Chapter 1

Alexander 

Everything was fine until Derrick burst into my office with Mom right behind him. That was never a good sign.

“We’ve got a serious problem,” Derrick snapped, slamming a report on my desk.

I skimmed it quickly—efficiency down, losses rising. A slow bleed that could kill us fast.

“You’ve got to be kidding.”

“I wish,” he muttered, pacing. “I’ve been trying to contain the fallout for hours. It’s spreading.”

My stomach clenched. If this leaked, the media would feast. Investors would flee. We could lose everything our father built in a split second. 

I couldn’t even say what I thought, not when the spoiled brother is here with mother. 

“We need a merger,” Katherine Weillman said, speaking for the first time. Her voice was tight, laced with action. “If we don’t act now, we’re finished.”

She slid a business card across the table. I picked it up—and froze.

Soph Kel.

“Are you kidding me?” I chuckled. I turned to look at Derrick who had the most nonchalant grin. 

“What?”

It couldn’t be.

There’s only one Soph Kel I know. Sophie Kellerman. My brother’s ex-fiancée. The woman he left standing at the altar while he fucked the lady who designed his wedding suit. 

“We have two days to contact them,” Mom added. “That’s our window.”

“And you’ll do it,” Derrick added. “You know I don’t stand a chance.”

“I agree. You always claim to be smarter, Alex,” she said but it wasn’t just about being smart. 

Derrick knew what he did. 

All Katherine Weillman cares about is to keep the company going and she doesn’t care how it’s done. All she does is to give the orders and you’re to move.

“…get her to agree.” I barely heard her. My focus was locked on the card.

“You okay?” Derrick asked.

“Okay?” I asked him. “I have absolutely no idea what to say to you right now.”

Mom kept ranting about Dad’s failure to plan for this but it wasn’t really his fault. He had a whole lot to fix before he kicked the bucket. 

Derrick’s non-chalant whispers filled the air—he was trying to calm her down. But I was gone. My mind had latched onto the one impossible detail in front of me.

It wasn’t just about the grudge she holds against my family because of Derrick. It’s because of that one night we shared where I had taken advantage of the fact that she needed an escape. 

“Where are you going?” Derrick called after me.

But I was already headed to the elevator. I didn’t answer. I couldn’t…not until I knew exactly what I needed to know. 

Ten floors up, I pushed into Malik’s office. The frosted glass bore weeks of dust. He looked up, unimpressed.

“Ever heard of knocking?”

I didn’t answer. He knew me better than anyone since we were kids. He could tell this wasn’t a social visit.

“I need your help,” I said, not caring to beat around the bush.

“Clearly,” he muttered. 

He shot to his feet, crossing the room to the liquor cabinet, pouring vodka into two tumblers. “You have five seconds.”

I handed him the card. “I need you to find out everything you can about her.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Her?” 

A furrow appeared on his forehead. "I'm here as the company's IT specialist, not some guy who should be digging into a woman's history."

The room went silent and then he fell back to his swivel chair, turning back to his screen. "I hate that I have to help you, man."

I let out a small sigh. "Thanks." 

He reached for the card, read the name and paused. Then looked back at me.

“Soph Kel?” he asked, with an unknowing glance. 

It was obvious that the name didn't ring a bell to him, yet. 

I nodded. Barely. 

"Let's see... Uh— what does Soph Kel have on you?"

He turned to his computer and typed. I watched, heart hammering like I was waiting on a jury verdict.

“You know you can always talk to me about anything." The unwelcoming gesture was the last thing I needed. 

“Malik,” I shunned. “Now is not the time, I promise you.”

"Dude, ain't you the one who says no timing is wrong?"

Although that's my mantra, that's definitely not the way I say it. 

There's no wrong timing.That’s it. 

He shrugged, four fingers on the keyboard, fishing for the information I needed to know, yet he didn't keep shut. "You know, you've got to answer my question at some point."

"I will, when it's ripe to talk about it."

"Sounds…" He trailed off, staring at the screen.

“What is it?” I asked, already stepping forward. I turned the monitor towards myself.

And there she was.

Sophie. Different. Stunning. Hair up. Face sharp and radiant. That glow-up? I hadn’t seen it coming.

My heart did a fast one, making all the emotions float into forming a small smile on my face. 

The smile you see when your heart recognizes its owner. 

Malik let out a low whistle. “Damn. It’s her.”

I nodded. Malik knew it all— how I had the best time of my life with her. 

He knows just how much it affected me to let go of her, knowing I had started developing feelings for my brother’s ex. 

“She changed everything. Her name, her look. No wonder I couldn’t find her,” I murmured, voicing an emotion I could only show in front of him. 

I watched the next slides of pictures without saying another word. 

“Dude, I cannot believe Derrick lost Sophie. She's just so…”

“That’s enough,” I interrupted. “Derrick is a loser.”

“But he’s your brother.”

The same brother who is trying to get everything I’ve worked so hard for?

With my eyes on her pictures again, I brought the glass up to my mouth, not feeling the burn as I swallowed because there was only one fire in my body.

One that sparked an aching need to have her, to make her mine.. 

That's all she has ever been, and that's what she's going to be— mine. 

“Let me guess,” Malik said, after letting me breathe for a few seconds. “You’re about to do something reckless.”

I didn’t reply and there, he got his response.

He shook his head, like he could foresee something. "Xan, you're going to regret whatever it is you're thinking of. You're not wired to make decisions this way." 

None of what he said made any sense to me.  I was already forming a plan.

An audible sigh followed. "Dude, you've got to listen to me this time. We can't have you doing anything stupid. Okay? Not at this point."

I ignored him still. I was already thinking about her face when she saw me again. The look in her eyes. The storm she’d probably rain down.

I welcomed it.

Because I wasn’t walking away this time. “Get me her address, Malik.”