Chapter 4
The moment Elijah said his name, 1 froze.
I gripped the phone tighter, my pulse hammering, “No.”
Elijah exhaled sharply. “Fiona-
“No.” My stomach twisted. “Not him.”
Killian Sinclair.
A name I hadn’t uttered in years.
A man I had once humiliated. The man I never imagined I’d ever have to confront again.
I still remember the exact moment when I had fuined everything
I had been eighteen. Killian had been my brother’s closest friend. And he had been reckless and sharp–tongued and infuriatingly devoted to me.
He never said it, never admitted it directly, but I had known.
And in one careless moment, I had ridiculed him for it.
I had mentioned Killian’s dumb crush to my brother.
The fight that ensued had destroyed their friendship.
And Killian?
He had never forgiven me.
I swallowed hard. “There’s got to be someone else.”
“There isn’t,” Elijah said. “Not somebody who has the power to cross Desmond. Not someone who would really like it.”
My pulse stilled.
Enjoy it?
Elijah’s voice was grim. “Revenge is a delight for Killian, Fiona. He doesn’t just destroy people – he ensures they never recover.”
A shiver crept down my spine.
“And he’s wealthy enough,” my brother went on, “that even Desmond would have to bow.”
I pressed my lips together.
Killian was ruthless. Dangerous.
A man who never passed up a grudge.
If I went to him now, he’d recognize it for what it was.
1/7
3:01 pm D D D
Chapter 4
Desperation.
But I had no other choice,
I exhaled slowly. “Set up the meeting.”
Killian’s private villa was just as I imagined.
Isolated. Expensive. Dripping with power.
At the entrance, the guards hardly looked at me and motioned me in.
And there he was.
Killian Sinclair stood by the floor–to–ceiling windows, clad in an open white shirt and dark slacks, sipping a glass of whiskey as if he had all the time in the world.
Still sharp jawed. Still impossibly beautiful.
Still dangerous.
He turned slowly, and the instant our eyes locked, a slow, knowing smile spread across his face.
“Well, well,” he said, laughing. “If it isn’t Fiona Dykstra.”
An arrow of pain shot through my chest.
Not Benedict.
Not anymore.
I lifted my chin, attempting to steady my voice. “Killian.”
He looked me over, his silver eyes skimming my body, noting the fatigue, the anger I had failed to suppress.
Then he smirked, to my utter shock.
“Come here,” he said easily. “give me a good look at you.”
There was a tightening somewhere in my chest.
I had expected coldness. Bitterness.
I had destroyed his friendship with Elijah. He had plenty of reason to hate me.
Instead, he looked… pleased.
Like he had been waiting for me.
I moved slowly toward him, stopping just before him.
That moment stretched too long.
Then, he tilted his head.
2/7
Chapter 4
“You look well, for someone who lost everything.”
The words hurt, but I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of reacting. “Are you going to help me, or are you just going to admire the damage?”
He chuckled. “Straight to business.”
He wandered over to the bar, pouring another drink. “You know, when Elijah said you were on the phone, I could hardly believe it.” He glanced back. “The thing is, you pretty much made it clear I wasn’t worth your time.
I swallowed hard.
I deserved that.
But I wasn’t there for apologies.
I lifted my chin. “And yet, here we are.”
Killian propped himself up against the counter with a smirk. “Here we are.”
Then, he slid a file across the bar.
I frowned. “What’s this?”
“Your solution.”
I grasped it, cracking it open – then froze.
A contract.
But not just any contract.
Marriage.
I jerked my gaze up. “You’re joking.”
Killian swirled his whiskey as he watched me. “Am I?”
I gripped the pages tightly with my fingers.
Marriage.
Resources.
Power.
In exchange?
The total obliteration of Desmond Benedict.
It pressed against my ribs, the weight of it.
This was no longer about clearing my name.
This was about annihilation.
3/7
3:01 pm
Chapter 4
I met Killian’s gaze. “Why?”
He sipped his drink and took his time. “Because it’ll be fun.”
I frowned.
Killian smirked. “I enjoy breaking men who think they are untouchable. And Desmond? He thinks he’s untouchable.”
I exhaled sharply.
I had spent days drowning.
But a betrayal, in helplessness, in betraying.
Now?
He was throwing me a lifeline, Killian.
Or a weapon.
And perhaps, just maybe, I was finally ready to deploy it.
I reached for the pen.
And I signed.
The news traveled like wildfire.
It was morning before my name was no longer scandal attached.
Not Desmond Benedict’s castoff wife anymore.
I was Fiona Sinclair.
The wife of a billionaire.
The woman who had come back from the dead.
The headlines screamed-
“Billionaire Killian Sinclair Gets Hitched to Fiona Benedict in Shock Wedding!”
“A Fallen Woman No More: Fiona Sinclair Conquers the Business World!”
“Is This Love or Just a Power Move? Fiona’s Secret Wedding to Killian Sinclair!”
The public ate it up.
Killian let me stand next to him at the press conference, my hand in his, my posture perfect.
The perfect couple.
The perfect revenge.
4/7
*2)
3:01 pm
Chapter i
But there was only one response I was awaiting.
And when the initial murmurs of Desmond’s horror reached my ears, I smiled.
The plan was simple.
Find a weak link. Apply pressure. And make Desmond crumble.
Killian described it as a game of leverage.
“You don’t just hit at your enemy,” he’d said, reclining in his chair, silver eyes twinkling with mockery. “You bleed them out. Slowly Until they’ve got nothing left.”
And that’s precisely what we were about to do.
Desmond’s empire had cracks.
And we had found one.
His name was Edward Lane.
A senior accountant at Benedict Holdings, deep in financial records, who’d seen the money move. The very money that had framed me for embezzlement
He had been wary when we contacted him. Fearful.
But then Killian came to see him.
By the end of the meeting, Edward was ready to say anything we wanted him to.
I encountered Edward in a dim, remote café–one of Killian’s selection.
11e seemed nervous, glancing every few seconds at the door.
“They’re watching me,” he muttered, wiping sweat off his forehead. “You don’t know what Benedict Holdings does to traitors”
1 laid an envelope on the table. “This will keep you safe.”
He picked it up with shaking hands. A hefty bribe. Enough to buy him a ticket out of the city, to vanish if necessary.
But his gaze moved beyond me.
1 didn’t have to look back to know Killian stood back there, observing
Killian bent down, his voice smooth, playful. “You’re nervous, Edward That’s cute”
Edward swallowed hard.
Killian smiled. But it wasn’t warm “So the thing is you’re going to testify. You are going to tell the court precisely how Desmond moved that money. And in exchange, I won’t personally take care of you disappearing
Edward paled.
5/7
3:01 pm
Chapter 4
Killian’s smile widened.
I knew that look.
It was the face of a man who had just won.
And Edward?
He had no choice.
“I’ll do it,” he whispered.
The courtroom was full of cameras and journalists, their eyes glancing at me every few seconds, waiting for me to break.
But I didn’t.
Instead I sat next to Killian, my back erect, my expression unreadable.
This was the day that changed everything.
Edward was supposed to testify, to tell the world that Desmond Benedict was the true criminal.
We were about to win.
The judge was in the process of riffling through files when the court clerk leaned closer, murmuring something in his ear.
His expression darkened.
He looked up and cleared his throat. “It seems…” He paused, letting his eyes roam the room until they settled on mine.
The air shifted.
Something was wrong.
“It does not seem that the witness
–
Edward Lane will be testifying today.”
–
My heart stopped.
The courtroom buzzed.
Whispers. Murmurs
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