Claimed by the Crown Heir novel Chapter 69

Vanessa hit the answer button.

"Hello?"

There was no response, only the faintest sound of breathing, practically barely there.

Her voice dropped. "If you don't say anything, I'm hanging up."

"Vanessa, it's me."

The second his voice registered, she ended the call instantly and threw the number straight onto her blocked list.

Seraphina looked at her, totally confused. "Who was that?"

"Lucas."

"He's still not over you?"

"Before I left Savannah, I sold half of Vortex Group's shares to his absolute worst rival." Vanessa's tone was incredibly nonchalant, as if she were discussing something that had absolutely nothing to do with her.

"Beautifully done!" Seraphina praised her genuinely, but then a wave of concern hit. "Isn't he going to completely lose his mind and come after you?"

"What right does he have to come after me?" Vanessa scoffed. "If it wasn't for me, does he really think he'd be where he is today?"

With Lucas's own skills, he might have built a decent life, but there was zero chance he could have built Vortex from the ground up and established a real foothold in the business world.

Seraphina hesitated for a moment. "So... do you still feel anything for him?"

"I let him go a long time ago."

From the very second she walked out of Savannah, that chapter of her life was definitively closed.

She absolutely refused to let herself stay trapped in a toxic relationship, draining her soul over and over again.

...

Fresh out of the shower, Vanessa sank into her plush mattress.

That blurry profile from the photo earlier in the day stubbornly forced its way back into her mind. Before she even realized what she was doing, she had already fired off a text to Alistair.

[Mr. Howard, what city are you visiting for your business trip?]

She was just about to unsend it when her phone suddenly started ringing.

"Ms. Grant, I haven't even been gone a full day, and you miss me this much already?"

His deep, magnetic voice carried a hint of seductive teasing through the receiver. The background noise had been a bit chaotic, but following the soft click of a door closing, it fell utterly silent.

Vanessa cleared her throat slightly. "Don't flatter yourself, Mr. Howard. I was just asking."

"Bayside." Alistair paused, a smile clearly audible in his tone. "Want to come find me?"

Vanessa's face instantly burned a deep crimson, caught between embarrassment and annoyance. "Are you going to tell me or not?"

"040418."

Her heart skipped a violent beat.

Wasn't that... her birthday?

She forced herself to sound composed. "Mr. Howard, does that sequence of numbers mean something specific?"

"I just typed it in randomly. Is there a problem?"

"No... I won't keep you from getting some rest, Mr. Howard. Bye."

Listening to the dial tone echo in his ear, Alistair's lips slowly curled into a smirk.

Nolan Nash stepped out of the private room. Seeing him staring at his phone, he noted the man looked exactly like a young kid experiencing his first taste of love.

He raised an eyebrow, his tone teasing. "Who was on the phone? To make a Wall Street legend like you look this thrilled?"

Alistair immediately wiped the smile off his face, effortlessly slipping back into his cold, aristocratic persona.

"If you've got this much free time, you should be figuring out how to convince the Lawson Group to sell you that mine for a steal."

Bringing up business, Nolan leaned in closer, dropping his voice. "Give me the inside scoop. How did you even know the Lawson Group's mine had any extraction value?"