Dominic Ashford's POV
"Sign here, Mrs. Chen, and Chen Technologies becomes part of Ashford Global."
I pushed the contract across the mahogany table. Eleanor Chen's hand trembled slightly as she reached for the pen. Good. She should be nervous. I was getting her company for a fraction of what it was worth.
This was business. Cold, calculated, and perfectly legal.
"My late husband built this company," Eleanor said softly. "I hope you'll honor his legacy."
Legacy. Everyone talked about legacy like it meant something. Like it could protect you when the wolves came circling.
I learned at nineteen that legacy was just a pretty word for failure. When my parents died and my uncle stole everything, their "legacy" didn't save me. Nothing saved me except ruthlessness and refusing to trust anyone.
"Your husband made poor financial decisions," I said flatly. "I'm fixing them."
Victoria Chen sat beside her mother, quiet and composed. She'd been surprisingly helpful during the acquisition, providing insider information about the company's weak points. Smart girl. She knew when to jump from a sinking ship.
"Mr. Ashford is right, Mother." Victoria touched Eleanor's hand. "Father was brilliant, but he was too emotional. He let his heart rule his business sense."
Something about the way she said it made my jaw tighten. There was cruelty hidden under that sweet voice.
Eleanor signed the papers with shaking hands.
Done. Chen Technologies was mine. Another company saved from bankruptcy. Another victory in a war I'd been fighting since I was nineteen and homeless.
"If there's nothing else—" I started to stand.
The conference room door burst open.
Sophia Chen stumbled in, her face pale and desperate. Her hair was messy. Dark circles shadowed her eyes. She looked like she hadn't slept in weeks.
She looked like the girl from my bed six weeks ago, except broken.
My chest tightened with an emotion I refused to name.
Don't feel sorry for her. This is exactly what she wants.
"Mr. Ashford." Her voice cracked. "I need to speak with you. Privately. Please."
Eleanor stood up, furious. "Sophia! What are you doing here? This is a business meeting—"
"I know." Sophia's eyes locked on mine. Desperate. Pleading. "But this is important. Life-changing. Please, just five minutes alone."
Life-changing. My blood ran cold.
I knew what was coming. She'd tried texting me about being pregnant six weeks ago, but I'd blocked her number. My lawyers sent cease-and-desist letters. I thought that would be the end of it.
But gold-diggers never gave up that easily.
"We have nothing to discuss," I said coldly. "Security will escort you—"
"Wait!" Victoria jumped up, her eyes wide with shock. She pointed at Sophia's purse. "Is that... Sophia, is that a pregnancy test box?"
I looked. Sure enough, the corner of a pink and white box stuck out of Sophia's bag.
The room went silent. Deadly silent.
Sophia's face went white. Her hand flew to her purse, trying to shove the box deeper inside. But it was too late. Everyone had seen it.
"Oh my God." Victoria's hand covered her mouth. "You're pregnant? That's why you're here?"
"Victoria, please—" Sophia's voice broke.
But Victoria turned to me, her face full of fake concern. "Mr. Ashford, I'm so sorry. I didn't know my sister was planning this. I thought—I hoped—she had more dignity."
"Planning what?" Sophia looked confused. Scared. "What are you talking about?"
Eleanor stood frozen, her face a mask of horror. "Sophia Chen, tell me you didn't do what I think you did."
"Mother, I think it's obvious." Victoria's voice turned sharp. "Six weeks ago, Sophia disappeared for a whole night. She came home at dawn, her dress torn, crying. She wouldn't tell us where she'd been." Victoria looked at me with sympathy that felt like poison. "Now she's pregnant and showing up at your office? Right when you're taking over our company?"
My hands clenched into fists. The pieces clicked together in my mind—the same terrible story I'd believed from the beginning.
She planned it. All of it.
"It's not like that!" Sophia's voice rose, desperate. "I was drugged! I don't even remember that night! I just need to understand what happened, and now I'm pregnant, and I thought—"
"You thought you could trap him," Victoria finished coldly. "Seduce him, get pregnant, and force him to save our company. God, Sophia, even for you, this is low."
"No!" Tears streamed down Sophia's face. "I didn't seduce anyone! Someone drugged me! Don't you understand? I woke up in his bed with no memory—"
"Convenient," Eleanor said, her voice like ice. "The perfect excuse. 'I don't remember.' How calculated."
"I'm not calculating!" Sophia turned to me, her eyes desperate. "Please, you have to believe me. That night was wrong. Something happened to both of us. I just want to understand—"
"Enough." The word came out like a knife.
I stood up slowly. Every eye in the room turned to me.
The girl—Sophia—looked at me with hope. Pathetic, desperate hope that made me sick.
Because I'd almost fallen for it. When she burst through that door, pale and scared, for a split second I wanted to believe her. Wanted to believe that maybe, just maybe, I'd been wrong.
But I wasn't wrong. I was never wrong about gold-diggers.
"You think a bastard child will save your bankrupt family?" My voice was cold enough to freeze blood. "You're more calculating than I thought."
Sophia's face crumbled. "What? No, I'm not trying to—"
"Six weeks ago, you drugged yourself and climbed into my bed. You had someone take photos. You planned the whole thing to either blackmail me or trap me with a pregnancy." Each word was a hammer blow. "But I don't fall for traps. I destroy them."
"That's not true!" She was sobbing now, barely able to stand. "Please, just listen—"
"Marcus!" I called for my head of security. "Remove Ms. Chen from the building. If she ever comes back, have her arrested for trespassing."
"No! Please!" Sophia tried to move toward me, but Victoria grabbed her arm.
"Come on, sister," Victoria said sweetly, her grip tight enough to bruise. "You've embarrassed yourself enough."
Marcus appeared with two security guards. They each took one of Sophia's arms.
"I'm telling the truth!" Sophia screamed as they dragged her toward the door. Her eyes locked on mine, full of pain and desperation. "I'm carrying your child! Doesn't that mean anything to you?"
"It means you're desperate," I said coldly. "My lawyers will contact you about paternity testing and non-disclosure agreements. If that child is mine—which I doubt—I'll pay for its care. But you'll never see another cent from me."
"I don't want your money!" Her voice broke. "I just wanted—"
The door slammed shut, cutting off her words.
Silence filled the conference room.
Eleanor sank into her chair, pale and shaking. "I'm so sorry, Mr. Ashford. I had no idea Sophia would stoop so low. The shame she's brought to our family—"
"It's not your fault," Victoria said quickly. "Sophia has always been... unstable. Father spoiled her, made her think she deserved things she didn't earn." She turned to me, her eyes wide and innocent. "If there's anything I can do to make this right—"
"Just finish the acquisition paperwork." I gathered my documents, my hands steady even though my chest felt tight. "And make sure your sister understands that if she goes to the press with this story, I'll destroy whatever's left of the Chen family name."
"Of course." Victoria smiled. "You can count on me, Mr. Ashford."
I left the conference room and headed straight for my office. I didn't run. Dominic Ashford didn't run from anything.
But I walked fast.
Marcus followed me inside, closing the door.
"Boss," he said quietly. "That girl—"
"Is a liar and a manipulator."
"She looked genuinely scared."
"They always do." I poured myself a whiskey even though it was only two in the afternoon. "That's how they get you. Big eyes, tears, desperate stories. It's all performance."
Marcus was quiet for a moment. "What if she's telling the truth?"
The question hung in the air like smoke.
I thought about Sophia's face as security dragged her away. The raw pain in her eyes. The way she screamed that she was telling the truth like her life depended on it.
Then I remembered the photo someone left in my penthouse. The note: "The Chen family sends their regards."
It was all a setup. All of it.
"Run a full background check on Sophia Chen," I ordered. "I want to know everything. Where she's been, who she's talked to, what her plan is."
"Already on it." Marcus pulled out his tablet. "But boss, there's something weird. I've been monitoring her phone and email like you asked. She hasn't contacted any lawyers. Hasn't talked to the press. Hasn't even told her best friend about coming here today."
My hand tightened around the whiskey glass. "So?"
"So if this was a calculated trap, wouldn't she be coordinating with someone? Building a case? Instead, she came alone, desperate, with a pregnancy test falling out of her purse like she forgot it was there."
"What's your point?"
Marcus met my eyes. "My point is, maybe we're wrong about her."
I wanted to throw the glass against the wall. Wanted to scream that I couldn't afford to be wrong, that trusting people got you destroyed, that Sophia Chen was just another liar trying to steal from me.
But instead, I pulled up the building security footage from six weeks ago.
The night everything started.
And I watched it again. Frame by frame.
Me, stumbling drunk after only three drinks. Sophia, helping me to my car, looking confused and scared herself. The way she kept asking me if I was okay. The way she looked around like she didn't understand what was happening.
Then another figure appeared in the footage. Someone I'd missed before.
Someone who entered my building thirty minutes before Sophia and me.
Someone who went straight to my penthouse floor.
I froze the frame, zoomed in on the face.
Victoria Chen.
My blood turned to ice.
"Marcus," I said slowly. "Get me everything on Victoria Chen. Everything. And do it now."
Because if Victoria was in my building before Sophia...
If she had access to my penthouse...
If she was the one who took those photos...
Then I'd just destroyed an innocent woman.
And the real enemy was still smiling in my conference room.