JACKSON'S POV
Jackson Sterling is on his third whiskey when he sees her.
He's sitting in the hotel bar with his father, pretending to listen to Richard talk about business deals and money that's being moved around like chess pieces. The bar is dark and expensive, the kind of place where old money sits and gets older. Jackson's been coming here since he was twenty-five. It's where the Sterling family always meets before the big galas. It's tradition.
But Jackson stops listening to his father the moment a woman in a simple white dress walks past the bar toward the lobby.
Sophie.
He knows it's her before he sees her face clearly. Knows it from the way she moves. From the way her shoulder-length hair falls. From something in his chest that just tightens up and won't let go.
Jackson sets his drink down carefully. Too carefully. Like if he doesn't control this small thing, he'll lose control of everything else.
"You alright?" his father asks.
Richard Sterling doesn't look up from his drink. He's a man in his sixties who looks like money tastes better than food. His face is hard like stone that's been carved by years of winning battles nobody else even knew were happening.
Jackson doesn't answer. He's already standing up.
He tells himself he's just going to get another drink. That he's just going to the lobby for a minute. That he's not actually going to see if that was really Sophie Chen walking through his hotel like she has every right to be here.
But he knows he's lying to himself.
Jackson hasn't thought about Sophie in months. He's told himself that so many times that he almost believes it. His marriage to Victoria is good. Practical. Victoria understands his world. She doesn't ask for things that don't make sense. She knows how the game works and she plays it well.
So he hasn't thought about Sophie. Definitely not about the way she used to look at him like he was the only person in the world. Definitely not about how small her hands were in his. Definitely not about how she'd fallen apart when she found out about the affair and he'd just watched it happen like he was watching someone else's life get destroyed.
He's fine. Everything is fine.
Then Jackson reaches the lobby and sees her standing in front of a mirror in that white dress, and suddenly everything is not fine.
She's looking at herself like she doesn't recognize the person staring back. Her hands are shaking. He can see it from where he's standing across the lobby. Her hands are literally shaking because being here is terrifying her.
Jackson hasn't seen her look vulnerable in three years. He hasn't seen her at all in three years. But watching her now, he feels something crack open inside his chest that he thought was sealed shut.
She's beautiful. But it's a different kind of beautiful than before. Before, she was beautiful because he made her that way. He chose her clothes. He shaped her into something that fit his world. She was beautiful because he polished her until she shined like one of his possessions.
Now she's beautiful in a way that has nothing to do with him.
Her hair is longer. Her shoulders are straighter. There's something in her face that wasn't there before. Strength or sadness or both. She looks like someone who's survived something and didn't break.
The elevator doors open.
A man walks out. Tall. Dark. Expensive. Jackson knows immediately who this is even though they've never actually met face to face. Ethan Cole. The man Jackson's family has been at war with for a decade. The man who broke his father's business agreements and took his money and systematically destroyed everything the Sterling family built in the real estate sector.
Ethan pulls Sophie close to him like it's the most natural thing in the world. Like they've been doing this forever. Like she belongs to him.
Sophie belongs to him.
The thought lands in Jackson's stomach like a bomb.
Ethan says something to her that Jackson can't hear, but he watches Sophie lean into him. Watches her find comfort in his arms. Watches the man who's supposed to be his enemy hold his ex-wife like she's the most important thing he's ever touched.
Jackson's hands clench into fists.
He's not supposed to feel this. He's supposed to be over this. He's supposed to be the kind of man who moves on and doesn't look back. He's supposed to be like his father, who sees everything and everyone as either an asset or an obstacle.
But he's not like his father. And watching Sophie with Ethan Cole, Jackson understands that he's been lying about how over her he actually is.
A cold hand lands on his shoulder.
Richard Sterling has left his drink and walked up beside his son without Jackson noticing. His father has always been good at appearing without warning, at showing up in the exact moment you don't want him there.
Richard's gaze follows Jackson's gaze straight to Sophie and Ethan.
Jackson watches his father's face go completely cold. Like someone just switched off whatever human part was there and turned on pure strategy instead. His father studies Sophie the way a businessman studies a property before he decides whether to buy it or burn it down.
"That's the ex-wife," Jackson says quietly. "Sophie."
"I know who she is," Richard replies. His voice sounds like winter.
They watch Ethan and Sophie move toward the lobby exit together. Ethan's hand stays on her back. Protective. Steady. Everything Jackson wasn't when he had her.
Richard leans in close to his son. When he speaks, each word lands like a threat.
"That woman could be useful," Richard says. "Get her back."
Jackson's entire body goes rigid.
"Dad, she's with Ethan now. She's engaged to him. We should probably just let this go."
The words feel weak coming out of his mouth. They feel like lies because they are lies. Jackson doesn't want to let this go. Watching Sophie in Ethan's arms, Jackson wants to burn the entire city down.
Richard doesn't even look at Jackson when he responds. His eyes stay fixed on Sophie and Ethan as they reach the car outside.
"I don't care if she's married to the president," Richard says coldly. "That woman left you without fighting. That means she can be convinced to do other things without fighting too. Imagine what she could tell us about Ethan Cole's operations. Imagine what leverage we could have if we had her."
"She wouldn't—"
"Wouldn't what?" Richard finally turns to look at his son. His eyes are hard and calculating. "Wouldn't betray him? People always betray each other for the right reasons, Jackson. You should know that by now."
Jackson watches his father walk back to the bar like this conversation meant nothing. Like he just didn't hand his son a weapon and tell him to use it.
Sophie and Ethan are at the car now. Ethan opens the door for her. She hesitates before getting in, looking back at the hotel like something is pulling her backward. Like some part of her knows Jackson is watching.
Their eyes meet across the distance.
Just for a second. Just long enough for Jackson to feel it in his bones.
Then she turns away and gets in the car. Ethan closes the door. The car pulls away into Manhattan traffic and disappears.
Jackson stands alone in the lobby and understands something that changes everything.
His father is right. Sophie can be useful. But that's not why Jackson wants her back. He wants her back because losing her to Ethan Cole feels like the only real defeat he's ever experienced. Because watching another man touch her, protect her, love her is making Jackson feel something that looks like insanity.
Because three years ago he let the best thing he ever had walk out the door, and now he's watching her choose someone else. And Jackson Sterling doesn't lose. He never has.
He pulls out his phone and makes a decision that will either destroy everything or save everything, and he's not sure which one it will be.
He calls one of his contacts. A journalist. Someone who owes him favors. Someone who can dig up information and turn it into a story that spreads like fire.
"I have something for you," Jackson says quietly. "A story about Ethan Cole. About his engagement. About how he's using a woman to get what he wants."
The journalist on the other end of the line gets interested immediately. Everyone gets interested when there's scandal involved. Everyone wants to be the person who breaks the story that changes everything.
"Send me what you have," the journalist says.
Jackson hangs up the phone.
He's just started a war. He understands this clearly. He's just taken a step he can't take back. But watching Sophie pull away from the hotel in another man's car, seeing her choose someone else, feeling that loss like it's actually killing him from the inside out, Jackson knows he doesn't have a choice.
He's going to get Sophie back.
Whatever it takes. Whatever it costs. Whatever he has to destroy to make it happen.
Even if it destroys him in the process.