Too Late To Love Me I Already Left With His Twins (Lydia and Dave) novel Chapter 34

Cyn POV

I was never interested in Dave Ashton.

Not really.

The first time I saw him in person, I was standing in a room full of fake laughter and expensive perfume, holding a glass of champagne I didn’t want and pretending to enjoy a business mixer I had only attended because Richard asked me to.

Richard never liked being called my sugar daddy.

He preferred investor.

Mentor.

Sometimes partner, when he was feeling particularly delusional.

I preferred not to label old men who funded my lifestyle and expected loyalty in return.

“Relax,” he had told me over the phone that evening. “You’re not seducing a prince. You’re getting close to a businessman.”

Easy for him to say.

He wasn’t the one in six–inch heels pretending any of this was normal. 1

“Just get him comfortable,” Richard had said. “That’s all I need.”

That was how it started.

Just a job.

And then Dave walked in.

The room shifted in that irritating way rooms always do when a certain kind of man enters.

He had that cold, expensive stillness powerful men often carry.

The kind that says, I do not need your attention. I already own the room.

I hated men like that on principle.

Still, I walked into him anyway.

Deliberately.

Near the drinks table.

My glass tipped.

A little champagne splashed on his sleeve.

He looked down once

Then at me.

His face didn’t change.

“Sorry,” he said flatly.

That was it.

+20 Bonus

Justine cold apology like I had bumped into a wall in a tailored suit.

I blinked

Then smiled.

“It’s fine.”

And he walked away.

Just like that.

I stared after him and thought:

This is definitely not going to be an easy job.

The second time we met was less accidental.

Richard made sure of that.

By then, I already knew Dave was reviewing a logistics expansion deal that one of Richard’s companies had quietly lost out on months ago.

I had his schedule.

So when I saw him alone at another event two weeks later, standing near a side bar with that same unreadable face, I walked over like fate had developed a crush on me. 1

“Isn’t this a nice coincidence?” I said.

He looked at me.

“You’re the champagne incident.”

I smiled. “Wow. So I did leave an impression.”

His mouth almost twitched.

Almost.

That was the first crack.

We spoke for eleven minutes.

I counted.

Mostly surface conversation.

He asked what I did.

I told him I modeled, did influencer work, and occasionally consulted on brand partnerships.

A half–truth is still useful if you wear it well.

We spoke about travel.

Ibiza.

Mauritius.

Hawaii.

Places that made me sound light and expensive and far less calculating than I actually was.

Ila was still guarded

Still difficult

Still not the easiest man to charm.

But I noticed something important that night

Dave liked competence.

He liked people who seemed useful without begging to be noticed.

So that was who I became.

The third time changed everything,

Or at east, it changed the game.

He was seated alone after a panel event, visibly irritated while going through something on his phone.

I walked over and smiled.

“Hi, stranger.”

He glanced up. “Hi.”

Then looked back down.

Typical.

I leaned slightly closer.

“So what’s keeping you worried?”

“Work,” he said.

I caught sight of a contract heading before he tilted the screen away.

Then he looked at me.

“Are you trying to be a spy?” 1

I laughed. “Relax. I’m a lawyer, sir.”

That got his attention.

His eyes lifted fully this time.

“Evidence?”

I pulled up my old law school ID on my phone and held it out.

He looked at it, then at me.

“Oh wow,” he said dryly. “And how much does your service cost?”

I smiled. “For you? Free.”

That was the first time he actually looked amused.

And that was enough

He looked back at the screen.

+20 Bonus

Deared in again, lower this time, and caught the claitse before he could close it

One mistake

Big enough to become expensive later.

And because Richard had trained me to. 1

Dave looked up slowly.

“What?”

Yes.

I scanned the clause, pointed out the issue, and suggested a cleaner framing.

Like an asset.

And that, more than anything, was what let me in.

After that, things became easy.

He started calling.

First to say thank you.

Then just because.

One afternoon, he even offered to make me the face of one of his brands as a “thank you ”

20 Bonus

They fall because you become part of their relief.

So I played it well.

To tell him about my day.