"I own it."

My grip on the glass tightened.

Z-Innovations. Jeremiah’s biggest competitor. The company he cursed under his breath during late-night calls. The one he swore was run by a “greedy bastard” who didn’t deserve to be in the industry.

And now, that same greedy bastard was standing right in front of me, pouring me a glass of juice.

I swallowed, forcing a smile. "Wow. That’s… Impressive."

Henry leaned against the counter, raising a brow "You don’t sound impressed."

"Oh, I am," I said quickly, taking a sip of the juice just to avoid his gaze. "It’s just—"

Just what? That this felt like some insane joke? That I had unknowingly walked into the home of the one man Jeremiah absolutely despised? That, out of all the people in this damn city, I ended up here?

Henry sighed. "It’s not really a big deal. I just run the place. Barely do any real work. It’s been… difficult since I lost my brother two years ago." His voice softened. "He was the real brains behind the company. I was just the pretty face."

"I'm so sorry to hear that."

Henry smirked, "For losing my brother or for being the pretty face of the company?"

I could tell he was trying to mask his pain behind the joke. So I just laughed softly.

He exhaled and changed the subject. "Come on, I’ll show you to your room so you can freshen up before dinner."

"Oh… but my things are still in my wrecked car."

"Already taken care of," he said smoothly. "Someone’s bringing them over, and your car’s getting repaired. In the meantime, you can borrow some of my pajamas."

I raised a brow. "I don’t think they’ll fit."

"We’ll figure something out," he said with a grin. "Come on, let’s go upstairs."

I hesitated before giving him a small, grateful smile. "Thank you, Henry. For everything."

His soft grey eyes met mine. "My pleasure. Though… I do have one little favor to ask."

"What is it?"

"If that baby turns out to be a boy, you have to name him Henry."

I laughed shaking my head. "I’ll think about it."

------

Henry led me upstairs to a beautiful room.

The walls were a soft creamy color, the bed was huge with fluffy white pillows, and a balcony where you could see the entire estate. It also had a walk-in closet and a private bathroom, making it feel more like a suite than just a guest room.

“This is your room,” Henry said, stepping aside so I could take a better look.

I turned to him. “Your sure this isn’t your room?” I asked cause it looked like a masters bedroom.

He chuckled. “Nope. Mine’s down the hall. But I thought you’d like this one better.”

He wasn’t wrong. It was perfect.

I ran a hand over the silky bedspread. “It’s really nice.”

“Well, I do have good taste,” he said smugly, leaning against the doorframe. “The bathroom is fully stocked, but you still have to wear my pyjamas for the night. But don't worry by tomorrow all your things will arrive."

I smiled. “Thank you.”

He pushed off the doorframe, heading toward the hallway. “I'll leave you to settle in. Dinner’s in an hour.”

I nodded.

And with that, he disappeared down the hall, leaving me alone in my new, temporary home.

I took a deep breath, running my hands through my hair. I still had a massive headache from the accident, and everything still felt insane to process.

I exhaled.

I still couldn't believe that I was in the same house as Jeremiah’s worst enemy.

*A long pause*

Wait a minute—I was in the same fucking house of the owner of Z-Innovations. Jeremiah's rival.

A wicked smile crept onto my lips.

This was my chance. My golden opportunity to destroy Jeremiah.

I could help Henry take over his company. I could ruin his life, his name, Everything!!!

I had just somehow landed in a Goldmine. And I was sure as hell going to use it to my advantage.

I just had to play my cards right, and soon enough, Jeremiah would be begging at my feet.

I quickly took a shower, letting the warm water wash away all the craziness of the day.

After drying off, I stepped into the walk-in closet and sighed. The only option was Henry’s pajamas. The shirt was massive on me, practically swallowing me whole, but it was still short enough to stop at my thighs. I tried putting on the pants, but they were so big they nearly fell right off.

"Yeah… not happening." I tossed the pants aside.

I needed to head downstairs and figure out how to convince Henry to give me a job at Z-Innovations. I wasn’t just some clueless idiot—I knew tech. My dad had founded his own tech company, and I had learned a lot from him. On top of that, I had helped Jeremiah build a billion-dollar empire from the investment my Dad had given.

I could be a huge asset to Z-Innovations. The only problem was figuring out how to convince Henry without sounding completely insane.

And I definitely wasn’t telling him about Jeremiah. I highly doubted “Hey, I’m your rival’s ex-wife and I want to work with you to destroy him.” would go over well.

----

I walked back downstairs, my bare feet barely touching the cool floor.

Henry was sitting on the couch, working on something on his laptop, a deep frown on his forehead.

His fingers moved quickly over the keyboard, stopping every now and then as if something wasn’t adding up.

“You look like you’re trying to defuse a bomb.” I joked moving closer.

Henry’s head snapped up. His grey eyes ran over me...wet hair, oversized shirt barely covering my thighs—and for a moment, he just stared before swallowing hard. It didn't take a genius to understand why.

I shifted uncomfortably.

His eyes widened like he’d just realized what he was doing. “God, I’m so sorry,” he said quickly, rubbing the back of his neck. “I didn’t mean to—”

“It’s fine,” I said, waving him off.

Henry cleared his throat, clearly trying to shake it off, and turned back to his laptop.

“What are you working on?” I asked, walking closer.

“Just… some system diagnostics,” he muttered.

“Uh-huh.” I raised an eyebrow. “That’s a fancy way of saying you’re stuck, isn’t it?”

Henry scoffed. “I wouldn’t say stuck. Just… troubleshooting an issue with one of our new AI integrations. The algorithm isn’t processing real-time data the way it should, and it’s throwing off the predictive models.”

I sat down beside him, pulling my legs up. “Okay, go into detail. Sometimes explaining it out loud helps.”

He hesitated, looking at me like he wasn’t sure I would even understand. “It’s complicated.”

I rolled my eyes. “Try me.”

Henry sighed, then started explaining. He talked about machine learning, data sets, and real-time processing errors, throwing around terms that would’ve sent most people running. But I listened. And then I saw the problem.

“Oh, that’s easy,” I said.

Henry blinked. “Excuse me?”

I pointed at his screen. “Your AI is trying to analyze real-time data before it processes historical trends, right?”

“.…Yeah?”

“Well, that’s the issue. It’s prioritizing instant results over long-term patterns."

Henry just stared at me.

"Basically, It’s treating new info like it’s more important than old info. You need to slow it down, make it learn from the past first, then let it update with new stuff.”. I explained but Henry just kept staring.

“What?” I asked, smiling.

“How the hell do you know that?”

I shrugged. “My dad was in tech. I picked up a thing or two.”

Henry leaned back, still looking at me like I’d just performed magic. Then, a slow smile spread across his face.

“I think you should come work for me. God knows I need you."

I grinned. “Really?.”

Henry smirked. “Yeah. Your freaking impressive."

I just nodded, pretending to consider it. But in my head, I was already celebrating.

I was one step closer to my Revenge.

Watch out, Jeremiah. I'm coming for you.