The Hidden Heiress: Tangled with Two Billionaire Kings
w like a polite but persistent knock. I sat cross-legged on my be
e to the Winter Garden C
and the whisper of recognition in my gut -
n corporate gossip columns and old financial reports. My father had
woman who knows
r Garden Café was small and understated, its glass windows fogged from the warmth inside. A bell
alread
poised elegantly in her hand. Her hair was silver, swept back into a chignon, a
as I approached. Not
. "That
Please. I don't play games,
from her, my pulse spiking
with an ease that felt almost deliberate. "I sat on the
between us like
wasn't an acciden
rpened. "No.
was the hum of the café and the so
an, your enemies, and the Sterling brothers will not. You are the founder's blood. Direct li
ists under the table.
e board has been waiting for the right moment to use you
I'm not part of their
te a smile. "The thing about bloodlines, my
Victor Kane's,
you why they're circling. The Founders' Gala is in three months. If you attend
hinner. "And i
r place," she said simply. "
er. It was too much, too fast - and yet, some deep,
it," I said finall
'd expected nothing les
-
emy, only the feel of the rain soaking into my coat
e dorm entrance,
the other holding a black umbrella. The rain didn't to
een busy,
ed. "Were you
you've been," he said evenly. "Serena Ma
d. "Why do
y. "Because she's
estion slipped out be
, not cold calculation, but something softer. "I don't want to see you che
ow what to
d rain clinging to him. "If you ever have ques
not A
se Adrian will tell you exa
the door for me and stepped aside
-
yond the glass, every light a reminder that some
a.m., my ph
p? – Adria
typed back: How di
security cameras, I can get a phon
better judg
s in his pockets, that infuriating grin in plac
ine,"
ing toward the glass doors. "Come on. There's
g me into their orbit. But there was something about Adrian's ease, the way
rom the academy. The windows fogged from the heat in
of a cheeseburger, "Serena
lfway to my mout
easily. "Damian's probably already filed it i
wn. "Why are you
said, his tone almost serious. "And Serena's good at making you feel
you w
eturned. "
ead. "You're
glinting. "That's w
-
endlessly beyond the window. Serena's war
me I didn't understand - a
ing to stay in
ounders' Gal
e was the key