Serena came out of the kitchen with a hard set to her jaw and her eyes still sharp from whatever had just happened back there. The moment she spotted Cole, the tension in her face broke into something genuine — warm in a way that had nothing to do with the polished hospitality smile she'd been wearing earlier.
"May I ask your name?"
"Cole. Cole Harmon."
"Mr. Harmon." She said it like she meant it. "I don't know how to properly thank you. If you hadn't said something when you did, I don't want to think about what could have happened. Every single extinguisher back there is useless — they're not even close to regulation. I'm having all of them replaced tonight."
Cole's expression shifted slightly. "Tonight, not tomorrow?"
She paused.
"I was going to have it handled in the morning, but—" She read something in his face and didn't finish the sentence. Instead she pulled out her phone, thought for two seconds, and dialed.
The voice that answered was a man's — older, steady.
"Miss Park."
"Captain Rhodes, I need you to pull a hundred fire extinguishers from the Whitmore warehouse and get them to Rosewood as fast as you can. Tonight."
"Understood, Miss Park."
"Thank you."
She hung up.
Cole understood the decision. After what Marcus had done, she wasn't willing to trust any supplier she hadn't personally vetted. The Whitmore Group's own stock was the only thing she could be certain of right now.
"Mr. Harmon — please, follow me."
Cole hadn't planned on staying. He had said what he came to say and had no particular reason to linger. But he was also realistic about what he was trying to build. Serena Park was the most valuable potential ally he had access to at this moment, and walking out right after a first impression this strong would be a waste.
He followed her.
She led him to a table set a short distance from where Vanessa was still sitting alone with her expensive, half-eaten dinner. Within moments, servers appeared and began arranging dishes across the table with quiet efficiency — the kind of presentation that made it clear these weren't pulled from the regular menu.
Cole looked at the spread with mild confusion.
"You haven't eaten yet, have you?" Serena said, settling across from him. "Consider this our way of saying thank you. And if you have any thoughts on the food, I'd genuinely like to hear them."
She smiled — not the professional version, the real one — and it changed her face considerably.
Cole blinked.
He had known, intellectually, that Serena Park was the chairman's daughter and one of the most eligible women in Crestfield. Knowing a fact and sitting across from the person were two different things. She was striking in a way that was easy to underestimate from a distance, and up close she had a composure that felt entirely unperformed.
If the fire extinguishers had been fine, he would have walked past her tonight without a word and she would have become just another casualty of a story he couldn't change. The thought was strange to sit with.
"Then I won't refuse," he said, and picked up his fork.
Rosewood's reputation as the best Western restaurant in Crestfield turned out to be completely deserved. Cole couldn't remember the last time he'd eaten a meal this good, and under different circumstances he might have felt self-conscious about how much he was enjoying it. The conversation came easily — she was sharp and direct and didn't fill silences with noise — and the atmosphere at the table settled into something relaxed without either of them working at it.
---
Across the room, Vanessa was watching.
She had been watching since Serena led Cole to the table, and the longer she watched the worse it got. She knew who Serena Park was — she had come here enough times with Derek to pick up the relevant details. Rosewood's owner. Powerful family, kept quiet about it. The kind of woman Derek had been trying to get an introduction to for over a year and had never managed it.
And Cole was sitting across from her, eating the restaurant's best dishes, apparently having a perfectly comfortable conversation.
Vanessa did not like Cole. She had never liked Cole, not really. But she had always known exactly where he stood — devoted, manageable, reliably beneath her. That version of Cole had been a resource she could draw on when she needed it. This version made no sense to her.
Still. She watched them laugh at something, and the discomfort in her chest sharpened into something more focused.
She didn't want Cole. But she also couldn't stand the idea of him climbing to something she couldn't reach.
She started thinking.
If she went over there and warned Serena — laid out exactly who Cole was, what his finances looked like, what kind of person he actually was — she could accomplish two things at once. She would cut off whatever goodwill he'd managed to build tonight, and she would get her foot in the door with Serena Park.
Derek had been trying to get close to Serena for business reasons for months. Serena had been cool to every approach, which had frustrated him more than he let on. If Vanessa could get there first — build a genuine connection, become someone Serena actually trusted — she could be the bridge Derek needed. He would owe her for that. Significantly.
She sat with the idea for a moment and felt it solidify.
It was a good plan. Honestly, it was an excellent plan. She wondered sometimes why Derek didn't consult her more.
She stood up, smoothed her expression into something warm and approachable, and walked over.
---
At the table, Serena had been waiting for a natural opening and decided the moment was right.
"Mr. Harmon — how did you know about the extinguishers? About the supplier Marcus used?"
Cole set his fork down and opened his mouth to answer.
"Ms. Park — hello!"
Both of them looked up.
Vanessa was standing beside the table with a pleasant smile arranged carefully on her face.
Serena's expression didn't change, but something behind her eyes went slightly cautious. She recognized this woman — she had come in several times with Derek Harrington, always on his arm, always polished. They had never spoken. She had no particular impression of her beyond that.
The interruption was abrupt, and the timing was odd. But Serena was too well-mannered to show it.
"Hello," she said simply.
Vanessa looked between them with the easy curiosity of someone making polite conversation.
"I didn't realize you knew Cole, Ms. Park."
"Tonight is actually the first time Mr. Harmon and I have met."
Serena answered after a brief pause. She had heard enough from Marcus about what had happened earlier in the dining room to know that whatever was between this woman and Cole was not straightforward. She wasn't going to hand her information she could use.
The answer visibly relieved something in Vanessa. Her posture loosened, and the smile she turned on Cole carried an edge of contempt she didn't bother to hide entirely.
"Ms. Park, I think you should know — Cole isn't who he's presenting himself as. He has a habit of misleading people. I'd be careful."