Chapter 3

　　Aidan Smith had not planned to come to Milan himself.

　　That was what teams were for. He had an entire acquisitions department; smart, capable people who got paid very well to walk into buildings and figure out if partnering with them made sense.

　　He trusted his team. He had given three separate people the job of closing the LUXE deal and all three had come back saying the founder was polite, professional, and impossible to pin down. He arrived two days ago in Milan for this too.

　　So here he was, on a Wednesday morning.

　　His driver pulled up to the LUXE building at eight forty-five. Aidan stepped out, straightened his jacket, and looked at the building.

　　It was clean. He was impressed.

　　"The advance team is already inside," his assistant, Priya, said, falling into step beside him.

　　"We're set for nine, boss"

　　"Good." Aidan's phone vibrated. Jane.

　　He considered ignoring it.

　　Then answered.

　　"Yes, Jane?"

　　Her voice was sharp, impatient. "Did you land already?"

　　"Yes, about two days ago too."

　　"Oh- But you said the meeting was yesterday."

　　Aidan sighed. "No Jane, it's today."

　　A pause. Then Jane sighed. "Baby, you should have sent someone else. You hate Italy."

　　"It's business."

　　Another pause followed,

　　"Fine," she said. "Call me when the deal is done."

　　"Jane—"

　　But the line had already gone dead.

　　Aidan lowered the phone slowly.

　　Six years of whatever they had , and their conversations rarely lasted longer than a minute.

　　He slipped the phone back into his pocket.

　　"Uh-, The founder's team has been very organized. They sent over a revised agenda this morning." His assistant spoke.

　　"What's the founder's name again?" He asked.

　　Priya looked down at her tablet. "Evelyn Cole. She founded the brand six years ago out of Milan. She's been —"

　　"I'll read the file later," Aidan said, pushing through the glass doors.

　　He walked into the lobby and immediately felt the quality of the space. Pale stone floors, clean lines.

　　The kind of space that said we take our work seriously and so should you.

　　He smiled. His advance team was at the reception.

　　Aidan stopped in the center of the lobby and looked around.

　　That was when he heard the voice.

　　"Is that a Patek or a fake?" He turned.

　　A small boy was sitting in a reading corner to his left– a low shelf of books, two soft chairs, clearly a space someone had made on purpose. The boy was wearing a blue well designed shirt and looked at Aidan with the focused attention of someone conducting an evaluation.

　　Aidan blinked. Then he looked down at his watch. Then back at the boy.

　　"What do you know about Patek Philippe?" he asked, surprised.

　　"My mum has one," the boy said. "She says you can never actually own a Patek Philippe. You jusr look after it for the next generation."" He tilted his head. "So what type of Patek is it and who gave you yours?"

　　Behind Aidan, Priya made a small choking sound.

　　Aidan crouched down to the boy's level. He could not help it.

　　"The Calatrava. You can tell by the case shape and the crown."

　　The boy leaned forward and looked very closely. "And it is second hand. It's old. I can tell."

　　"My father's." Aidan smiled.

　　"Oh." The boy sat back. like he had just received important information. "I"m Leon." He brought out his little hands for a handshake.

　　"Aidan."

　　Aidan shook his hand.

　　"What do you do, Mr Aidan?"

　　Aidan turned to Priya, clearly enjoying this little boy. "Well, I run a technology company."

　　"Ou, What kind of technology?"

　　"Communications, mostly. Infrastructure. Well…systems that make other systems work."

　　Leon thought about this with complete seriousness. "Like zips in dresses," he said.

　　Aidan stared at him and chuckled.

　　"Uhm, yes," he said. "Exactly like that."

　　Leon nodded like this confirmed something. "I want to be a designer. Like my mommy. But maybe also an astronaut."

　　"That's quite a combination." Aidan laughed.

　　"Yes, but my mum says there are more problems to solve on earth to become an astronaut." He considered. "She is probably right. She usually is."

　　Aidan laughed. He could not remember the last time something had made him laugh before a morning meeting without any effort at all.

　　Leon was watching him with quiet curiosity, and there was something about those eyes; dark brown, it felt familiar to Aidan in a way he could not place.

　　"Your mommy sounds smart," Aidan said.

　　"She is the smartest person I know." Leon smiled. "She built LUXE by herself. She always says if someone throws you away, you build yourself something better than what they had."

　　Aidan went very still.

　　Something about that sentence landed oddly. He could not explain why.

　　"She sounds like someone worth meeting, huh" he said carefully.

　　"Are you here to meet her?" Leon asked, like this was obvious. "You are from AS Tech, aren't you? I heard Mom talk about your company"

　　"...Yes." Aidan glanced and Priya then back at Leon.

　　Leon looked around before whispering in Aidan's ear. "She likes your company but she won't say yes." Leon looked at him very directly. "She doesn't say yes easily."

　　Aidan laughed and opened his mouth to respond.

　　He heard heels coming from the direction of the elevators.

　　He turned around.

　　She was crossing the lobby with a folder under her arm and a coffee in her hand, wearing an expensive tailored black dress and her hairdo up with small diamond earrings.

　　Then her face. She saw him at the exact same moment too. Aidan's breath caught.

　　For a long, frozen heartbeat, neither of them moved.

　　"Evelyn," he whispered to himself.

　　Six years. Six years since he had treated her like a piece of nothing. It felt like yesterday. He couldn't hide the guilt he felt instantly.

　　He hadn't expected her. He had prepared for presentations, charts, negotiations, but definetely not her.

　　She owned this place too?

　　The effortless authority in the way she walked. She was no longer the same Evelyn he had dismissed.

　　Evelyn Smith to Evelyn Cole, the name on every fashion magazine, a billionaire in her own right, commanding respect simply by existing in a room. How did he not catch this earlier?

　　Evelyn's face flickered just for a second before her mask of professionalism fell back into place.

　　He wanted to say a lot of things at that moment—anything—but he couldn't. Because he had no right to and now she stood there, whole and formidable, and he felt so small.

　　"Leon." Her voice was calm. "Go upstairs to Zara. Mommy has to take care of business now."

　　"Mommy, I was talking to-"

　　"Now, sweetheart. Please." she begged slightly.

　　As soon as he was gone, Evelyn looked at Aidan.

　　It was a look with nothing in it. Not a single trace of friendliness , just a clean, professional blankness, like he was any man who had shown up early for a meeting she had agreed to for business reasons only.

　　"Mr. Smith," she said. "The conference room will be ready at nine. My assistant will bring your team up."

　　She walked past him to the reception desk.

　　She did not look back.

　　Aidan stood there, shocked. As much as he thought about her as she left, another thing was on his mind.

　　Her son. What was the probability that child….was his?