The First Move

“I’m not here to burn them, Adrian.”

His eyebrow lifted, just slightly as I stepped closer to the table. The surface was cluttered with photographs, medical files, and loose papers that looked like they had been handled too many times. The air between us still carried the leftover tension from earlier probably the near discovery, the way he had pulled me into the dark, the way I had snapped at him.

“I’m here,” I said quietly, “to make sure they have nothing left to burn.” Surprisingly For a few seconds Adrian didn’t speak, he simply watched me. Then the corner of his mouth curved weirdly. It wasn’t a smile, It was colder just like the expression of a man who had been waiting to see whether the person in front of him still had any softness left to lose.

“Good.” He reached for one of the files, I didn’t take my eyes off him.

“You’re agreeing too quickly.”

“I’ve been waiting for you to stop pretending you were still the girl you used to be.” My jaw tightened at his mockery because the words landed closer than I wanted them to.

He slid the file across the table tucking his hands casually in his pocket.

“I don’t need you to become someone else, Lisa. I need you to remember who you really are now.”

I looked down at the document, My name was written across the front in clean, deliberate handwriting.

LISA LONERIA

Beneath it was a date I knew too well …my father’s date of death. Immediately My fingers went numb.

“Where did you get this?”

“That’s the question you should be asking yourself.”

The first pages were medical reports, my father’s. I scanned the dates, my pulse climbing with every line, deep down I knew something was wrong. The hospital letterhead wasn’t Loneria’s, the attending physicians weren’t names I recognized.

“These aren’t the records from Loneria Medical.”

“No.”

“Then where?”

“An overseas facility.”

I looked up to see Adrian watching me carefully, the way someone watches a fuse once it’s been lit.

“Your father received treatment there during the final months of his life.”

I frowned. “That doesn’t make sense because my mother told me he refused experimental treatment.”

“He did.”

“Then why. …”

“Because this wasn’t treatment.”

It then dawned on me as the words settled between us like something heavy dropped into still water.

I looked back at the file. Lab reports, drug names, blood results, correspondence between doctors who carefully avoided saying too much. Then I saw it…… a name that made my breath catch.

HALE PHARMACEUTICALS.

My fingers tightened around the paper until the edge crumpled.

“No.”

Adrian didn’t speak, he doesn't need to. I flipped through the pages faster now there were private transfers, payment records, consultation notes and a list of medications..One of them was highlighted in red and familiar because I knew that name. It had appeared in my own medical records in the life I already lived, the exact same drug Richard’s doctors had insisted was necessary, rhe same one that had slowly hollowed me out while everyone smiled and told me to stay strong.

My stomach twisted tears almost falling from my eyes. 

“They started with him.”

Adrian’s eyes hardened. “Yes.”

I looked up slowly. “My father wasn’t sick.”

“He was poisoned.”

The glasshouse suddenly felt colder as the broken panes let in a thin draft that brushed the back of my neck like a warning.

“Who?” I asked, though part of me already knew.

“You already know one of them.”

“Richard’s father.”

Adrian nodded once. “But he isn’t working alone.”

My heart slammed hard against my ribs. “Who else?”

He didn’t answer right away. Instead, he pulled out something else an old envelope, the edges worn soft with age, the paper yellowed. He placed it on the table with unusual care.

I stared at it in shock. The handwriting on the front was unmistakable. I would have known it in the dark.

My father’s…. immediately my breath caught. “Where did you get this?”

“It was recovered from a private storage facility three months before everything.”

I froze. “Youre unbelievable Adrian.” Adrian’s expression didn’t change.

Even though I still forget I wasn’t the only one carrying a life that no longer existed Adrian being a partner makes it complicating.

I looked back at the envelope, beneath my father’s name was a single line:

FOR LISA.

My chest tightened so sharply it almost hurt then I opened it with careful fingers, curiosity engulfing me. Inside was one sheet of paper, I unfolded it. The handwriting was his slightly uneven near the end, as if written in a hurry or in pain.

Lisa,

If you’re reading this, then something has gone terribly wrong.

Cold sweat broke on my hands swiftly….

There are things your mother will never tell you and there are things I couldn't tell you while I was Alive, not because I didn't trust you but because I knew they were watching including……

. The words seemed to be fainting as they sat on my dry throat like glass. 

The LONERIA family will is not what you believe it to be. 

My eyes widened at the revelation… THE WILL? THE THING I HAVE BEEN QUIETLY HUNTING FOR SINCE I WOKE UP IN THIS BODY?

My eyes scanned until the final line, if they ever come for you do not trust the………..and never allow them find the ………

  BOOM!!!!! A loud explosion erupted in the glasshouse interrupting me as I stared at the page trying to get the missing piece. A glass fell from atop slicing through my palm, the note fell off as Adrian dragged me to safety. 

“The letter Adrian?” blood trickled down my palm profusely. Adrian’s expression changed, For the first time that night, something unsettled moved behind his eyes.

“Ohh shit! You just misplaced our only source of information?”

“No…. I read every part of the letter except for some missing words.”

He looked toward the broken windows for a moment before returning his gaze to me. “Then your father hid more than I thought.”

“Adrian.” My voice was quiet but sharp. “You lured me here to find out what you couldn't see?”

He was silent for several seconds before he leaned slightly closer, lowering his voice even though we were alone.

“If Yes, what are you going to do about that?” My heartbeat quickened. “Why?”

“To make sure some of the Loneria fortune could be spared to me by the heiress even if someone took everything visible from the family.”

I looked down depressed, what a nice try…..her father had purposely left the missing words because no one is to be trusted including something vast, someone had spent years making sure I never learned it existed.

Adrian wrapped my injured hand tenderly, he has just revealed his greed admist trying to help me… a sly smile crept on my lips.

“My hand is steady now. Thanks.”

“When do we start?” Adrian’s gaze sharpened suspiciously “Start what?” I met his eyes. “The war.”

A faint, dangerous curve touched his mouth. “Now.”

I picked up my bag. “But I have one condition.”

“I’m listening.”

“You don’t make decisions for me.”

“I wouldn’t dare.”

“And you don’t use me as bait without telling me first.” he paused briefly then….“Fair, you should also learn to detect when you're being used as a bait.”

“Right” pissed at everything still,I extended my hand while Adrian looked at it for a moment before taking it. His grip was firm not gentle, not possessive…Something closer to a promise made by two people who already knew how easily promises could be broken.

Two people who had died once and lost everything but given one impossible chance to rewrite the ending.

This time, I wasn’t going to wait for the enemy to move, I'm gonna make the first one

Whatever made the glasshouse collapse that very minute must be checked!!