His Dangerous Love On Ice (Olivia and Zane) novel Chapter 164

Cole’s POV

William chuckled, low and knowing. “Smart boy. There’s always a catch, isn’t there? The catch is that I need something from you in return. Something that benefits both of us.”

“Which is?”

“Information about my son’s relationship with Olive Monroe,” William said. “I need to know what he’s planning, what he’s told her, how serious their relationship actually is. And I need someone close to the situation who can provide me with regular updates about their interactions.”

My jaw clenched because the last thing I wanted was to be anyone’s spy, to reduce myself to following Olive and Zane around and reporting back like some pathetic private investigator.

But the alternative was staying exactly where I was, broke, disgraced, and watching from the sidelines as Zane took everything that should have been mine.

“I’m dating Sophia,” I said slowly. “Your daughter. That puts me in a position to observe quite a bit of what’s happening in your family.”

“Exactly why I’m calling you,” William said with satisfaction. “Sophia is… loyal to the family in ways that sometimes blind her to reality. But you, Cole, you have no such loyalty to cloud your judgment. You can see the situation clearly and report back to me without emotional complications.”

Emotional complications.

As if my obsession with getting Olive back wasn’t the most significant emotional complication of my entire life.”And if I do this,” I said carefully, “you’ll get me back into the Quantur Al deal?”

“TIl do better than that,” William promised. “I’ll make sure you’re given opportunities that my son can’t sabotage. Endorsement deals with companies that are outside his sphere of influence. Contracts with teams that don’t give a damn what Zane Mercer thinks. I have resources, Cole. Significant resources. And I’m prepared to use them to help you rebuild what my son destroyed.”

I stood at my window looking out at the city lights, my reflection staring back at me in the glass, a man who’d lost everything and was being offered a chance to get some of it back, if only he was willing to sell out the woman he was dating and spy on his enemy.

It should have been a harder decision than it was.

“What kind of information are you looking for specifically?” | asked.

“Anything that suggests their relationship is more serious than a casual arrangement,” William said.

A casual arrangement?

“Any indication that Zane is planning to make their relationship permanent. Any conversations about business dealings between the Mercer Company and Hopkins Enterprise. Any mention of family matters that Zane might have confided in her abou.”

“And if I find out that Zane has told her things he shouldn’t have?

Things about his past?”

William went quiet for a moment. “What do you know about my son’s past, Cole?”

This was it—the moment where I had to decide how much to reveal, how much leverage to show.”I know enough,” I said carefully. “Enough to know that he’s not the golden boy everyone thinks he is. Enough to know that there are things in his history that would destroy his reputation if they came to light.”

“Then we definitely need to have a longer conversation,” William said, and I could hear the interest in his voice now, sharp and focused. “But not over the phone. Can you meet me tomorrow? Say, one PM at the Regency Club downtown?”

The Regency Club was one of those exclusive places where rich men went to make deals and destroy people’s lives over expensive scotch and imported cigars.

“I’ll be there,” I said.

“Excellent. And Cole? This conversation stays between us. Sophia doesn’t need to know about our arrangement, and neither does anyone else. Can I trust you to be discreet?”

1 smiled at my reflection in the window, at the man who was about to become a double agent in a war between a father and son who both deserved to destroy each other.

“You can trust me completely,” I lied.

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify