Chapter 147 CHAPTER 147
A deal should be a deal
Marcus sat at a corner table, facing the window, a half empty glass of red wine before him. His gray hair was slicked back neatly, and his tailored navy suit carried the quiet, intimidating precision of an old man who had never learned to lose. His gold watch caught the light with every subtle movement of his hand.
He wasn’t eating. He never did when he was waiting on something important. His fingers drummed once on the table, a habit his late wife used to call his “storm warning.”
He hated waiting.
He hated even more that his son hadn’t come crawling back yet.
Marcus had expected Ares to break, to call him, to beg. To apologize for the arrogance, for choosing that woman over the Savage legacy. But silence was all he got. Weeks of it. The kind that gnawed at his pride and made the wine taste bitter.
Now, he was waiting for Chloe.
His phone buzzed beside the glass. One message from her blinked on the screen: We’re on our way.
Marcus leaned back, lips twitching into the faintest smirk. “Good,” he muttered.
He lifted his glass, taking a slow sip as the restaurant door opened. The soft chime of the entrance bell made him glance up.
Chloe walked in first, heels clicking softly against the polished floor. She was dressed to impress, white pencil skirt, black blouse tucked neatly in, gold hoops glinting against her dark hair. She wore confidence like perfume, every step deliberate, every smile rehearsed.
Behind her came Tessa.
Unlike Chloe, she wasn’t dressed for a show. She wore simple jeans, a cream sweater, and her hair tied back. There was calmness about her, not weakness, but the kind that came from someone who had already walked through fire and decided not to scream anymore.
Marcus’s eyes narrowed slightly as he watched them approach. He didn’t rise from his chair. He simply leaned back and waited.
Chloe smiled when they reached the table. “Mr. Langford,” she greeted brightly, sliding into the seat across from him. “Sorry we’re late. Traffic was terrible.”
Marcus didn’t smile. “Didn’t you text me saying Tessa refused my offer?”
Chloe’s smile only widened, but her eyes flicked briefly toward Tessa before returning to Marcus. “I did. But she changed her mind.”
Tessa said nothing.
Marcus’s gaze moved to her, steady, unreadable, assessing like a predator gauging its prey. “Is that true, Ms. Monroe?” he asked, his voice deep and even. “You changed your mind?”
Tessa held his gaze. Her heartbeat was steady, her hands folded on the table. “Yes,” she said softly. “I did.”
“Why?”
The single word came sharp as a blade.
Tessa hesitated for a moment, not because she didn’t know the answer, but because she wasn’t sure he deserved it. “Because I’m tired,” she said finally. “Tired of fighting battles that never end. I want to get back at Ares.”
Marcus studied her for a long moment. He could tell it wasn’t the full truth, but it was enough. Enough to work with.
Chloe reached for the glass of water in front of her, smiling faintly to fill the silence. “We both thought it over,” she said smoothly. “And honestly, it’s not a bad deal. Everyone wins.”
Marcus turned his gaze back to her, a hint of dry amusement in his eyes. “Everyone?”
“Yes,” she said quickly. “You get what you want. She gets revenge and money. I get money too.”
Marcus gave a low chuckle, rare, quiet, almost unsettling. “You’re clever, Chloe.”
She smiled wider. “I try.”
He turned again to Tessa. “So, you’ll marry me?”
The question landed like thunder in the silence that followed.
Tessa’s fingers tightened slightly around the edge of the table. Her lips parted, but she said nothing for several seconds. Chloe looked at her expectantly, almost holding her breath.
Marcus leaned forward a little, resting his elbows on the table. “I’m not a patient man,” he said quietly. “I don’t like being kept waiting.”
Tessa’s eyes flicked up, steady on his. “I’ll marry you,” she said at last.
The words were quiet, calm, but absolute.
Marcus smiled. It wasn’t warm. It wasn’t even kind. It was the smile of a man who had just won a war he never doubted he’d win.
“Good,” he said, leaning back, satisfaction humming in his tone. “Very good.”
Chloe exhaled, tension melting off her shoulders. She smiled at Tessa as if to say you did the right thing, but Tessa didn’t meet her gaze. Her eyes were somewhere far away, maybe back at the small apartment where her kids’ laughter still echoed through the walls, or maybe on the memory of a man who’d let her go for reasons she didn’t understand.
Marcus finally pushed back his chair, standing to his full height. His shadow stretched long across the table. “Ladies,” he said, picking up his coat. “We’ll talk again soon.”
He reached for his cane, not out of weakness, but style and tucked it under his arm.
Before turning away, he looked down at Tessa once more. “You’ll thank me one day.”
Tessa’s eyes met his without blinking. “Maybe,” she said softly.
And for a moment, something unreadable flickered in Marcus’s gaze, curiosity, perhaps, or the faintest hint of respect. Then it was gone.
He turned and walked away, his phone already at his ear again.
Chloe leaned back in her seat, smiling with quiet triumph. “You did it,” she whispered. “You really did.”
Tessa stood slowly. Her chair made a faint scraping sound against the floor. She didn’t smile.
“I said yes,” she murmured. “That doesn’t mean I did it.”
Chloe blinked, confused. “What does that mean?”
Tessa turned to her, calm but firm. “It means sometimes, you walk into the fire on purpose just to learn who’s really burning.”
Then she turned and walked out, leaving Chloe at the table, blinking after her.
Outside, the wind was sharp and cool. Tessa inhaled deeply, lifting her chin to the gray sky.
Somewhere behind her, through the glass, Marcus was making another phone call, his voice smooth and satisfied as he said,
“Get things ready.”