andmother. He rubbed his temples, a

nto the hotel. To avoid the harassment, he had temporarily switched

go had resurfaced-a chaotic night entangled with a blurry, nameless woma

or. It was no dream. He strode across the room in three long steps and bent

facets catching the morning light and throwing tiny rainbows against his pa

y crossed out. Below it, a single line remained: *T

uth. He felt a surge of deep, visceral humiliation. He was being compens

dialing his assistant. Alfred F

oice clipped and devoid of emotion. "I want all her records. Now. And tighten my security pr

he balcony of the Galloway estate, a fr

r, trying to wash away the ling

at the sprawling grounds. She had lived in this ho

their biological child and brought back their true daughter, Keira

, Agnes. Agnes was the only person in this family who had ever shown her gen

, pulling her fr

ame from the other end: "Dr. Ross, we've been eagerly waiting for your r

t it over. I can take a tem

child with a very complicated issue that's taking a toll on our kinderga

I'll be th

en early to greet you in person, and we'll offe

ke drawing too much attention, so please follow th

olutely, we'll

dia page, but a complex interface of encrypted files. Her fingers flew across the keyboard, the clicks

o dissolve the sham marriage. The second, and far more import

was declared dead in a hospital funded by the Galloway family. She s

er screen. Sterling Dynamics CEO Julian

an aura of cold power. The image was too blurry, too distant to make out his features clearly. She felt

but was immediately distracted by the chime of the gr

occupied only by her and Agnes. Her adoptive mother and Keira were curre

in Clara's pale complexion and the dark circles under her eyes. Yet

frail but hopeful. "Last night...

mile. She couldn't burden the ailing wo

two can properly maintain this agreement. Getting you this trust fund, getting you out of here...