For the past five years, the only person James was ever rumored to be dating was Amelia.
Everyone, both in and out of the industry, thought they made the perfect couple.
Maria didn’t want her kids to know too much about him.
Just as she was about to turn the page, Ethan blurted out, “Mom, you knew him before, didn’t you?”
She froze, confused—why would Ethan ask that?
Did she ever mention James in front of the kids?
Probably not.
Ethan hadn’t even met him during her last blind date.
Not overthinking it, she quickly picked up the magazine.
“Nope.
Never met.
It’s late, you two need to get some sleep.
Mommy’s got work tomorrow too.”
She kissed both of them lightly on the cheeks and hurried off.
Once she was gone, Ethan and Ella exchanged glances.
Those chubby cheeks of theirs puffed up with matching dimples.
Watching their mom leave, Ella tiptoed over and whispered in Ethan’s ear, “Hey, do you think we were right?”
She looked smug, like a tiny mastermind who’d just cracked the code.
Ethan nodded like a little grown-up.
“Judging by Mom’s reaction, James has to be our dad.”
“For real?” Ella’s eyes lit up, her joy practically written all over her face.
Oh wow, she had a dad!
And not just any dad—he was the super good-looking one she’d already had her eye on!
Watching her buzz with happiness, Ethan couldn’t help but smile too.
He reached out to ruffle her hair gently.
“Everyone’s got a dad.
But I don’t get why Mom never talks about him…
and never mentioned his name.”
“Maybe he did something really bad to her,” Ella said, yawning as she climbed into bed, not thinking much of it.
Ethan, though, pouted and his eyes darkened with a seriousness far beyond his age.
James?
Hurt his mom?
If that was the case, then not having a dad was totally fine by him.
He hopped onto his computer chair, powered up the machine, and those tiny fingers flew across the keyboard.
Within seconds, red warnings flashed on the screen.
Eyes narrowing, he looked at the data and gave a satisfied grin.
A few more clicks and he exited the system swiftly, shut everything down, and crawled into bed.
Smooth as if nothing had happened at all.
Meanwhile, in his study, James was still buried in paperwork when his phone rang.
It was Cody, sounding a little panicked.
“Mr.
Someone hacked our firewall—but they didn’t actually do anything.
I’ve already told the head of security to patch things up and trace the IP, but we’re not sure if the other side plans on making another move.”
James frowned as he listened.
A breach with zero damage?
Didn’t seem like sabotage from a rival company.
Then what was the point?
Still, with nothing else happening, there wasn’t much they could do.
He told Cody to tighten cybersecurity even more and to report back if they found anything new.
The next day, Maria arrived at the company and Cody greeted her with a low voice and a sneaky smile as he handed over a file.
“Mr.
Bennett said only the three of us know about the embezzlement issue.
He made this list last night—some suggestions on how to deal with it, plus names of employees he thinks are worth looking at.
Since you’re new, they won’t suspect anything if you observe them.
Just keep this file safe.
No one else can see it.”
Maria nodded seriously.
“Got it, leave it to me.”
Now that they shared a secret, it felt like the three of them were on the same team.
Especially Cody and Maria.
Their secret collaboration meant they were meeting more, chatting more, and their bond inevitably grew tighter.
Cody was only a year younger than Maria.
Like Grace, he also called her “Maria,” not “Ms.
Lewis,” like most others at the office.
So when Cody casually brought up “Maria” in front of James, he paused for a split second, eyebrows faintly furrowed.
“When did you two get so close?”
He didn’t know why, but hearing that made him a bit annoyed.
Cody just skipped over his question and said instead, “Mr.
Bennett, I finally get why you can’t move on from Maria.
She’s honestly amazing—and kind of adorable too.”
“Adorable?
Seriously?
I’ve never noticed that,” James scoffed, but his eyes betrayed a faint, nostalgic smile.
Spotting the change in his expression, Cody couldn’t help but grin.
“She’s really a great person.”
A great person?
What, did she bribe you or something?
James frowned and gave a cold snort.
“It’s all an act.”
Was this the same woman who walked away from him like he meant nothing?
And she’s a “good person”?
Cody paused, awkwardly clutching the folder in his arms as he noticed James’s face suddenly turn cold.
“If there’s nothing else, Mr.
Bennett, I’ll head out now.”
And with that, he practically bolted, like the office chair was gonna bite him or something.
James didn’t bother getting mad as he watched Cody leave.
Four years in, he hadn’t lost that spark—but he’d gotten smarter.
He knew when to talk the talk, and more importantly, he was rock-solid loyal.
Even Amelia had tried to cozy up to him and failed.
One night, after James had had too much to drink, he ended up spilling all his bottled-up emotions to Cody.
“Cody, I messed up letting Maria go.
I really did.
If I ever see her again, I have to tell her… I still love her…”
At first, Cody had been totally floored.
But once the shock wore off, it all clicked into place.
Everyone online thought James and Amelia were the perfect childhood friends turned soulmates.
But Cody had seen them together in private plenty of times—the vibe was never right.
If anything, James always seemed kinda fed up, while Amelia kept trying to close the distance he clearly wanted to keep.
Now he understood.
He called it ages ago—James was using Amelia.
As a shield against nosy people and emotional rumors.
And part of it was James’s mother, constantly pressuring him to marry Amelia.
Cody had always been good at reading people.
And when James had let his guard down that night, he let more slip about his past with Maria.
From the way he talked about her… it was obvious: No one else ever came close.
Now that he’d actually met Maria in person, Cody totally got it.
Meanwhile, Maria had no clue what went down in James’s office.
She was busy dealing with someone she never expected to show up.
Oliver Perez.
He showed up at her office, eyeing her like he was sizing her up.
“Hey there, I’m Oliver Perez, the CFO.
Heard you joined yesterday—didn’t get the chance to say hi.”
The look on his face made his intentions pretty obvious.
Normally, Maria wouldn’t even bother with this kind of guy, but today… maybe she could squeeze some intel out of him.
So she flashed a polite smile.
“Mr.
Perez, of course I’ve heard of you!
I should’ve been the one to come greet you—it was rude of me not to.
Let me make it up to you with lunch sometime.”
Oliver wasn’t expecting her to be so friendly.
His interest immediately spiked.
“I like you already.
You ever need anything around here, just give me a holler—anything at all, I’ll handle it.”
Maria bit back a smirk.
“Then I won’t hold back, Mr.
Perez.”