Love Bet

Sophia' POV

Mornings belonged to me. Before the world remembered my name. Before the weight of expectations settled on my shoulders like a second skin. Before I had to be her—Sophia Moreau, the woman who built an empire from nothing.

In these quiet moments, as the city stretched awake beneath the floor-to-ceiling windows of my penthouse, I allowed myself the luxury of stillness. A ritual. Black coffee, a deep inhale, the hum of the world just beginning outside.

Then, my armor clicked into place.

By the time I stepped into the sleek black car waiting outside my building, I was no longer just a woman—I was a force.

The morning passed in a blur of meetings, negotiations, decisions that had consequences far beyond what most people could comprehend. I thrived in it. This world of power, of sharp minds and sharper deals.

But today, something gnawed at the back of my mind.

Tonight, I had a gala to attend.

I hated these events. They were nothing more than a parade of egos, thinly veiled conversations masking power plays, men who measured their worth by the size of their bank accounts and women who wore their ambition like a designer label.

But I had promised.

Not because I wanted to. But because Charles Lemaire had asked.

Charles, who had been my father's closest friend, the only man who had remained after my parents died. The only one who had treated me like something more than a commodity when the vultures had circled, waiting for the empire my father left behind to collapse under the weight of my inexperience.

I owed him.

So I would go. I would smile. I would endure.

Leah, my best friend and COO, had been gloating about it all morning.

"You're going to behave," she warned as I stepped into my office.

I scoffed, setting my coffee down. "I always behave."

She gave me an incredulous look. "Sophia, last year at this same gala, you told a billionaire hedge fund manager that he was a walking liability and that you wouldn't invest in his company even if he handed it to you for free."

I shrugged. "I was right. His company tanked six months later."

She sighed. "That's not the point."

I smirked. "Then what is?"

Leah exhaled dramatically. "The point is, for one night, try not to verbally eviscerate someone."

I took a slow sip of my coffee, letting her words settle. Then, finally—

"No promises."

Her groan followed me as I turned to my next meeting, already pushing thoughts of the gala to the back of my mind.

But hours later, as I slipped into a navy-blue dress that clung in all the right places and stepped into a waiting car, the irritation settled deeper in my chest.

I had no patience for tonight.

And I had no idea that before the night was over, my patience would be the least of my problems.

The moment I stepped into the ballroom, I felt it.

The shift. The invisible weight of attention.

I was used to being watched. Evaluated. The whispered speculation that followed me into every room—how I had built my company without my father's legacy, how I had shattered the barriers of an industry dominated by men, how I had done it alone.

I was used to all of it.

But this?

This felt different.

A slow crawl of awareness down my spine. A quiet insistence.

My gaze swept the room, searching for the source, and then—

I saw him.

Travis Cole.

I knew who he was, of course. Anyone in the world of power and money did.

A businessman wrapped in mystery. The kind of man who moved in shadows, building an empire without ever revealing how. No scandals. No weaknesses. No one knew much about him, except that wherever he set his sights, he won.

And right now?

His sights were on me.

He stood by the bar, a glass of something dark in hand, his body language deceptively casual. But his eyes…

They were locked onto me.

I wasn't sure what irritated me more—the fact that he was looking, or the fact that something inside me responded to it.

I didn't do this.

I didn't entertain men who thought they could dissect me with a glance.

And yet, before I could stop myself, I was moving.

The air between us shifted as I approached. He didn't break his stare. If anything, his smirk deepened, like he had expected this. Like he knew I would come to him.

That alone made me want to turn on my heel and walk the other way.

Instead, I stopped in front of him, tilting my head slightly. "You're staring."

He didn't even blink. "Am I?"

I let my gaze drop deliberately to his drink, then back up to meet his eyes. "If you're looking for someone to charm tonight, you should set your sights elsewhere."

Something flickered behind his smirk. Interest.

"Who says I'm here to charm?"

I arched a brow. "Aren't you?"

He took a slow sip of his drink, the movement measured. Calculated. "Would it work?"

"Not a chance."

His smirk didn't falter. If anything, it grew.

"See, that's just encouraging me."

I exhaled through my nose, already regretting this. "Men like you are predictable."

His voice dropped just enough to make the air feel heavier. "And yet, you came over here."

I froze.

Just for a second.

Because he was right.

I had walked over here. I had engaged first.

And I hated that he had noticed.

I schooled my expression into something unreadable. "I like to confront things head-on."

He tilted his head slightly, like he was considering that. "Good. So do I."

I didn't know what I expected him to say, but the directness of it sent something sharp through my chest.

And that was when I knew I needed to walk away.

I met his gaze one last time, steady and unshaken. Then I turned and left him standing there, his smirk still lingering in the air between us.

By the time I got home, I had already convinced myself he was irrelevant.

A moment of distraction, nothing more.

I stripped out of my dress, letting it pool onto the floor, and slipped into silk pajamas, trying to shake the lingering weight of his words.

I didn't lose sleep over men.

And I wouldn't start now.

But when morning came, as I stepped into my office, something stopped me in my tracks.

Because sitting in the lobby, leaning back in one of the chairs, dressed in that same brand of careless confidence, was him.

Travis Cole.

And for the first time in a long time—

I had no idea what was going to happen next.