Chapter 3: The Rival's Gambit

Chapter 3: The Rival's Gambit

Two days. He gave me two days to “settle my affairs” before I was to move into his penthouse. It was a ludicrous courtesy, a thin veneer of choice painted over an iron-clad ultimatum. Every second of those forty-eight hours felt like a grain of sand slipping through my fingers, each one bringing me closer to the end of my life as I knew it.

Ethan didn't call. He didn't text. But I felt his presence everywhere. It was in the unnerving silence on my phone, the lack of communication from anyone in my professional circle who had likely been warned away. It was in the glint of a dark town car I saw parked across the street, its windows too tinted to be innocent. I was already living in his cage; he was just letting me pace its familiar, gold-plated bars for a final, torturous moment.

The memory of his words, of his possessive touch, was a brand on my soul. You now belong to me. The casual way he had claimed my life sent a tremor of pure terror through me, followed by a hot, defiant rage. I had clawed my way up from nothing, built my fortress of anonymity and wealth one dangerous transaction at a time. I would not become a trophy. I would not be a spoil of war.

Desperation is a powerful motivator. It silences the rational part of your brain that screams about risk and focuses you on the single, blinding need for survival. My only option, as dangerous and idiotic as it was, was the man who started this whole mess. Leo Sterling.

He was the architect of my downfall, but he was also Ethan’s enemy. And the enemy of my enemy… was a weapon I had to at least consider using.

Getting a message to him was a masterclass in the paranoia I’d cultivated over years in the business. I left my apartment, deliberately leaving my own phone behind. I took three different subways, doubling back twice. In a crowded electronics store in a part of town I’d never visited, I paid cash for the cheapest burner phone they had. Then, in the sterile, anonymous bathroom of a coffee shop five blocks away, I sent a single text to the number Leo had used to hire me.

You owe me. The Orpheum Lounge. 10 PM. Come alone.

The Orpheum was a relic from another era, a jazz lounge tucked away in the basement of a boutique hotel. It was all dark wood, red velvet, and deep shadows—a place built for secrets. I chose a booth in the farthest corner, my back to the wall, a clear view of the entrance. I ordered a gin martini and let the glass sweat in my trembling hand, my nerves stretched taut as piano wire.

He arrived at 10:07 PM.

Leo Sterling slid into the booth opposite me, exuding the same effortless charm I remembered from our lunch. His blond hair was perfect, his light-colored suit immaculate. He flashed a dazzling, apologetic smile that didn’t reach his piercing blue eyes.

“Ariel,” he began, his voice a smooth, consoling murmur. “I am so, so sorry. I had no idea. The moment I got word that he knew, I tried to warn you.”

I took a slow sip of my martini, the gin a cold fire in my throat. I let the silence hang between us, forcing him to squirm under my cold glare.

“My name is Scarlett,” I said, my voice flat and hard. “And your warning came after he was already in my bed, whispering my real name in my ear. So you can save the apology. You threw me in a cage with a monster. The only question is whether you knew he was a monster all along.”

His smile faltered for a second, a crack in the polished facade. “I knew he was ruthless in business. I genuinely believed the stories about his personal life—the reclusive, awkward virgin. It seems Thompson is better at managing his public image than anyone knew. He played us both.”

“He played me,” I corrected, leaning forward. “You’re just out a fee. I’m facing a life sentence. He was in my apartment, Leo. He bypassed a security system that’s supposed to be unbreachable. He told me I belong to him now. That I’m his… prize.” The word tasted like ash in my mouth.

Leo’s expression hardened. The charming playboy vanished, replaced by the cunning, serpentine predator I knew was lurking underneath. “That arrogant son of a bitch. He can’t do that.”

“He already has,” I shot back. “And he made it very clear what happens if I try to run. He said your people or his would find me. That my story would end. Quietly.”

Leo had the decency to look away, a tacit admission of the truth. He took a deep breath, his focus returning to me, sharp and calculating.

“Then we don’t let him win,” he said, his tone shifting from apologetic to conspiratorial. “Scarlett. I can get you out. I can give you everything you wanted in the first place, and more.”

My heart stuttered. This was it. The lifeline. “What are you offering?”

“Five million dollars,” he said without blinking. “Deposited into an offshore account. A new passport, a new identity, transportation to anywhere in the world you want to go. A clean slate. A new life, completely untraceable.”

It was the dream. The entire reason I had become Ariel. The finish line. I stared at him, waiting for the catch. Men like Leo Sterling never gave away something for nothing.

“What’s the price?” I asked, my voice barely a whisper.

He leaned in, his blue eyes glittering with a dangerous light. “Thompson has taken something from me. You. I want to utterly destroy him for it. You’re on the inside now. You’ll be in his house, in his bed. He’ll let his guard down around you. I want information, Scarlett. Business dealings, private conversations, passwords, weaknesses. Anything and everything. You become my eyes and ears. You help me ruin him, and I will set you free.”

The air left my lungs. I felt dizzy, the low hum of the jazz music fading into a dull roar in my ears. He wasn’t offering me an escape. He was offering me a new job. A different kind of contract. He wanted to turn me from a pawn into a spy.

I stared at the man in front of me, the charming savior offering me a gilded key. He was just as bad as Ethan. They were two sides of the same debased coin, two kings fighting over a kingdom, and I was the piece of territory they were trying to conquer. My choice wasn’t between freedom and Ethan’s cage. It was between Ethan’s cage and Leo’s leash. One man wanted to own my body, the other wanted to own my loyalty, and both paths were soaked in a danger that could swallow me whole.

“He’s a monster, Scarlett,” Leo said softly, mistaking my silence for hesitation. “Help me put him down. It’s the only way you’ll ever truly be safe.”

I left the lounge without giving him an answer, the weight of his offer a physical stone in my stomach. As I stepped out onto the wet pavement, I pulled the collar of my coat tight, suddenly feeling a thousand eyes on me. Were they Ethan’s? Or were they Leo’s? I was no longer just a high-end escort caught in a bad deal. I was a secret. A liability. A weapon. And I was trapped, caught in the dead center of a war I was beginning to suspect I could not survive.