Chapter 2 Smoke and Mirrors

AIDEN'S POV

People think being born into money makes life easier.

Oh, they are so wrong.

Money doesn't erase secrets. It just buys better ways to bury them.

I was eight when I realized my family didn't operate on the concept of love. They operated on strategy. Every hug was calculated and every smile had an agenda.

So when my father, Adam Kingston, called me into his office and said, "You are getting married" I didn't flinch at all.

I just asked, "To whom?

"Charlotte Parker," he said, pouring himself a drink from his wine shelf in his office. "Barry Parker's stepdaughter and Dianne's only child."

I sat down, legs crossed, watching the amber liquid swirl in his glass. I recognized the name. Who didn't? The Parkers were once one of our biggest rivals in the industry until they weren't.

"Didn't you bankrupt Barry?" I asked calmly.

I saw the shocked expression on his face before he quickly replaced it with a smile.

"I broke him, piece by piece. Years of precision. And now? He's desperate. Perfect timing. Barry is greedy too."

I didn't respond. I knew better than to question his motives. Adam Kingston never did anything without a ten-year plan attached.

"She's a writer," he continued "Pretty, smart, wasted in that house. But she has your mother's grace and your grandmother's fire."

"So, you have been watching her."

He raised a brow. "We all watch what matters."

I leaned back in my chair. The leather creaked beneath my weight.

"And what do I get out of this?" I asked.

"Becoming the CEO of our company and Barry's company and most importantly A CLEAN SLATE."

Those last three words cut deeper than I expected.

Because no matter how many years passed, or how many stories my PR team covered up, I'd never been able to erase her. My past. The woman I once loved. Or maybe I still love her.

Alana.

Beautiful but toxic. Broken in all ways I refused to see until it was too late.

We married young. Against both our families' wishes. At first, it was passion. Then came the pregnancy... and everything fell apart.

Alana said the baby ruined her. That motherhood wasn't in her plan. That the life inside her was a mistake.

She gave birth to a baby girl. My daughter.

And within minutes, she was gone. The doctors said she died from complications.

When they said Alana had passed, too, due to complications, it didn't add up.

The whole thing felt somehow.

I saw the blood, her body but deep down I knew something else was up.

And when I started digging and asking questions, my family shut it all down.

"It's over," they said. "Let it go"

But I couldn't, I still can't.

So when my father offered me this marriage like it was a key to redemption, I didn't say yes, and I didn't say no either.

Instead, I asked the only question that mattered to me.

"Does she know?"

He shook his head. "She'll find out like you did, eventually."

And that was the thing about arranged marriages. No one ever asks the parties involved if they want to get married.

Two days later I met Charlotte.

She walked into my father's office like a storm dressed in soft fabrics. Tall, graceful, and visibly pissed. Her eyes scanned the room like she was ready to bolt. Like the walls themselves were a trap.

She looked at me like I was the enemy.

Good. I probably was.

"Charlotte," Adam said standing from his leather chair, "Meet Aiden."

Her gaze didn't waver. "I didn't come here to be introduced. I came here to ask why your family thinks my life is a bargaining chip."

I tried not to smile. She had a spine and that was rare around here.

"Nice to meet you too," I said.

Her eyes narrowed. "Don't flatter yourself, this isn't mutual."

"She's bold," I muttered under my breath.

She heard me. Of course she did.

Adam gestured to the chairs, "Sit both of you. We have much to discuss."

I sat first. Charlotte hesitated, then followed suit, like she didn't want to give us satisfaction. She crossed her arms tightly over her chest. I could almost feel the force of her dislike radiating across the table.

"You don't want this," she said, turning to me.

"You think I do?" I asked, staring back.

She blinked like she hadn't expected that kind of response from me.

"I don't know you." she continued, voice lower now. " I don't love you and I won't pretend this is anything more than a transaction."

"Good, then we understand each other." I said giving her a smirk.

There was a bit of silence. She shifted in her seat, visibly frustrated but under it all, I could feel something else.

Fear, Exhaustion, and Confusion.

I knew those emotions well.

'I'm not your enemy, Charlotte." I said quietly.

"Then why do you look like an executioner?"

Touché

Adam chuckled like this was entertainment. "You two are perfect for each other."

We both ignored him.

"I don't plan to stay married," she said finally. "I will play along until my family's company is out of the mud. And after that, I'm gone."

I nodded. "Fine by me."

Her voice.

Her honesty.

She's so different and I just couldn't wrap my head around her.

The fire in her eyes reminded me of the man I used to be, before the world broke me.

She brought out some feelings I had buried inside of me over the years.

Feelings I was unsure about too.

And as she stormed out of the office like she hadn't just been handed a future she never asked for, I realized something.

This wasn't going to be a business arrangement.

It was going to be war.

And part of me, the part I thought was dead, was curious enough to see who would win.