LOGINSophia had always believed she remembered the orphanage.The truth was, she remembered pieces.A white ceiling.A cracked window.The smell of disinfectant.A woman in a faded blue dress carrying a tray of food.Children crying in the room beside hers.And sometimes, when she closed her eyes, she could hear the sound of rain striking an old metal roof.But she had never remembered a face.Not hers.Not her mother's.Not even the face of the woman who had left her there.For most of her life, Sophia had accepted that there was nothing more to remember.She had been abandoned.That was all.Or at least, that was what she had always believed.She sat in the study of her father's secluded house, staring at the screen of her laptop.The KINGSTON folder was still locked.Someone had accessed it.Someone had tried to delete something.And Daniel Ross had died before he could explain what he had found.Sophia should have been thinking about Eleanor.Instead, she was thinking about a photograp
On the third day, Alexander called Sophia again.The call rang until it stopped.He stared at the screen.Nothing.No message.No missed call from her.Nothing.He had tried every day since she disappeared.The first day, he had called because he was angry.The second, because he was confused.By the third, he was no longer sure what he felt.He called again.This time, he left a message."Sophia, it's me."He paused.The words suddenly felt inadequate."Please call me back."He ended the call.Alexander lowered the phone slowly.Three days.She had never ignored him for three days.Not even during their worst arguments.Something was wrong.He told himself she was angry.That was the explanation he preferred.Angry meant alive.Angry meant somewhere.Angry meant he could still fix this.His phone vibrated.A message from the police.No further information regarding Sophia Kingston.Alexander read it twice.Then locked his phone.He could not sit around waiting.There was something he
Three days had passed since the fire. Sophia had spent those three days hiding from the world and searching through Daniel's evidence. She had barely slept. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw the warehouse. Daniel falling. The flash drive pressed into her hand. The fire swallowing the building. And the face she had seen through the flames. A face she still could not bring herself to name. The first day, she had barely noticed her hunger. Exhaustion and fear had been stronger. She had drunk water and slept in short, restless intervals, waking at the slightest sound outside. The second day, hunger finally forced her into the kitchen. The house had been unused for a long time, but Alan's estate had never allowed the property to become completely neglected. A caretaker came periodically to inspect the utilities and leave basic emergency provisions. There were bottled waters in a pantry cabinet. Crackers. Canned food. A few sealed packages that had sur
Sophia stared at the photograph.Twenty years earlier.Alexander was barely recognizable.He was younger, thinner, almost boyish.Beside him stood Eleanor Sterling.She could not have been more than ten.Sophia looked at the girl's face again.That expression.It was difficult to explain.Eleanor was not smiling.She was simply watching Alexander.As though nothing else in the world mattered.Sophia moved the cursor over the image.The photograph enlarged.There was something written vertically along the bottom left.She examined it carefully.Nothing.Only a date.Sophia frowned.Why would Daniel have this?She opened the surrounding files.Most were corrupted.One contained Sterling Holdings security records.Another contained dates connected to security assignments and events involving Kingston properties.Sophia recognized several locations.The Kingston Grand Hotel.The Kingston residence.Other properties owned by the Kingston family.It made sense.Daniel had worked for Sterlin
Sophia stepped into the alley behind the diner and pulled her coat tightly around herself.She did not look back.The message on her phone remained in her mind.Now they know you have the drive.She walked several blocks before stopping beneath the shelter of a closed shop.Her breathing had steadied, but her instincts had not.She looked across the road.Nothing.No dark vehicle.No familiar face.Still, she waited another minute before calling a taxi.She gave the driver an address that was not connected to her usual routine.An address almost no one knew.When the taxi stopped outside the property, Sophia looked through the window at the quiet house beyond the gates.Her father had left several properties behind, but this one had always felt different.It was secluded.Private.Almost forgotten.She paid the fare and stepped out.The taxi turned around and disappeared down the road.Sophia unlocked the pedestrian gate and walked inside.She locked it behind her before following the
Sophia had not slept.Every time she closed her eyes, she saw Daniel falling.The sound of the gunshots returned first.Then his hand.The flash drive pressed into her palm.Run.She opened her eyes and stared at the small black device lying beside the borrowed laptop.Daniel was dead because of it.Whatever was inside had been important enough for someone to kill him.Sophia pulled the laptop closer.The diner had become quieter. Only three other customers remained, scattered across the room. Behind the counter, the attendant wiped the same section of glass for the third time.Sophia inserted the flash drive.The password screen appeared.She had already tried Eleanor.Sterling.Warehouse17.Nothing.She looked at the screen again.Daniel had spent months hiding.He had copied the original surveillance footage.He had arranged to meet her.He had known he might not survive the meeting.He would have chosen a password that meant something.Something only the right person would underst







