While My Husband Cheated, I Married His Powerful Brother

Chapter 167: Chapter 167 The Perfect Accomplice

​The private room had settled into a quiet calm.

​Leon stood near the doorway with his arms folded loosely across his chest, looking down at the floor as he thought things through. He had just heard Veyra explain everything to him, and her plain words were still bouncing around in his head.

​I need my own ground to stand on. My own control over my life. My own resources that I worked for.

​He lifted his eyes and looked back over at her. She was sitting at the wooden table with her fingers laced together, her posture relaxed and her face completely still. She did not look like someone who had just stepped out of a high-stakes meeting with a dangerous man. She looked like a seasoned business owner who had just signed a routine deal and moved on to the next task.

​Leon had spent years working for all kinds of wealthy, powerful people. He had seen real ambition up close. He had seen greed make people crazy. He had watched folks take on way more than they could ever hope to handle just to prove a point.

​But Veyra was nothing like any of them.

​She wasn’t greedy for money, and she certainly wasn’t hunting for status. She just wanted to hold her own ground without asking anyone for permission or hand-outs. She wanted to build something that was hers and hers alone.

​He couldn’t help but respect that kind of drive.

​"Mrs. Thorne," he said, breaking the silence. "I get it now."

​Veyra looked up, meeting his eyes. "Get what?"

​"What you’re trying to do. Why you need to keep full control over this." He paused for a second, his tone turning serious. "You’re going to pull this off."

​Veyra blinked, caught a little off guard. "You really think so?"

​"I know so."

​A faint smile touched her lips. It wasn’t big, but it reached her eyes.

​"Thanks, Leon."

​Before anyone could say another word, the heavy door slammed open, and Megan burst right into the room.

​Her cheeks were flushed bright red, her eyes were wide, and she was clutching her phone so tight her knuckles were white.

​"Veyra!" she burst out, practically yelling. "I just heard! You actually secured the storefront!"

​Veyra let out a soft laugh. "News sure travels fast around here."

​"Mia texted me the second it was signed!" Megan ran over and threw her arms around Veyra, squeezing her tight. "This is huge! I can’t believe you actually pulled it off!"

​Veyra hugged her back with a warm smile. "I definitely didn’t do it all on my own."

​Megan pulled back, her brow furrowing with sudden curiosity. "Wait, who helped you out?"

​"Just a friend," Veyra said casually, shifting her stance. "Someone who happened to owe me a big favor."

​Megan gave her a long look, her eyes narrowing as she tried to read Veyra’s face. She clearly wasn’t buying the whole story, but she knew better than to keep pushing right now.

​"Fair enough," Megan said, letting out a breath. "Well, whatever you had to do, I’m just glad the place is officially yours."

​They all moved over to sit down at the main table together.

​Mia had already spread her notebook flat across the wood and was busy scribbling away with a pen. She was drawing up rough floor layouts, scribbling down estimated measurements, and jotting down quick ideas.

​"We need to start talking about renovations right away," Mia said without looking up from the paper. "The place is a mess inside. The flooring needs to be ripped up, the lighting is ancient, and we need a proper counter built near the front."

​Veyra nodded, leaning over to look at the rough sketches. "How much is all that going to set us back?"

​Mia ran a few numbers in her head, her lips moving silently as she tallied it up. "I don’t have exact figures yet, but custom work won’t be cheap."

​Veyra quickly ran through her remaining funds. She had already handed over two hundred and seventy thousand for six months of rent up front. That left her with two hundred and thirty thousand in her account.

​That remaining cash had to cover every single thing left on the list. The full structural updates, new equipment, furniture, and whatever initial marketing they needed to get people through the door.

​She took a slow, steady breath to keep her head clear. "We’ll have to trim costs wherever we can."

​Mia perked up, snapping her fingers. "Oh! I almost forgot. A friend of mine from back home is finishing up her degree in interior design. She could take a look at the floor plan and help us map it all out for free."

​Veyra raised her eyebrows in surprise. "For free?"

​"She needs real projects for her portfolio before she graduates anyway," Mia explained, already pulling her phone back out. "Working on a real storefront would be a massive win for her."

​Veyra thought about it for a quick second before giving a firm nod. "Sounds great. Give her a call."

​Mia tapped the screen and held the phone up to her ear, stepping toward the side of the room.

​"Hey, Jade," Mia said the second the line picked up. "It’s Mia. I need a huge favor."

​The call didn’t take long at all.

​Mia tapped her phone screen to end the call and turned back to the room with a wide grin.

​"She’s actually right around the corner near the plaza," Mia said, slipping her phone into her pocket. "She said she can head over and meet us at the building right now."

​Veyra immediately stood up and grabbed her coat. "Let me grab my bag and we can head out."

​They packed up their things and headed down the quiet hallway, leaving the restaurant behind. The night air was crisp and cool as they stepped outside, and the amber streetlights along the sidewalk were just starting to flicker to life.

​Megan walked them down the block to where her car was parked under a streetlight. The vehicle was old, battered, and showing its age. The paint was peeling along the hood, a deep dent lined the driver’s door, and the rear bumper looked like it was held together by pure luck and heavy tape.

​Veyra stopped in her tracks for a brief second, staring at the beat-up vehicle.

​"This is what you’ve been driving?" Veyra asked, raising an eyebrow.

​Megan just shrugged, tossing her keys in her hand. "Hey, it turns on and gets me from point A to point B. That’s all I care about."

​Veyra didn’t say another word about it. She opened the back door and slid inside. The interior fabric was frayed along the edges, and the old seat springs gave a loud creak under her weight, but she didn’t complain for a single second.

​Megan threw the car into gear, and they pulled away from the curb, heading straight toward the new shop.

​Across the street, Eleanor was standing in the dark alleyway beside the restaurant.

​She had been waiting out in the shadows for over twenty minutes, ignoring the chill in the air. Her primary bodyguard, David Cole, stood half a step behind her like a dark shadow, keeping his eyes on the street.

​Eleanor had watched Veyra walk out the front glass doors. She had watched her climb into the beat-up old vehicle with the missing paint, and she had watched the rust-bucket rattle off down the street.

​"Follow them," Eleanor commanded, her tone dropping low.

​David gave a silent nod. He stepped over to the sleek black sedan parked nearby and opened the door. Eleanor slid into the passenger side, her face cold and unreadable.

​They kept a steady distance, tracking the battered car through the evening traffic. They followed it past the university grounds, through the busy shopping strip, and down into the older section of the Riverside District.

​The beat-up car finally pulled over along a row of older two-story buildings. Veyra opened her door and stepped out onto the pavement, followed right behind by Mia and Megan.

​David pulled the sedan over to the curb half a block back and turned off his headlights, keeping his eyes glued to the three women as they unlocked the front door and went inside.

​Eleanor stared out the tinted window, her eyes narrowing into sharp slits.

​"That’s the place," she muttered, recognition dawning on her face. "That’s the commercial space owned by Xander Hale."

​David nodded from the driver’s seat. "Yes, ma’am."

​Eleanor stayed quiet for a moment, her mind racing as she tried to put the pieces together. "Find out what she’s planning to do with that floor space. I want to know what kind of business she thinks she’s running."

​"Right away, ma’am."

​David pulled out a second phone, made a quick call, and spoke in hushed tones for a minute before hanging up.

​He turned back toward Eleanor in the dark car. "All I could get confirmed is that she signed a short-term lease agreement with Xander Hale’s management team. That’s as far as the paper trail goes right now."

​Eleanor glared at him, her voice rising in frustration. "That’s all you got?"

​"No one on the ground knows what she’s actually setting up inside yet."

​Eleanor’s hands clenched into tight fists in her lap, her fingernails digging into her palms. "You really are useless," she hissed, her voice dripping with venom.

​David kept his eyes straight ahead, his face showing zero emotion. "My apologies, ma’am."

​Eleanor leaned back against her seat, her mind spinning in complete disruption. She was absolutely furious. She had been waiting for the perfect moment to strike, watching for any weak spot she could use to completely tear Veyra down and put her back in her place.

​But right now, she had nothing concrete to work with, and the lack of options was driving her crazy.

​She sat in the quiet car, tapping her manicured nails against the leather door panel as she worked through her options.

​She knew she couldn’t try to enlist Xander Hale for this. The man was a volatile wild card, far too reckless, and entirely too dangerous to trust with anything delicate. If things went sideways, he would throw her under the bus without thinking twice.

​She needed someone far easier to handle. Someone who held a deep grudge of their own, who wouldn’t ask annoying questions, and who was stupid enough to carry out the dirty work while keeping her hands clean.

​A sharp, cruel smile spread across her face as a specific name came to mind.

​Naya Whitmore.

​Eleanor pulled her personal phone out of her clutch, unlocked the screen, and scrolled down through her contact list until she reached Naya’s name.

​She hit the call button and held the phone up to her ear, her smile widening in the dark.

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