Chapter One #2
‘So, Annie,’ he prompted, his voice a dry drawl. ‘Is it a coincidence that you are here?’
‘No,’ she said. She had no intention of lying to him. ‘I’ve been trying to contact you. Have you been getting my messages?’
Another twist of those lips that had once driven her wild with pleasure and promises. ‘Yes, I’ve gotten them.’
Her heart trembled and the betrayal of that admission thudded against the walls of her gut. ‘Oh, right.’
‘You might remember, I asked you never to contact me again?’
‘I remember,’ she whispered, then cleared her throat. ‘But I also remember you saying you’d always be there for me.’
For the briefest, tiniest moment, she thought his eyes showed something. A softening. Interest, remorse, concern? But it was gone so quickly, she realised she was layering her own wishful thinking over his expressions.
‘That was a long time ago.’
‘Not so long,’ she said, as the waitress returned with a tray and two drinks. She cleared Theo’s glass before replacing it, then slid Annie’s wine to her. Annie wrapped her fingers around the stem gratefully, without lifting it to her lips.
‘A lifetime.’
‘Six years. Not even.’
He arched a single brow. ‘Did you come here to discuss the past?’
Her lips parted on a quick sigh. ‘No,’ she said, dropping her gaze.
There was no point. They’d said everything there was to say.
She’d dumped him because her parents had insisted on it.
He’d been angry at her reasoning, had fought for her to try to make it work, had fought for their relationship, and she’d shut him down.
Again and again. It had not been an amicable split.
She took a quick sip of her drink, barely noticing the world-class wine as it spread across her palate.
‘Then what is it? As I said, I’m waiting for someone, and it would be better if you weren’t here when she arrives.’
She.
Annie ignored the rolling in her gut.
She knew he’d dated since they broke up.
Everyone knew he’d dated. One of the richest men in the world, responsible for several tech innovations, as well as world-famous property developments, from Sydney to Dubai to Shanghai and Paris, Theodoros Leonidas had taken his foster parents’ not-insignificant wealth and somehow turned it into a global powerhouse.
No, not somehow. She knew how he’d done it.
Because as often as there were pictures of him printed in the papers with beautiful women on his arm, there were stories written about him in the financial broadsheets: his ruthless, dog-eat-dog, take no prisoners negotiation style credited with his ability to make some of the toughest deals, and to walk away from anything that didn’t serve him.
So what if he was waiting for a woman? That had nothing to do with Annie. She wasn’t here for personal reasons, but rather, for business.
‘I have a proposition for you,’ she said, a little unevenly, glugging back some more wine.
‘I see,’ he murmured, though his voice was now as cynical as his half smile had been earlier. ‘How fascinating. And here I thought I had nothing to offer you.’
She flinched. ‘It’s better if we leave the past in the past.’
He dipped his head once, in what she took to be an agreement to that.
She took one more sip for courage. ‘I’m here with an investment opportunity,’ she said, faltering slightly.
His expression was sheer mockery now. ‘Because you think I need help in that department?’
He could not make it any clearer how he felt about her if he grabbed a permanent marker and scrawled across the table, ‘Annie Langley is Scum’.
Did she deserve that? Maybe. Every accusation he’d levelled at her in their break-up argument had been fair, and she understood the things he hadn’t said.
She’d chosen her parents over him, and to someone like Theo, that had been a betrayal.
One he couldn’t forgive. But he’d also misunderstood her reasoning.
He’d thought it was because she was a snob, that her parents were snobs.
He’d thought it was because he had grown up poor, that he didn’t belong in their world.
While that might have been true for some of Annie’s friends, money had nothing to do with her parents’ reactions.
Not really. At its heart had just been their overarching need to keep her safe, and alive.
Like they’d failed to do, from their perspective, for her older sister, Mary.
‘And I’m here because you’re the only person I know who can help.’
‘Which is it, Annie? Charity or opportunity?’
She’d at least hoped he’d express a little concern when she told him it was about help, but there was that same icy tone in his voice.
‘Both, I suppose.’
‘Fascinating. Why don’t you start at the beginning? You have precisely as long as it takes for my date to arrive so if I were you, I would not sit there fumbling with your hands longer than is necessary.’
She felt like the gauche teenager lusting after him that she’d once been. She swallowed, glancing away, his cruelty cutting her in a way she hadn’t expected. Her eyes came to land on the wall just behind his shoulder.
‘I’m looking for someone to buy a forty-five per cent stake in my parents’ company,’ she said.
She wasn’t looking at him, so did not see the way he reacted to that, the tension that tautened his whole expression, the way his eyes darkened to almost black.
Annie couldn’t bring herself to see what she thought might be triumph in his face as she admitted, ‘It’s not in good shape, but there is so much scope for improvement and growth.
You’d be getting a relative bargain and we’d… ’ be able to keep going.
The infusion of cash was just what she needed. And the addition of someone like Theo, to reassure their staff? They had been hemorrhaging leadership positions. The company was in an untenable position.
‘I do not buy partial shares of companies,’ he said, reaching for his scotch and taking a drink before replacing it on the tabletop. Her eyes slid to his and her heart twisted inside her chest.
‘I know.’ She swallowed. ‘But I thought, in this instance—’
‘That I would make an exception? And why, exactly would you think that, Annie?’ He leaned forward a little way, bracing his elbows on the table, and she bit into her cheek, as she was reminded of just how big he was, how much larger than her.
She’d always felt so safe, pressed to his side, or wrapped in his arms, like he was some kind of gladiator who could protect her from everything.
‘Let me guess. Because, once upon a time, a long time ago, we went out, you think I owe you some kind of favour?’
She flinched again, visibly recoiling against his crude characterization of their relationship. ‘We—did more than go out.’
His lip curled in that derisive way she’d seen several times already tonight. ‘If you insist.’
She opened her mouth to argue, but then wondered if he was laying a trap for her. Getting her to go down memory lane and rehash their failed relationship, rather than stay on track and discuss her reason for being here.
‘I’ve got all the financials for you,’ she said, pulling a USB from her handbag and pressing it across the table.
‘It’s password-coded with your birthday.
’ Her voice hitched a little as she admitted the detail, but she’d wanted to protect the documents in case anything happened to the USB, and hadn’t wanted to use her own birthday, in case he didn’t remember it, and had to admit that to her.
‘Fascinating, but I told you, I do not buy partial stakes. That’s not how I do business.’
‘I’m aware of that. Did you think I’d come here tonight without doing my research?’
‘Then you’ve wasted your time.’
‘If you look at the details, you’ll see it’s still a good deal for you. What we can do in the market—’
‘My date is here,’ he said, moving from the booth, his jacket in one hand, his legs brushing hers beneath the table, so sparks flooded her bloodstream.
He stood, unfolding to his full six and a half feet, his lap at her eye height, so she had to quickly wrench her gaze to his face.
‘Excuse me, Annie. I’d say it was nice seeing you again, but we both know that would be a lie. ’
He began to move away, to greet a woman who’d just walked in, wearing a denim mini skirt so short it almost showed her bottom, and a camisole top with lace trim. Her hair was blond and glossy, and hung halfway down her back.
Annie watched as Theo’s demeanour changed, his smile easy as he drew the woman into his arms and then kissed her on the lips.
It was only brief, just a few seconds, but Annie acknowledged she could have lived her whole life quite happily without ever having to see that.
It was bad enough that she’d seen photos of him with women clinging to his side like limpets, but those had been still photographs—a world of difference between that, and this.
Still, she’d come this far. She reached for the USB and curled it into her palm, crossing the bar and almost knocking a waitress off her feet in her haste to reach Theo and his date.
They had already stepped outside by the time she caught up to them, and Annie, on autopilot, extended a hand to curve around his arm, to get his attention.
Theo glanced back at her, frowning, looking at her like he barely knew her now.
Hurt spread through Annie, but she refused to feel it. Later, when she was back in the hotel room, she’d wallow in the shame and degradation of this whole experience, but for now, she needed to make some headway.
‘Just look at the financials,’ was all she felt capable of saying, given the other woman was now staring at Annie, too. ‘My phone number is in the document. I’m in Sydney for another two days. Take a look, and then call me.’ She cleared her throat. ‘Please, Theo.’
For a moment, his eyes narrowed, and then, without nodding, or uttering a word of reassurance, he took the USB from her and slid it into his pocket.
‘Goodbye, Annie.’
She watched him walk away with no idea if she’d ever hear from him again.
Copyright ? 2026 by Clare Connelly