I stared at the picture for hours.
Then the memories began returning.
Fragments.
A hospital.
Rain against a car window.
My father shouting.
And Adrian.
Ten years earlier.
I had been sixteen.
Adrian had been nineteen.
There had been an accident involving both our families.
But my father had told me Adrian's family left the country afterward.
He had lied.
Ethan eventually discovered the truth before I did.
Our father had spent years secretly manipulating the rivalry between Walker Corporation and Cole Holdings.
He had once been Adrian's father's business partner.
Then he betrayed him.
Adrian's father lost everything.
Three people connected to the scandal disappeared.
Adrian's mother died shortly afterward.
Adrian believed the Walker family was responsible.
So he spent ten years building his company powerful enough to take revenge.
But there was another secret.
Adrian had known who I was from the beginning.
He knew I was Ethan's sister.
He knew I had entered his company as a spy.
And he knew my father had sent me.
I felt sick.
“Why didn't he expose me?”
Ethan looked toward the window.
“Because apparently, he was trying to protect you.”
My phone rang.
Adrian.
I answered.
His voice was unusually tense.
“Sophie, listen carefully.”
“What?”
“Leave your apartment.”
“Why?”
“Because your father knows you remember.”
The line went dead.
Minutes later, Ethan's phone received another message.
A photograph of our father's office.
On his desk was an old family photograph.
Someone had drawn a red circle around my face.
Underneath were four words.
SHE KNOWS TOO MUCH.
CHAPTER 3: THE FINAL BETRAYAL
I ignored Adrian's warning.
I went home to find Ethan.
Instead, I found our father waiting.
The dining room was dark.
On the table was a contract.
Walker Corporation had been transferred into a new holding company.
Our father smiled at me.
“Your brother signed it.”