Chapter 2 - The Man Hannah Never Talked About
Evan Cole crossed the parking lot as if the dozens of people staring at him didn't exist.
His eyes stayed on Hannah.
That was one of the things she loved about him.
When Evan decided somebody mattered, the rest of the world seemed to become background noise.
He stopped in front of her broken sedan.
“You okay?”
“My dignity isn't.”
He looked at the car.
“I told you.”
“Don't.”
“I didn't say anything.”
“Your face did.”
He smiled.
Then Hannah looked behind him.
Seven luxury vehicles.
Employees filming.
Sloane looking as though she had just seen a ghost.
“You promised you'd come yourself.”
“I did.”
Hannah pointed.
“What is that?”
“Myself.”
“Evan.”
“And several people who happened to be leaving the same place.”
“At exactly the same time?”
“Remarkable coincidence.”
She stared at him.
He kissed her forehead.
“Hi.”
Her anger lasted approximately three seconds.
“Hi.”
Then Sloane approached.
“Mr. Cole?”
Hannah turned.
Evan's expression changed almost imperceptibly.
Not colder.
Simply professional.
“Yes?”
Sloane looked between them.
“You're Evan Cole?”
“I am.”
“You're...”
She stopped.
Hannah frowned.
“You know him?”
Sloane looked at Hannah as if the question itself were absurd.
Before she could answer, one of Brightwell's senior directors came hurrying from the building.
“Mr. Cole!”
Hannah's stomach dropped.
The director reached them breathless.
“I had no idea you were visiting.”
“I'm not,” Evan replied.
The director looked confused.
Evan slipped an arm gently around Hannah.
“I'm picking up my fiancée.”
Nobody spoke.
Hannah wanted the pavement to swallow her.
The director stared at her.
“Your...”
“Fiancée,” Evan repeated.
That word traveled through the parking lot faster than any office email Hannah had ever seen.
Sloane's mouth opened.
Tiffany stared.
Kara whispered, “Oh my God.”
Hannah looked at Evan.
“What did you do?”
“Picked you up.”
“Why does my director know you?”
Now Evan looked genuinely confused.
“You never told her?”
“Told me what?”
The director answered.
“Cole Meridian.”
Hannah blinked.
She knew the name.
Everyone in corporate consulting knew the name.
Cole Meridian wasn't simply a company.
It was a private investment group with holdings in technology, logistics, commercial property, manufacturing, and transportation.
Brightwell had spent months trying to get into a room with them.
Hannah slowly turned toward Evan.
“Cole Meridian?”
“Yes.”
“Cole.”
“Yes.”
“Evan Cole.”
“That is generally how surnames work.”
She stared at him.
He realized joking had been a mistake.
“Hannah—”
“You told me your family had an investment business.”
“We do.”
“You made it sound like your parents owned three rental properties.”
Evan almost smiled.
“Technically, we do own rental properties.”
“How many?”
He hesitated.
“That is not the right question.”
Behind Hannah, someone coughed to hide a laugh.
She pointed toward him.
“We are discussing this later.”
“Understood.”
Then she noticed Sloane.
The woman who had mocked her car every morning was completely silent.
Hannah should have felt triumphant.
Instead, she felt uncomfortable.
She didn't want revenge.
She had never wanted anyone humiliated.
She simply wanted to go home.
Evan looked at the sedan.
“I'll have someone tow it.”
“No.”
“Hannah.”
“I'm fixing it.”
“The repair will probably cost more than—”
She gave him a look.
Evan stopped.
“Fixing it.”
“Yes.”
He nodded.
“Fixing it.”
That evening, however, something far more important than Hannah's broken car was waiting.
At dinner, Evan placed his phone facedown.
“You're angry.”
“I'm not angry that you have money.”
“I know.”
“I'm angry because apparently everyone at my company knows who you are except me.”
“I never lied.”
“No. You just answered questions with the precision of a defense attorney.”
He considered that.
“Fair.”
“Why?”
Evan looked down.
For the first time that evening, his confidence disappeared.
“Because the first night we met, you didn't know.”
Hannah remembered.
A neighborhood bookstore.
A rainy Saturday.
Evan had asked whether the seat beside her was free.
He had been wearing jeans and an old jacket.
She had assumed he was another man hiding from the rain.
They talked for three hours.
“I liked being Evan,” he continued. “Not Evan Cole.”
Hannah's anger softened.
“And after?”
“I kept waiting for the right moment.”
“For two years?”
“I apparently have poor timing.”
She almost laughed.
Almost.
Then Evan reached across the table.
“There is something else.”
Hannah's smile disappeared.
“What?”
He took a breath.
“Cole Meridian is considering acquiring a controlling interest in Brightwell Systems.”
Hannah froze.
Her fork stopped halfway to the plate.
“What?”
“The negotiations are confidential.”
“How long?”
“Six weeks.”
Hannah pushed her chair back slightly.
“You knew?”
“Yes.”
“You knew your company might buy mine?”
“Yes.”
“And you didn't tell me?”
“I legally couldn't.”
She understood that.
She hated that she understood it.
“Does anyone at Brightwell know we're engaged?”
“They do now.”
Hannah closed her eyes.
Tomorrow would be unbearable.
But Evan wasn't finished.
“There is one more problem.”
She opened them.
“What problem?”
“The acquisition isn't why Sloane recognized me.”
Hannah stared.
Evan's expression had become serious.
“She recognized me because I met her three months ago.”
Hannah felt something cold settle in her stomach.
“Why?”
Evan looked directly at her.
“Because Sloane has been trying to get a job at Cole Meridian.”
May you like
And then he added the part that changed everything.
“She used your work to do it.”
