LOGAN'S POV
"You need to see this."
Marcus bursts into my office without knocking, which means something bad just happened. He only breaks protocol when the world is ending.
"What now?" I don't look up from the contract I'm reading. The Chen Enterprises acquisition is almost complete, but there are still fifty pages of legal language to review.
"Robert Crane just announced a partnership with Maya Chen."
Now I look up. "What kind of partnership?"
Marcus drops a tablet on my desk. The headline reads: "Crane Industries and Chen Form Strategic Alliance—Pierce Industries Caught Off Guard."
My jaw clenches. Robert Crane has been my enemy for fifteen years. Ever since he destroyed my father's company and drove my family into bankruptcy. And now he's partnering with Maya Chen, whose company I just bought?
"How is this possible? I own Chen Enterprises now."
"Technically, you own the company. But Maya still controls the patents and intellectual property through a loophole her lawyers buried in the contract." Marcus looks grim. "She sold those patents to Crane this morning. For two hundred million dollars."
I've been played.
Maya Chen smiled at me for three months during negotiations. Pretended to be professional and cooperative. All while planning to stab me in the back.
"Get our lawyers on this immediately," I say quietly. The quieter my voice gets, the angrier I am. "I want to know every legal option we have."
"Already done. But Logan..." Marcus hesitates. "There's something else. Someone named Aria Chen called. Says she needs to speak with you about 'family business.'"
Aria Chen. The name sounds familiar, but I can't place it.
"Another Chen family member trying to negotiate something?" I ask tiredly. "Tell her the acquisition is final. There's nothing to discuss."
"She specifically said it's not about business. She mentioned... the hotel?"
Everything stops.
The hotel. Two months ago. The party where I saved that drugged girl.
The girl with ice-blue eyes who looked at me like I was a hero instead of a monster.
"What did you tell her?" My voice comes out strange.
"That you'd meet with her tomorrow at two. Was that wrong?"
I should say yes. Should tell Marcus to cancel. I don't have time for whatever this is.
But something about that night has haunted me for two months. The way she trusted me when she had no reason to. The way she looked so broken when I told her about her sister's smile.
"No," I hear myself say. "The meeting stands. Two o'clock tomorrow."
Marcus leaves, and I'm alone with my thoughts.
What could Aria Chen possibly want to talk about after two months?
The next day, I arrive at my office early. The Chen-Crane partnership announcement has my phone exploding with calls from investors and board members. Everyone wants to know how I let this happen.
I want to know too.
At exactly two o'clock, Marcus escorts someone to my office. Through the glass walls, I see a young woman walking beside him. She's thin—too thin—and moves like she's carrying the weight of the world.
Then she steps through my door, and recognition hits me like a truck.
The girl from the hotel. The one I saved.
But she looks different now. Smaller somehow. Scared in a way she wasn't even when she was drugged.
"Miss Chen." I stand up, trying to keep my voice professional. "Please, sit."
She sits across from my desk. Her hands twist in her lap like nervous birds.
"You said you needed to talk." I try to sound gentle. Something about her makes me want to be gentle. "Is this about Robert Crane? Has he threatened you again?"
She looks confused. "No. I mean, he left me alone after the police got involved."
Good. At least that's one thing that worked out.
"This is about that night," she says softly. "At the hotel."
My chest tightens. I haven't thought about that night in weeks. Tried to bury it under work and anger at the Chen family.
"I see," I say carefully.
"You saved me. You kept me safe when someone drugged me. I never got to thank you properly."
"You don't need to thank me. Anyone decent would have done the same."
It's true. But also a lie. Plenty of people at that party saw her fall and did nothing. I was the only one who helped.
"But you did it. And now..." Her voice cracks. "Now there's something you need to know."
Something cold settles in my stomach. Whatever she's about to say, I already don't like it.
"What is it?"
She takes a shaky breath. "I'm pregnant. The baby is yours."
The words hang in the air between us.
Pregnant.
The baby is yours.
For three seconds, my brain completely stops working.
Then reality crashes in hard and fast.
The Chen family business just failed. Maya Chen just betrayed me and sold company secrets to my worst enemy. And now Aria Chen shows up claiming pregnancy exactly when her family needs money most desperately?
My father's face flashes through my mind. The way he looked when a woman claimed she was pregnant with his child. How she threatened to ruin him if he didn't pay. How she almost destroyed everything until we proved she was lying.
History is repeating itself.
I lean back in my chair, and every wall I've ever built slams into place.
"I see." My voice turns to ice. "So that's what this is about."
She looks confused. "What?"
"How much do you want?"
"What?"
I open my desk drawer and pull out my checkbook. The same one I use for business deals. For problems I need to make disappear.
"To get rid of it. To disappear. How much money do you want?"
Her face goes white. "I'm not—I don't want money—"
"Everyone wants money, Miss Chen." I'm writing numbers on a check, my hand steady even though something inside me is screaming. "Especially people who show up claiming pregnancy two months after a one-night encounter. Especially when my company just bought their family business."
"It's not like that!" She stands up, trembling. "I'm telling you the truth! I'm pregnant, and you're the father, and I thought—I thought you might—"
"You thought what? That I'd marry you? Make you rich?" I rip the check from the book and hold it out. "Here. Five hundred thousand dollars. Take it and disappear."
She stares at the check like I just slapped her.
"You don't believe me," she whispers.
"I believe you're desperate. I believe your family is broke after I bought them out. I believe this is a convenient story." I meet her eyes and force myself not to see the pain there. "But I won't be trapped by a lie."
The office door opens behind her.
Maya Chen walks in, perfectly dressed and smiling. When she sees Aria, her smile grows.
"Logan, darling, I brought the contracts you—" She stops. "Aria? What are you doing here?"
Something about the timing feels wrong. But I'm too angry to care.
"She was just leaving," I say coldly. "Weren't you, Miss Chen?"
Maya walks over and puts her hand on my shoulder. I should move away, but I don't. Let Aria see that I'm not alone. That her sister is here, proving this whole pregnancy claim is just another Chen family scheme.
"Let me guess," Maya says sweetly. "She told you she's pregnant?"
Wait. How does Maya know that?
"It's true," Aria says desperately, looking at me with those blue eyes. "I'm not lying—"
"Of course you're lying." Maya laughs. "Aria, you're so predictable. Logan, I told you she'd try something like this. The Chen family is desperate after you bought us out. Dad put her up to this."
The pieces click together in my head. The father sent her. This is a coordinated attack.
"Is your father behind this?" I ask Aria.
"No! Nobody is behind anything! I'm pregnant! I came here to tell you the truth because I thought—I thought you were a good person!"
The desperation in her voice almost breaks through my walls. Almost.
But I remember my father. Remember how close we came to losing everything because he believed a liar.
"Security," I say into my phone.
Two guards appear immediately.
"No, wait—" Aria reaches toward me, but the guards grab her arms.
"If you contact me again, I'll sue you for harassment. Do you understand?"
Tears fill her eyes. "You're making a mistake."
"The only mistake I made was being kind to you that night." The words taste like poison. "Get her out of here."
They drag her away. She doesn't fight. Just goes limp like I broke something inside her.
Maya's laugh echoes in the office after Aria's gone.
"You handled that well," Maya says, still touching my shoulder. "I know that must have been hard."
I look at her hand. "How did you know she'd claim pregnancy?"
Maya's smile falters for just a second. "What?"
"You knew what she was going to say before she said it. How?"
"I—she's been acting strange lately. It was obvious what she was planning." Maya pulls her hand back. "Why are you questioning me? I just helped you."
She's lying. I can see it in her eyes, hear it in her voice.
But I pushed Aria out. Gave her money to disappear. There's no taking that back now.
"I need to work," I tell Maya. "Alone."
She leaves, looking confused and slightly angry.
I sit at my desk and stare at the space where Aria Chen stood. Where she told me she was pregnant with my child.
Where I called her a liar.
My phone buzzes. A text from Marcus:
"Security footage from two months ago just came through. The night of the party. You need to see this. Now."
I pull up the video file he sends.
It shows the hotel hallway outside my suite. Two months ago. The timestamp reads 3:47 AM.
On screen, I watch myself leave my room, heading to an early meeting.
Five minutes later, Maya Chen enters my suite. She's inside for ten minutes. When she comes out, she's holding something—Aria's phone.
She deletes something on the screen. Then drops the phone back in the room and leaves.
My blood runs cold.
Maya was there that morning. She took Aria's phone. Deleted my note.
Which means—
My office phone rings. Marcus.
"Logan, there's more. The hospital where Aria's father was just admitted? They called looking for next of kin. Richard Chen had a massive heart attack an hour ago. He's dying."
"Why are you telling me this?"
"Because Aria Chen is his only emergency contact. And she's not answering her phone." Marcus pauses. "Logan, I watched that video. Maya deleted your note. Which means everything Aria said today might be—"
"True." The word comes out like broken glass. "It might all be true."
I stand up so fast my chair crashes backward.
"Where did security take her?"
"They dropped her outside the building twenty minutes ago."
Twenty minutes. She could be anywhere by now.
I'm running for the elevator when my phone rings again. Unknown number.
"Logan Pierce."
"Mr. Pierce." A man's voice, smooth and satisfied. Robert Crane. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything important."
"What do you want, Crane?"
"To thank you, actually. That little scene with Aria Chen this afternoon? Perfect. Absolutely perfect."
My hand tightens on the phone. "What are you talking about?"
"Maya called me the moment the girl left your office. Told me everything." He laughs. "You know what's funny? That baby Aria's carrying? It really is yours. Maya confirmed it. She's known for weeks."
The elevator doors open. I step inside but can't move.
"You're lying."
"Am I? Ask yourself this, Pierce—why would Maya show up in your office at the exact moment Aria was confessing? Why would she know about the pregnancy before Aria even told you?" Crane's voice drops. "Because she's been working for me since before that party. Since before she drugged her own sister and delivered her to your room."
"That's impossible—"
"Is it? Check your acquisition contract again. Really check it. Maya made sure you'd get the company but lose everything that matters. And now?" He laughs again. "Now you just threw away your pregnant girlfriend and your child. Maya told me how broken Aria looked when security dragged her out. Congratulations, Pierce. You just destroyed the only honest person in the entire Chen family."
The line goes dead.
I stand in the elevator, Crane's words echoing in my head.
She's been working for me since before that party.
Since before she drugged her own sister.
The baby Aria's carrying? It really is yours.
My legs give out. I sink to the elevator floor.
What have I done?
The elevator doors open on the ground floor. Security guards stare at me, their CEO sitting on the floor like a broken man.
"Mr. Pierce? Are you alright?"
I'm not alright. I just gave five hundred thousand dollars to the mother of my child and told her to disappear.
I just called my son a mistake.
And somewhere out there, Aria Chen is alone, pregnant, broke, with a dying father and nowhere to turn.
Because of me.
My phone rings one more time. Marcus.
"Logan, I found her. She's at Memorial Hospital. But Logan—" His voice cracks. "Her father just died. Richard Chen is gone. And Aria... she collapsed. The doctors are with her now."
I'm already running.