was real. The date in the corner proved it.
"Adrian didn't want to tell you like this," Sophia said, her voice dripping with false sympathy. "He wanted to wait until you were... more stable. But I thought you deserved to know why it's so important for you to step aside gracefully."
Natalie's throat tightened. She couldn't breathe. The room seemed to spin around her.
"You need to understand your place now, Natalie," Sophia continued, her voice hardening. "You're the ex-wife. The obstacle. I'm the future. The mother of Adrian's heir. So do everyone a favor and disappear. Take Lucas's money, go somewhere quiet, and have your little bastard in peace. Because if you don't..."
She leaned in close, her breath warm against Natalie's ear.
"I will make sure you lose everything. Starting with that baby you're so desperate to keep."
Sophia straightened up, smiled brightly, and walked out of the conference room, leaving Natalie alone with the ultrasound photo in her hand.
The door had barely closed when Lucas appeared in the doorway. He took in Natalie's pale face, her trembling hands, and the photograph she clutched.
"Problem?" he asked, his voice neutral.
Natalie crumpled the ultrasound photo in her fist. "Sophia's pregnant."
Lucas didn't look surprised. "I know."
"You knew?" Natalie stared at him. "How long?"
"Since yesterday. My sources are better than Adrian's." He stepped into the room. "But I wanted to see how she'd play it. Now I know."
Natalie sank into a chair, her legs suddenly weak. "This changes everything."
"Does it?" Lucas picked up the crumpled photo, smoothed it out. "A baby doesn't change Adrian's character. It just gives him another pawn to play with."
"He'll use this in the custody case. He'll say his child should have a stable home with both parents..."
"Then we'll have to make sure you look more stable than they do." Lucas tossed the photo in the trash. "The client meetings start in ten minutes. Are you still capable of doing your job, or has Sophia succeeded in her mission?"
Natalie looked from the trash can to Lucas's impassive face. The shock was already hardening into something else. Something colder. Sharper.
"She hasn't succeeded," Natalie said, standing up. "She's just given me more motivation."
A faint smile touched Lucas's lips. "Good. Then let's go destroy your ex-husband's mistress along with his company."
As they walked toward the elevator, Natalie realized something terrifying: she was starting to appreciate Lucas's ruthless efficiency. And that scared her more than anything Sophia had said.