The Return of the Billionaire Heiress and Her Cold CEO

"If you want privacy," Cole said coldly, "choose another room. This is my house, not a honeymoon suite."

Kylie didn't look up from her glass of wine.

She was barefoot, standing by the floor-to-ceiling window, the New York skyline glimmering below her like a field of diamonds.

"You offered marriage, not freedom," she said, voice calm. "You don't get to control both."

He said nothing at first. Just stood there, unblinking in his black button-down, sleeves rolled up, watch glinting like a warning. The man didn't fidget. He didn't hesitate.

Cole Walter didn't make small talk. He made decisions.

And right now, he was deciding whether his new wife was a bigger threat than he expected.

Good.

She wanted him uneasy.

Earlier that evening, they'd returned from the press conference to a flurry of media alerts.

COLE WALTER'S SECRET BRIDE?

WHO IS KYLIE REYNOLDS?

THE CEO'S ICE QUEEN WIFE DEBUTS IN RED.

Cole didn't comment. Didn't blink. He poured a drink, retreated into his office, and locked the door.

Kylie had taken that as her cue to explore the penthouse.

Glass, steel, and marble. Clean lines. Cold colors. Not a single photograph.

The kitchen gleamed but looked untouched. The bedroom down the hall had a walk-in closet bigger than her old apartment.

The master bathroom had two sinks. She used one.

Out of courtesy. Not comfort.

Now, she turned to face him, glass still in hand.

"What?" she asked.

Cole's gaze flicked to the wine. "You're too calm."

"Should I cry? Throw things?"

"Some women would."

"I'm not some women," she said quietly. "You knew that when you offered the contract."

His jaw clenched. Just for a second.

"Did you speak to Sebastian again?"

There it was.

The first crack in the wall.

Kylie smiled. "Why? Are you jealous?"

His laugh was humorless. "I don't do jealous."

"No? What do you do, then?"

"Control."

She stepped closer.

"Then you should know… I'm not here to be controlled, Mr. Walter. I'm here to win."

He stared at her like she was a puzzle. Or a threat.

Possibly both.

The tension hung thick between them. Like lightning just before a storm.

Kylie broke it first.

"I'm taking the room at the end of the hall," she said. "Unless you'd prefer I sleep next to you for appearances."

Cole's expression didn't change.

"No need. We'll be seen in public enough. What happens behind closed doors stays there."

She raised an eyebrow. "Afraid of temptation?"

He didn't answer. He just turned and walked away.

Kylie exhaled only after the door closed behind him.

She wasn't lying. She didn't want him. Not emotionally. Not physically.

Not yet.

But God help her, the man unsettled her in ways Sebastian never could.

And she hated that.

Because Cole was the enemy she chose.

And even worse… the one she might come to need.

The next morning, the headlines were everywhere.

MYSTERY HEIRESS MARRIES PIONEER CEO

FROM NOBODY TO MRS. WALTER: WHO IS KYLIE REYNOLDS?

Cole tossed the tablet onto the counter as she walked into the kitchen, still in silk pajamas, hair tied back.

"They're digging," he said.

"Let them."

"You don't care?"

She poured coffee. Calm. Slow.

"I erased Jacinta Collins three years ago. What they find now is what I let them."

His eyes narrowed. "That's a very strategic answer."

"It's a very strategic life."

For a second, she thought he might say something personal. Ask a real question.

But this was Cole Walter.

Emotion wasn't his language.

Control was.

Their first day as a married couple wasn't spent in bed.

It was spent at Pioneer Corp's executive board meeting.

The conference room was full of men in suits and one woman in a gray pantsuit who looked like she hadn't smiled in a decade.

Whispers started the moment Kylie stepped inside beside Cole.

She wore black heels, a sleek cream dress, and a thin gold chain that caught the light when she moved.

She smiled politely. Said nothing.

Until one man thin, balding, smirking leaned back and said, "So this is the wife?"

Kylie turned to him, eyes sharp. "I don't believe we've met."

He held out a hand lazily. "Thomas Welling. Board advisor. Longtime friend of Cole's."

She didn't shake it.

"Then you should know better than to ask disrespectful questions in front of your CEO."

Dead silence.

Cole didn't interrupt.

He just leaned back in his seat, arms crossed, and watched the room shift.

Welling cleared his throat. "Well, I suppose she speaks for herself."

Kylie smiled. "I always do."

After the meeting, Cole walked beside her in silence.

She waited until they were out of earshot.

"Was that too much?" she asked.

"No," he said. "It was perfect."

Surprise flickered in her chest.

"Then why are you quiet?"

"Because I'm wondering why I underestimated you."

She tilted her head. "And?"

He met her gaze. "And I'm wondering what else I've missed."

That night, she lay in bed, staring at the ceiling.

She hadn't expected it to feel so real so soon.

The whispers. The stares. The weight of eyes trying to peel back her skin.

And Cole silent, unreadable, always watching.

He wasn't just cold.

He was dangerous in the way calm oceans were. Quiet. Deep. Capable of drowning her before she realized she was sinking.

And yet…

She didn't want to run.

Not yet.

Later, she walked to the kitchen for water.

He was there again.

Standing by the counter in a dark T-shirt, drinking something straight from the bottle.

Whiskey.

She paused.

"You never sleep?" she asked.

"I sleep when I trust the silence."

She frowned. "What does that mean?"

"It means I don't like the quiet. It lies."

She crossed her arms. "You really are dramatic."

"You married me."

"I married your name."

He turned then. Slowly.

"And what will you do when that name stops protecting you?"

Kylie stared at him.

"I'll protect myself."

He walked past her, paused at the hallway.

"Good," he said without turning around. "Because I don't protect anyone I don't trust."

She didn't sleep after that.

Not because she was scared.

Because she was awake.

Fully, dangerously awake.

The kind of awake a person feels when standing too close to something that could burn them alive.

And for the first time since the day she changed her name, Kylie realized something terrifying.

She wasn't sure if Cole Walter was the man she would destroy…

Or the man who would destroy her.