Chapter 127 Cole Strategic Investments
Amelia stared at the glow of her phone screen for a moment before shifting slightly on the bed and adjusted the pillow behind her back, careful not to move too much.
At first, the search results looked ordinary. A few business articles. Some interviews and financial reports. It was nothing unusual.
But Amelia knew from experience that the internet often revealed far more than people expected. She tapped the first link and an article from a financial magazine opened on her screen.
The headline immediately caught her attention.
“Adrian Cole: The Investor Who Sees Opportunities Others Miss.”
Amelia raised an eyebrow slightly.
“Well, that’s not a modest title,” she muttered under her breath.
She began skimming the article quietly. Adrian Cole was the founder of Cole Strategic Investments, a private investment group that had grown rapidly over the past six years.
According to the article, his firm specialized in identifying undervalued industries and transforming them into highly profitable ventures.
Technology, Infrastructure, Energy and now apparently… real estate.
Amelia scrolled further down the article, her eyes moving quickly over the lines.
There were several photographs of him from different business events. Conferences, corporate gatherings, and even award ceremonies.
In every picture, he looked exactly the way Rebecca had described him earlier.
Tall, confident and composed. The kind of man who seemed entirely comfortable standing in front of cameras and powerful executives alike.
But what caught Amelia’s attention wasn’t his appearance. It was the numbers. Her eyes widened slightly as she continued reading.
His company had handled deals worth hundreds of millions. Several acquisitions. Corporate mergers. Investment expansions across multiple cities.
Amelia let out a low whistle before she could stop herself.
“Okay… so he’s definitely not some random buyer,” she murmured quietly.
Rebecca had said he came to discuss property investments. At the time, Amelia had assumed he was just another wealthy investor.
But this? This was something else entirely. She tapped another article which seemed older.
The headline read:
“Adrian Cole: The Man Who Turned a Bankruptcy Into a Billion-Dollar Empire.”
Amelia frowned slightly and kept reading. Apparently, Adrian hadn’t been born into wealth.
His father had owned a mid-sized manufacturing company that collapsed when Adrian was in his early twenties. The bankruptcy had nearly destroyed their family financially.
Amelia paused briefly at that part. She knew what that kind of collapse could do to a family. Financial ruin didn’t just affect bank accounts. It affected pride, relationships, and even identity.
She imagined a young Adrian standing in the middle of that disaster. Most people would have walked away.
But according to the article, Adrian had done the opposite. Instead of leaving the business world behind, he had spent years rebuilding his knowledge from the ground up.
He studied financial systems. Investment markets. Corporate acquisitions and slowly, and carefully, he rebuilt everything.
By the time he was thirty-two, he had established his own investment firm. Now his company was one of the fastest-growing private investment groups in the country. Amelia leaned back slightly against the pillow.
“Impressive,” she admitted quietly.
Even she had to admit it took a certain kind of determination to recover from something like that. Still…
Something about the situation kept bothering her. She couldn’t quite explain why. Maybe it was instinct. Or maybe it was the simple fact that powerful men rarely appeared in people’s lives without a reason.
She continued scrolling. Then another article appeared and she opened it. This one had a different tone entirely.
The headline read:
“The Cold Strategist: Critics Question Adrian Cole’s Ruthless Business Tactics.”
Amelia’s eyes narrowed slightly as she opened it.
“Well… here we go,” she murmured.
She began reading more carefully now. According to the article, Adrian had developed a reputation in the corporate world for being extremely strategic and calculating.
He was known for identifying weaknesses in companies and using those weaknesses to his advantage during negotiations. Some competitors even described him as dangerous during business deals.
Amelia’s brows furrowed as she read that part. Dangerous. That wasn’t exactly comforting. She thought as she kept reading.
One quote from an anonymous executive stood out immediately.
“Cole doesn’t make moves unless there’s a reason. If he’s sitting across the table from you, it means he’s already studied you.”
Amelia slowly lowered her phone. Her eyes drifted toward Rebecca.
Rebecca was sleeping peacefully beside her, one arm loosely resting across the blanket.
For the first time in two weeks, her face looked calm. The dark circles under her eyes were still faintly visible, but the tension that had been living in her expression recently seemed to have eased slightly.
Amelia sighed quietly.
“Great,” she whispered under her breath.
Now she was even more suspicious. She picked up the phone again and continued. Another search result caught her attention.
“Cole Strategic Investments Acquires Minority Stake in Harrington Development Group.”
Amelia tapped it. Her eyes scanned the article quickly.
Then they stopped.
Harrington Development Group. Amelia recognized the name immediately. It was one of the biggest competitors to Rebecca’s company.
Her eyes narrowed further.
“Wait a second…”
She read the article again carefully, slower this time.
Two months ago, Adrian’s firm had purchased a minority stake in Harrington Development. Which meant… that technically speaking…
Adrian Cole was already connected to one of Rebecca’s company’s major competitors.
Amelia sat up slightly in the bed, suddenly more alert.
“Why would he come directly to Rebecca then?” she muttered.
Her mind immediately began turning through the possibilities. If Adrian was already involved with a competitor, then his sudden interest in buying property from Rebecca’s company felt… strange.
Unless the deal was simply another strategic investment.
That was possible. Men like Adrian probably spread their investments across multiple companies.
But still…
Something about the situation didn’t feel simple. Her thoughts drifted back to Rebecca’s description of their meeting earlier.
The way Rebecca had described him watching her. The way he had casually commented that she looked tired.
That wasn’t normal behavior during a business meeting. Amelia frowned.
Unless the man had already researched Rebecca beforehand. The thought made her uneasy.
She looked back at the phone again. Her gaze lingered on Adrian’s photograph on the screen. His expression in the picture was calm. Confident. Controlled. The kind of expression that didn’t reveal very much.
“You better not be playing games with her,” Amelia murmured quietly toward the glowing screen.
Rebecca shifted slightly in her sleep beside her but didn’t wake.
Amelia immediately lowered the phone a little. She watched her friend for a moment. Rebecca had been through far too much recently.
Losing her parents and getting married. Getting kidnapped, losing her baby and then the slow collapse of her marriage.
And the worst part was that Rebecca never allowed herself to fully talk about it. She simply carried everything silently, like someone determined not to break in front of anyone.
That was what worried Amelia the most. People who buried their pain too deeply often ended up suffering the longest. Amelia finally locked her phone and set it back on the bedside table.
For a few minutes, she simply lay there staring at the ceiling. Her mind refused to quiet down. Her instincts told her something about Adrian Cole didn’t quite add up.
But she also knew one thing. Rebecca had finally smiled tonight. It hadn’t been a big smile. Just a small one when she had mentioned the meeting earlier.
But Amelia had noticed it, and after weeks of watching Rebecca move through her days like someone carrying invisible weight, that small moment had meant more than Rebecca probably realized. Amelia exhaled slowly.
“I’m not going to ruin that,” she whispered quietly.
If Adrian turned out to be trouble, Amelia would deal with it when the time came.
But for non, Rebecca deserved one peaceful night.