Chapter 3 The stranger

"Why did you call her?!"

Leo's voice cracked through the room like thunder. He paced around the length of his office restlessly, his fists clenched, jaw tight.

"I told you not to call her, Fred!"

"Leo listen to me." Fred stayed seated, calm but tense. "Just calm down. It was for your own good, I swear. I had your best interest in mind."

Leo spun on him, eyes flashing "My best interest?" He scoffed,the sound sharp and without a trace of humour, "Don't insult my intelligence."

Fred ran a hand through his hair, clearly frustrated now. "Would you just hear me out, Leo?"

"You know I can't bear to see her in pain," Leo snapped, cutting him off. His voice dropped, but the emotion in it rose. "You know that. You know what she means to me."

"And I can't bear to see you in pain either, Leo!" Fred stood now, his voice rising to match his friend's. "You were hurting, man. Drowning in it. What was I supposed to do just watch?! Pretend like your silence wasn't killing you?"

Leo's expression crumbled, his shoulders slumped as he shook his head in denial. "And now what? Am I supposed to be happy?, is this supposed to be happiness? " he whispered. "Do I look happy to you now Fred?"

Fred's tone softened. "No... but at least the truth is out. She knows, Leo. You've been hiding for so long hiding everything even after finding out the truth for the last eight months . Maybe this is what you both needed."

Leo dropped onto the edge of the couch, his face buried in his hands, breathing hard.

Fred took a step closer. "You've been protecting her from the truth like she's fragile. But this?" He gestured toward the chaos that had unfolded. "This is the only way to save her. Save you. She deserves to know what's really been going on."

"If she'd been in the right hands," Fred added, voice low, "maybe none of this would've happened."

Leo didn't speak. But the storm in his eyes said it all.

He hadn't just lost control. He had almost lost her.

And that terrified him more than anything else.

"You, of all people, should know just how terrible Jayden really is," Fred said, his voice quiet but firm. "And if nothing else, at least now she sees her best friend for who she truly is."

Leo's jaw tightened. He didn't respond.

Fred took a step closer. "Leo, listen. I know you're hurting. Because the one girl you've loved your whole life she ended up in the hands of your stepbrother. I can't imagine what that feels like. But she would've found out eventually. You just didn't want it to be this way."

Leo's eyes remained fixed on the ground, but the muscle twitching in his jaw betrayed his emotion.

Fred sighed and picked up his phone. "I'm heading to bed. I'll leave you to process this... just don't be too hard on yourself."

He turned toward the hallway, pausing at the door.

"Thank you, Fred," Leo murmured, his voice soft and broken at the same time. "Goodnight."

Fred nodded. "Goodnight, Leo."

The room fell silent again, except for the faint hum of the ceiling fan. Leo remained seated, alone with the weight of his thoughts:

Leo lost his father when he was just ten years old. A billionaire businessman, his father had left behind not only an empire but a void no amount of money could ever fill.

His mother, grieving and vulnerable,had remarried two years later. Her new husband was a charming widower, polished, well-spoken, and the kind of man who smiled too easily. In public, he treated Leo like a son. Gentle words. Warm gestures. The perfect stepfather.

But behind closed doors, it was a different story.

Leo learned early how to read the room, how to anticipate a switch in tone, how to hold his breath in his own home. His stepfather's kindness was an act, a mask worn expertly for his mother's sake. And Leo, too young to fight back, too loyal to hurt his mother kept it all to himself.

He grew up in silence, surrounded by wealth, yet starving for warmth. Every smile he wore was calculated.

All his step father's pretense died with his mother.

After her passing, Leo saw the full extent of the game his stepfather had been playing. The man didn't even wait for the funeral dust to settle before revealing his true intentions.

Leo and Jayden had once been inseparable brothers not by blood, but by choice. They shared secrets, dreams, even birthday cakes. Their bond fractured the moment Leo's stepfather tried to gain guardianship after his mother's death. But her final act of love was denying that request. She had known, somehow, that her husband's ambitions stretched far beyond the fatherly duties he played, he was a business man first.

Leo's biological father, James Wellington, had built Astra Group from the ground up a global powerhouse and the number one company in the country. In his will, James had made it clear the company would go to Leo once he turned twenty.

Just two months before his birthday, Leo's mother passed away. Her refusal to hand over legal guardianship blocked his stepfather from accessing Astra Group and that sealed Leo's fate as a target.

Instead of grieving in peace, Leo was thrust into boardrooms, headlines, and power plays. But he rose above it. At just twenty, Leo became the youngest CEO in the country .

Yet, nothing about it felt like a victory. Not when Jayden, his own stepbrother, had chosen sides. Not when betrayal lived in the very house that once felt like home.

And certainly not when the one girl who could've been his peace ended up falling for his brother Jayden.

The first time Leo saw Zara, it was during their senior year high school dance.

She walked in wearing a simple, lilac dress that shimmered beneath the gymnasium lights, her laughter echoing as she entered with her friends. Her curls bounced with each step, and her smile bright and effortless cut through the noise around him like a song only he could hear.

Leo froze.

He was standing by the punch table, adjusting his glasses, awkward in his too-big suit and quietly counting down the minutes until he could go home. He was the typical nerd: sharp, quiet, book-smart, and painfully shy. Since his father's death, he'd built emotional walls so high, even he couldn't climb them.

He didn't know her name then. Only that she was the most beautiful girl he'd ever seen. A soft glow seems to follow her and at that moment, staring at Zara, something cracked.

He couldn't approach her. Not with his sweaty palms and a voice that always caught in his throat. So, he watched from afar, mesmerized and enchanted by her beauty . And when the lights dimmed and the slow songs began, he whispered to his stepbrother Jayden, "I think I've seen the girl I want to spend the rest of my life with."

Jayden, the ever-confident golden boy, smirked. "Point her out."

"There," Leo said, heart racing. "The one in lilac." He whispered, his gaze fixed on her "She's beautiful, right?"

Jayden nodded slowly, then clapped him on the back. "She is. Don't worry, I'll talk to her for you."

Jayden had always been the older, cooler brother. He was two years older than him , tall, charming, the golden boy who never seemed to try too hard yet always got what he wanted. Growing up, Leo had looked up to him. Jayden taught him how to ride a bike, helped him cheat through video games, even defended him from bullies once or twice.

But after Leo's mother died, Jayden changed.

Jayden had started spending more time with his father, Leo stepfather. It felt like betrayal. And when Leo asked about Zara again five months after the dance, Jayden just gave him a half-hearted smile.

"I was caught up in college work," he said with a dismissive shrug. "Didn't have time."

Leo nodded, but something in his chest twisted. That was when the distance between them truly began.

He should've seen the signs then Jayden missing family dinners, echoing his father's cruel opinions, brushing off their shared childhood memories like dust.

Instead, he had done the one thing Leo never imagined two years later, not just ignoring the request, but going behind his back to pursue her himself.