Chapter 4

MIA'S POV

Monday morning I arrive at Black Industries at seven fifty-five AM. The building is glass and steel, intimidating in a way our family's old brick headquarters could never be. Security directs me to the forty-second floor where a woman with perfect posture and a severe bun waits by the elevator.

"Miss Carter. I'm Victoria Hayes, Mr. Black's executive assistant. Follow me."

She walks fast. I struggle to keep up in heels Mom insisted I wear to "look professional." Victoria leads me past rows of people working in silent concentration until we reach a corner office with floor-to-ceiling windows.

Ethan sits behind a massive desk, reading something on his tablet. He doesn't look up.

"You're early. Trying to impress me?"

"You said eight. It's seven fifty-eight."

"I said eight. Most people interpret that as arriving at seven thirty to prepare." He finally looks at me. "Sit."

I sit. Victoria remains standing by the door like a guard.

"Your job is simple. You tell me everything about Carter Enterprises. Every deal, every client, every skeleton in your father's closet. In exchange, I teach you how to stop being pathetic."

"I'm not pathetic."

"You owe me twenty thousand dollars because you can't say no to your mother. That's the definition of pathetic." He slides a folder across the desk. "This is your father's current acquisition strategy. Tell me what's wrong with it."

I open the folder and scan the documents. It's the Richardson merger Dad wants. The same one that fails in six months because Richardson is hiding massive debt.

"Nothing's wrong with it. Richardson is a solid company."

"Liar." Ethan's eyes narrow. "You flinched when you saw the name. You know something."

This is it. If I tell him, I'm betraying Dad. If I don't, I fail whatever test this is.

"Richardson goes bankrupt in six months. Their CFO has been embezzling for years."

Ethan leans back, studying me. "How do you know that?"

"I told you. I'm reborn. I watched it happen."

"Convenient excuse. Or you have inside information you're not sharing." He taps his desk. "Prove it. Tell me something else that happens in the next six months. Something specific."

My mind races. What can I tell him that won't sound insane?

"Jason Miller proposes to me in April. At the restaurant on Fifth Street. He has the ring in his jacket pocket for three weeks before he gets the nerve."

"Your boyfriend proposes. Groundbreaking." Ethan sounds bored. "Give me something useful."

"Your company acquires Sterling Tech in July for forty-two million. Everyone thinks you overpaid but the patents are worth three times that." I meet his eyes. "And you announce it on July fifteenth at three PM, right before the stock market closes, because you like watching people panic."

Victoria shifts slightly. Ethan's expression doesn't change.

"Interesting guess."

"It's not a guess."

"Then you're either reborn or you're a corporate spy. Either way, you're useful." He closes the folder. "You'll start by analyzing every contract Carter Enterprises has signed in the last five years. I want vulnerabilities, weaknesses, anything I can exploit."

"You want me to help you destroy my own family."

"Yes."

"Why would I do that?"

"Because they're going to destroy you first. You said your sister kills you. I'm offering you a chance to strike before she does." He stands up. "Unless you'd rather go home and keep being their doormat until the poison finds your glass again."

He's right and I hate him for it.

"What do I get out of this besides your help?"

"You get to watch them hurt the way they hurt you. You get justice. Revenge. Whatever you want to call it." He walks to the window. "And you get to become someone they can't push around anymore."

"For twenty thousand dollars every time I fail."

"Thirty now. You just agreed to move out of your apartment, didn't you? I got the alert from the building manager this morning. Lily Carter is taking over your lease."

My stomach drops. "How do you know that?"

"I know everything, Mia. That's why I win." He turns back to me. "Stop giving them ammunition and start collecting your own. Now get to work. Victoria will show you to your desk."

I follow Victoria to a small office three doors down. There's a computer, a phone, and three boxes of files waiting.

"He's testing you," Victoria says quietly. "Most people quit after the first penalty f*e."

"How many people has he done this to?"

"Just you." She almost smiles. "He usually just destroys people without the tutorial. Consider yourself special."

She leaves me alone with the files. I open the first box and start reading. Within an hour, I find the first irregularity. A payment to a shell company that doesn't exist. Then another. By lunch, I've found six questionable transactions, all signed by Dad.

Ethan appears in my doorway at one PM. "Find anything?"

"Possible embezzlement. These companies don't exist. The money goes nowhere."

"It goes to your brother Ryan. He's been siphoning funds for three years." Ethan walks in and looks at my notes. "Your father knows but doesn't care because Ryan brings in enough legitimate business to offset the theft. Family loyalty over ethics."

"How do you know all this?"

"Because I've been investigating your family for five years, Mia. I know things about them you never learned in your first life." He taps one of the files. "Keep digging. I want everything by end of day."

He starts to leave but I stop him. "Why five years? What did my father do to you?"

"That's not your concern."

"You're using me to get revenge on him. I think I deserve to know why."

Ethan turns slowly. His expression is cold enough to freeze blood.

"Your father destroyed my mother's life. Seduced her, got her pregnant, then paid her to disappear when she wouldn't abort. She raised me alone in poverty while he built his empire on deals he stole from her research." His voice never rises but the rage underneath is volcanic. "So yes, I'm using you. And when I'm done, there won't be anything left of Robert Carter except debt and shame."

I can't breathe. "You're his son."

"Biologically. Not legally. He made sure of that." Ethan steps closer. "So work hard, Mia. Because every piece of information you give me is another nail in his coffin. And unlike you, I don't feel guilty about it."

He leaves. I sit there staring at the files, understanding finally clicking into place.

I'm not his student. I'm his weapon.

My phone buzzes. Jason: "Dinner tonight? Miss you."

I stare at the message. In my first life, I said yes. We had dinner and he came home with me and Lily called later asking how it went and I told her everything like an idiot.

I type back: "Can't. Working late."

His response is immediate: "You're working late on your first day? That's intense. Everything okay?"

"Everything's fine."

"Want me to bring you food?"

No. Say no. It's one word.

"That would be great. Thank you."

Thirty seconds later, Ethan's voice comes through my office intercom. "That's forty thousand, Miss Carter."

I drop my phone. He was listening. He heard everything.

"How are you—"

"Company phone. Company building. Everything you do here, I know about." His voice is sharp. "Tell Jason not to come. Right now."

My fingers shake as I type: "Actually I'm swamped. Rain check?"

Jason: "You sure? I don't mind."

"I'm sure."

He sends back a sad emoji and I silence my phone.

The intercom clicks off without another word from Ethan.

I owe him forty thousand dollars and I've been here six hours.

At this rate, I'll be broke before I'm brave.