Chapter 2

Westbridge International Airport

Seven years later, Sasha was finally back home.

And she hadn’t told a single person.

She pushed a luggage cart stacked high with suitcases while her tall coworker dropped one more bag on top. Then he gave her shoulder a light pat.

“Thanks, Sage. You’ve been amazing.”

Sasha shook her head.

The Quinn family hadn’t supported her a dime all these years. When she was at her poorest overseas, she’d worked on farms, hauled boxes in warehouses, and taken whatever manual labor she could get. Pushing a cart full of luggage was nothing.

Meanwhile, her coworker strolled beside her empty-handed, casually filming the airport on his phone.

People passing by started giving them looks. Some openly whispered.

“Look at that. She’s carrying everything while he just stands there.”

“Seriously? And she’s fine with it?”

The comments were ugly, full of contempt and baseless assumptions.

Standing in the arrivals area, Gabriel heard the remarks and, for no reason at all, thought of the girl he’d sent away seven years ago.

He wondered how she was doing now.

Had she ended up like this too, running herself ragged in some foreign country?

Then he immediately dismissed the thought.

No. This girl was obviously doing it for money. Sasha wouldn’t be.

After all, he’d been sending her thirty thousand dollars a month for living expenses. That came out to over three hundred thousand a year, and he’d never missed a payment in seven years.

She should’ve been living better than most people.

The school he’d arranged for her wasn’t particularly demanding either. She only needed to graduate.

Seven years was enough time for her to grow up.

Enough time to learn better.

Maybe it was finally time to bring her back.

With that thought, Gabriel turned to the man beside him, Sebastian York, CEO of York Biopharma.

“You were planning to recruit that rising pharmaceutical researcher, Sage, weren’t you? When were you going to leave?”

Three days earlier, one of the country’s most respected scientists, an Asclepius Prize winner and leading academic, had passed away suddenly.

The loss sent shockwaves through the institutions and pharmaceutical companies tied to him.

York Biopharma had been hit the hardest. Several major drug development projects had already stalled.

They urgently needed new talent to step in and keep things moving.

And his top protégé, Sage, had instantly become one of the hottest names in the field.

At Gabriel’s question, Sebastian slowly looked up from the game on his phone.

He lifted a hand and brushed the snake-shaped ear cuff on his left ear, his tone lazy.

“Director Quinn, Sage is already in the delegation you’re receiving today.”

Gabriel was startled for a second, then quickly understood.

Sebastian wasn’t just some businessman. His background ran deep. It wasn’t strange for him to know things even Gabriel didn’t.

“Do you know how old she is? Is she local?”

Sebastian slipped his phone into his pocket, a faint note of curiosity flashing across his face.

“All I know is that she’s local. She keeps a low profile.

“Some researchers are like that. They don’t like attention. But someone with basically no public background at all? That’s rare.”

Just then, someone called out, “The delegation’s here.”

Gabriel and Sebastian both looked over.

There were five or six people in the group, all foreigners.

The one in front, Dr. Hawke, spotted Sebastian first and immediately opened his arms for a hug.

Sebastian dodged with a frown and shook his hand instead.

Since the delegation was being received officially, Gabriel stepped forward at the right moment and introduced himself confidently.

After the usual greetings, he was about to escort them to the hotel when Dr. Hawke looked back and said, “Hang on. We’re still waiting for one more... ah, there she is.”

Could that be Sage?

Gabriel and Sebastian both turned to look.

A tall beautiful woman was walking toward them.

She wore simple jeans and a button-down shirt. Half her face was hidden behind the stack of luggage she was pushing, revealing only a pair of clear, dark eyes and a pointed, elegant hairline.

It was the same woman people had just been whispering about.

Gabriel was about to signal someone to help when Sebastian spoke, his voice cool.

“Hawke, none of you thought to help her with the bags?”

The group froze for a second.

They exchanged confused looks, clearly unsure how to respond.

The tone was polite.

The message wasn’t.

On the other side, a few staff members were struggling not to laugh.

As expected of Sebastian York.

He didn’t need to raise his voice.

He could cut people down just fine without it.

A soft laugh came from behind the luggage cart.

The woman stepped out from behind it, calm and composed. “I think you’ve got the wrong idea. Helping with the bags was my choice.”

So she volunteered?

Sebastian glanced at her once, then looked away.

Gabriel, on the other hand, went completely still.

The girl in front of him had thick brows, long lashes. When she smiled, her eyes curved slightly, and two faint dimples appeared at the corners of her lips.

This was… his Sasha?

Sasha saw him too.

Time hadn’t left a single mark on his face. Even the stiff, conservative jacket he wore couldn’t hide his refined, composed air.

Her chest tightened.

Everything felt the same.

And yet, nothing was.

Back then, after drinking the fruit wine Chloe had given her, she had pushed open the door to room 3206.

The man inside wasn’t Gabriel.

It was a stranger.

Just like her, completely out of control.

In the darkness, their faces had been nothing but blurs. All she could remember was the heat of his body. The solid lines of muscle under her hands. The way everything spiraled into something reckless and overwhelming.

And then…

When she woke up, the only thing waiting for her was her aunt Grace Quinn’s slap.

Shameless. Disgusting. No morals.

Those words had been branded onto her overnight.

Even after seven years, Sasha still couldn’t understand it.

She had been the victim.

So why had it sounded, the way Grace told it, like she’d drugged Gabriel and forced herself on him?

She had just turned eighteen.

In a single night, she lost everything. Her friends. Her family. Her reputation.

She was stripped of her chance to take the SATs and sent overseas with nothing but a ruined name.

And it didn’t stop there.

The moment she arrived, she was robbed of everything she had.

She managed to borrow a phone and called Gabriel for help.

He thought she was playing games.

Blocked her.

Just like that.

A young woman alone in a foreign country… what could happen wasn’t hard to imagine.

If she hadn’t run into two kind international students, she might not have survived at all.

She tugged at her sleeve, pulling it down slightly, then spoke in a steady voice.

“Uncle Gabriel. It’s been a while.”

After the initial shock, Gabriel’s mind started turning again, his expression growing complicated.

His throat tightened slightly. “Sasha… these past seven years. Have you been well?”

Sasha lowered her gaze.

How was she supposed to answer that?

If she said no… she was still alive, wasn’t she?

But the word “fine” wouldn’t come out.

For seven years, whether she was stranded on the street or sick to the point of collapse, no one had helped her.

She had survived on her own.

For seven years, there had been no calls, no messages.

Even one phone call had been something she could only wish for.

Maybe she should have walked away on her own back then.

Instead of being cast out.

Instead of clinging like a helpless bird, waiting for someone to come back for her.

Calling again and again, knowing no one would answer.

Hoping.

Then breaking.

Seeing that she stayed silent, Gabriel instinctively reached out, wanting to pat her head like he used to.

Sasha shifted slightly under the pretense of adjusting the luggage, avoiding his hand.

His hand froze in midair, then slowly curled into a fist.

She used to run straight into his arms the moment she saw him. Cry, complain, cling to him like she belonged there.

Now she stood there, distant.

Cold.

She must still be blaming him.

And maybe that was fair.

Back then, he had sent an eighteen-year-old girl overseas alone. Even if she had everything she needed, she would still have been scared. Lonely.

Otherwise, she wouldn’t have kept calling, making excuses. Saying she’d been robbed. Saying she was sick. Trying to come back.

A trace of bitterness crept into his chest.

Seven years, and she still didn’t understand.

Just then, someone came over to help with the luggage.

Sasha gave a small, apologetic smile. “Uncle Gabriel, I should get back to work.”

She pushed the cart forward, passing by Sebastian.

She had seen plenty of attractive men.

Gabriel was one of the best.

But the man in front of her was different.

Stronger features. Sharper bone structure. Deep-set eyes. A high, straight nose.

His kind of good looks felt dangerous.

Intense.

But she didn’t recognize him.

Sasha gave him a polite nod, then looked away and kept walking.

Sebastian’s gaze followed her for a second, then shifted.

They passed each other.

Then suddenly—

A faint, sweet citrus scent hit his senses.

It exploded in his mind.

His lazy expression vanished. His pupils tightened slightly as he instinctively drew in another breath.

No mistake.

Lemon, layered with lavender.

And underneath it, a warm, medicinal woodiness. Patchouli. Ambergris.

His eyes snapped back to her.

That scent…

It was the same as the woman from seven years ago.

“Wait.”