CHAPTER 5 – The Woman They Had Been Hunting for Twenty Years
The sniper's laser never moved.
Three glowing red dots remained fixed on the billionaire's chest.
No one dared breathe.
The billionaire slowly raised his hands.
"You want her?" he called out. "Take me instead."
A chilling laugh echoed through the building.
"You were never our target."
The voice paused.
"You were only the bait."
Suddenly, every security monitor in the penthouse came alive.
Dozens of cameras showed armed men surrounding the building from every direction.
They hadn't come to negotiate.
They had come to finish something that had started two decades earlier.
The woman stared at the screens, her mind racing.
Then...
A memory hit her like lightning.
She was six years old again.
Running through a burning warehouse.
Her mother's hand gripping hers tightly.
A man wearing a silver snake ring shouting behind them.
"Find the girl!"
Her mother had knelt in front of her, tears streaming down her face.
"No matter what happens... never tell anyone your real name."
The memory shattered.
She stumbled backward.
"My name..."
she whispered.
"It's not Emma."
The billionaire looked at her in shock.
"What did you say?"
She slowly removed the silver necklace she had worn since childhood.
Inside the locket was an old photograph.
A little girl.
A woman.
And another man.
The billionaire took one look at the photo and nearly dropped it.
Impossible.
The man in the picture...
was his own father.
Not only that—
His father had his arm around the little girl as if she were family.
The billionaire's voice trembled.
"Who... are you?"
Before she could answer...
The front doors exploded inward.
Smoke filled the room.
Masked gunmen stormed inside.
The billionaire's security team opened fire.
Glass shattered.
Furniture exploded into splinters.
In the chaos, the leader of the attackers stepped through the smoke.
He removed his mask.
It was Victor Hale.
Or at least...
the man everyone believed was Victor.
He smiled as he looked at the woman.
"Welcome home..."
"...Sophia Blackwell."
The woman froze.
"No..."
Victor's smile widened.
"Your mother lied to you your entire life."
Then he pointed at the billionaire.
"And he doesn't know the biggest secret yet."
The billionaire stared at Victor.
"What secret?"
Victor laughed.
"The woman who saved your sons..."
"...is the true heir to the Blackwell fortune."
May you like
"And the empire you spent twenty years building..."
"...legally belongs to her."
