Thomas of course was not one to let his emotions show and so he continued what he was here to do in the first place.
"I have to admit," Thomas said, touching the table between them as if showing the gentle caress of a lover, "I expected you to co alone. It's not every day a billionaire investor is greeted by a bodyguard twice the size of a doorfra."
"I never co unprepared," Jade said coolly. "Especially when I know who I'm dealing with."
Thomas smiled slowly, savoring her words. "You think I'm dangerous?"
"I think you're unpredictable. There's a difference."
He leaned forward slightly. "Unpredictability keeps things interesting."
"It also gets people killed," Jade replied, her tone as calm as ever.
Thomas laughed again, genuinely this ti. "Touché."
The hostess returned with their drinks, placing them gently on the table before bowing and retreating. Thomas took a sip of his whiskey, eyes still locked on Jade.
"You know," he said, "I don't usually get turned down twice in one day."
Jade t his gaze without flinching. "Then you've clearly been dealing with the wrong won."
Thomas grinned, raising his glass in a mock toast. "Or maybe just the wrong kind of challenge."
Jade clinked her glass against his, lips curling into a faint smirk. "Be careful, Thomas. So challenges bite back."
From the corner, Brandon remained silent, watching everything with the cold, unblinking eyes of a trained wolf.
Thomas leaned back in his seat, the dim lighting of the lounge casting shadows across his face. He swirled the amber liquid in his glass, eyes flicking toward Jade like a predator studying its prey.
He hadn't co here just to chat—he wanted more. To him, Brandon's watchful gaze from across the room was just background noise. A minor obstacle.
Because if he could win Jade over, if he could get her to surrender herself to him, then Brandon's existence would beco irrelevant.
After all, a man who holds the woman holds the power—and the dog, in the end, obeys the one with the leash.
But seduction was never simple, especially with soone like Jade who was clearly on guard against his advances.
"I like you, Jade," Thomas said, flashing a slow, confident smile.
"I'll take that as a complint," she replied smoothly, her tone polite but distant.
She didn't even look at him directly, her eyes instead fixed on her drink. There was no blush, no flustered reaction, not even a smirk. Just silence and disinterest.
Most won would have at least smiled by now. That only made her more alluring—and more infuriating.
Undeterred, Thomas kept talking. He complinted her beauty, her poise, her mysterious nature. He joked, leaned in a little closer, let his voice drop to a husky undertone.
But for every flirtatious jab he delivered, Jade offered nothing in return. She answered when necessary, always with elegance, but never with warmth. Her words were clipped, her tone flat.
It was as though she were participating in a ritual she found no joy in—like she was obligated to humor him, but had no intention of giving him anything more than that.
Thirty minutes passed. Thirty minutes of careful maneuvering, subtle touches, and strategic complints. And still, she remained as cold and composed as ever. Her eyes never softened.
Her lips never curled into a genuine smile. It was like trying to seduce a statue.
Thomas's patience began to fray. He wasn't used to this kind of resistance. And so, he shifted tactics.
Enough gas.
"I heard you've been married before," he said abruptly, cutting through the polite façade.
The statent wasn't casual. It was sharp, deliberate—ant to pierce.
Jade stilled.
Her hand paused midway to her glass. Then, slowly, she looked at him. The temperature in her gaze dropped several degrees. It wasn't surprise he saw in her eyes—it was warning.
She clearly didn't like where this was going. And yet, after a brief pause, she gave a calm nod.
"Yes," she said simply, then tipped her glass and drained it in one go.
The gesture was subtle but telling. Her fingers were just a little too tight around the glass. Her throat moved a little too tensely as she swallowed. She might've worn her mask well, but the tension in her posture betrayed her.
"What happened?" Thomas asked, voice softer now, almost feigning concern.
"Nothing," she said. "We fell out of love and moved on."
Thomas raised an eyebrow. "Really? I heard sothing else."
Jade's fingers froze around the rim of her empty glass.
"I heard Ross ca into your life—rather forcefully," he added, smiling as he leaned in. "So say things between you and your husband didn't exactly end... cleanly."
He didn't spell it out. He didn't need to. The implication hung heavy in the air, thick with suggestion. Rumors were a powerful thing—especially when the truth was murky.
And the rumor about Jade and Ross was one that always whispered of betrayal, of affairs and secrets that had never been fully buried.
For the first ti, Jade looked at him with sothing more than polite disinterest. Her eyes flared—not with anger, but with the heat of a mory she clearly didn't want to revisit. Still, she didn't lash out.
She didn't defend herself.
Instead, she set her glass down slowly and folded her hands neatly in her lap, like a lady preparing for war.
"Be careful, Thomas," she said, voice calm but cold enough to chill his spine. "Curiosity can be dangerous. Especially when it cos from soone who wanted to hear gossip from questionable sources."
Thomas chuckled under his breath, intrigued. He didn't get what he wanted—not yet. But for the first ti that night, he'd struck a chord. And that was sothing.
He smiled, his interest in her only deepening.
"Then why don't you enlighten , Jade?" Thomas said, his voice low and laced with mock curiosity. He leaned in, elbows on the table, eyes gleaming with sothing far darker than flirtation.
"Was it the thrill of sneaking around behind your husband's back? The rush of being touched by another man while still wearing soone else's ring? Tell —was that what made it exciting for you?"
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