"I Had No Idea Why She’d Set Me Up… Until The Truth Came Out And Left Her Speechless.

For three days, the secret burned inside my mind like a fever.

I couldn't sleep. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw Lord Harrison tapping his silver cane against the boardroom floor, his sharp blue eyes looking right through me. Was the old titan really the one who ordered the hit on my father seven years ago?

I knew I couldn't accuse the founder of a global empire without absolute, bulletproof proof. So late on a Friday night, long after the executive floor of Vance Enterprises had emptied out, I stayed behind in my office.

Using my top-level security clearance as Director of the Integrity Fund, I bypassed the primary archives and accessed the deep server vaults—the encrypted historical database containing digitized records from twenty years ago.

The room was pitch black, illuminated only by the blue glow of my dual monitors. My fingers flew across the keyboard, running cross-reference algorithms between Arthur Carter’s personal audit notes and Lord Harrison’s private trust accounts from seven years prior.

Searching... Searching...

Suddenly, a red notification flashed on my screen: AUTHORIZATION OVERRIDE – CLASSIFIED DIRECTORY ACCESSED.

A document opened automatically. It was an internal memo dated three days before my father’s fatal car crash. My eyes scanned the text, my heart hammering against my ribs.

"Auditor Arthur Carter has uncovered the primary ledger for Project Aegis. Resolution required immediately to prevent public exposure of the patriarch."

Attached to the bottom of the memo was a digital authorization stamp.

It wasn't Lord Harrison’s stamp.

My jaw dropped as I stared at the signature code on the screen. The authorization hadn't come from the grandfather. It had come from Richard Sterling—Vanessa’s father—using a stolen executive security key that belonged to the late Senior Mr. Vance, Daniel's father.

Vanessa had lied to me. She had tried to frame Lord Harrison to turn me against Daniel, hoping I would tear the Vance family apart from the inside out of blind revenge!

A wave of intense relief washed over me, followed instantly by a surge of anger. The Sterlings had manipulated every single event from the very beginning.

Suddenly, the scent of smoke hit my nose.

I snapped my head up from the computer screen. Faint grey wisps of smoke were seeping through the ventilation grates near the ceiling.

A second later, the overhead fire alarms began to shriek violently, their red strobe lights flashing in blinding rhythms against the dark walls.

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! EMERGENCY – FIRE DETECTED ON FLOOR 40.

I grabbed my flash drive, downloaded the crucial memo, and pulled it from the port. I rushed to my office door and grabbed the handle—it was burning hot.

I pulled my hand back with a gasp, seeing a red blister forming on my palm. Through the glass partition of my office, I saw roaring orange flames rapidly devouring the main reception hallway. Someone had doused the executive floor in chemical accelerant and set it ablaze.

I ran toward the secondary emergency stairwell door at the back of the archive, but as I pushed against the heavy bar, it didn't budge.

It was locked from the outside.

Panic flared in my chest as thick, black smoke began pouring into the room, making my eyes sting and my lungs burn. I stumbled back, coughing violently, dropping to my knees on the floor where the air was slightly cooler.

"Help!" I choked out, banging my fist against the glass partition, but the roaring sound of the fire swallowed my voice. "Is anyone there?! Help!"

My vision began to blur. The intense heat radiated through the room, cracking the floor-to-ceiling exterior glass windows. I pulled my jacket over my mouth, curling into a ball on the floor as the oxygen in the room rapidly depleted.

Is this how it ends? I thought bitterly, tears streaming down my smoke-stained cheeks. Trapped in the dark, just when the whole truth was finally in my hands?

Suddenly, through the dense veil of smoke and fire outside my office, a dark figure smashed through the burning glass double doors of the main entrance using a heavy fire extinguisher.

The figure didn't hesitate. He charged straight through the wall of flames, ignoring the sparks raining down on his clothes.