CHAPTER 2 — The Woman Everyone Wanted Me to Hate
I didn't sleep.
Every sentence inside the confidential report replayed in my head.
Project Ashes.
Lily Parker.
Twenty years.
Hidden records.
Someone had erased entire sections from our company archive.
Even stranger...
Every deleted file had been approved by the same executive.
Victor Lang.
My Chief Financial Officer.
The man who had worked beside my father before his death.
The man I had trusted for fifteen years.
By sunrise, I wanted answers.
Without telling anyone, I drove to the small apartment listed in Lily's employee records.
It wasn't even really an apartment.
It was a single room above an abandoned grocery store.
Paint peeled from the walls.
Broken windows had been covered with cardboard.
Inside...
Sophie was drawing pictures while Lily struggled to hide another wave of pain.
She looked shocked when she opened the door.
"Mr. Reed?"
"I'd like to talk."
She hesitated.
Then quietly nodded.
The apartment contained almost nothing.
One bed.
One table.
Two folding chairs.
A tiny shelf filled with medicine bottles.
Many were empty.
One caught my attention.
Cancer medication.
Expired three months earlier.
"You stopped treatment."
She lowered her eyes.
"I couldn't afford both rent and medicine."
Before I could answer...
Someone knocked loudly.
Three heavy knocks.
Lily turned completely pale.
"No..."
She whispered.
"Not today."
The door burst open.
A large man wearing an expensive black coat stepped inside without permission.
Victor Lang.
My CFO.
He stared at Lily with cold hatred.
Then he noticed me.
For the first time in fifteen years...
Victor looked afraid.
"Marcus..."
"What are you doing here?"
"I should ask you the same question."
His smile vanished.
He turned toward Lily.
"You've broken the agreement."
"I haven't."
"You contacted him."
"I never did."
Victor suddenly grabbed Lily by the arm.
"Enough lies."
Before I realized what I was doing...
I shoved him backward.
Hard.
He stumbled into the wall.
His eyes widened.
No one had ever touched Victor Lang before.
Not in twenty years.
He straightened his suit.
Then quietly said something that froze the room.
"You think she's the victim?"
He laughed.
"You have no idea who she really is."
Then he walked away.
Leaving behind one sentence.
"Ask her who Daniel Reed really died protecting."
The door slammed shut.
Silence filled the apartment.
Slowly...
I turned toward Lily.
She had started crying.
Not loud.
Not dramatically.
Just silent tears.
Finally...
She whispered the words that changed everything.
May you like
"My father killed your father..."
"But not the way you've been told."
