Liam's POVTo make things even harder for me, one of the Rossi family members who had been standing quietly in the corner suddenly spoke up."We've already announced the death of our grandfather to the media," he said, looking directly at me as he delivered this news.I watched Ashley's face turn red with anger as she started cursing at the media coverage and everyone around her."Someone leaked this information before we were ready!" she shouted, pacing back and forth across the room. "We have a spy among us and we need to find out who it is and deal with them immediately!"The room fell silent as everyone absorbed what this meant, then Ashley turned to face me with expectation in her eyes."What do you have to say about this?" she asked, waiting for my response.I still wasn't ready to accept what they were asking of me and I repeated my earlier request."Give me time to think about this," I said. "I need time to understand what I'm getting into.""We don't have time!" Ashley snappe

Liam's POVI stared at the video tape in my hands and felt the weight of everything that had been revealed to me pressing down on me, but I knew I couldn't watch it right now without understanding more about where I came from."I won't watch this just yet," I said to Ashley, holding the tape carefully. "I need to know what my father would say about all of this first."Ashley heaved a sigh, nodded and didn't push me to change my mind."No problem," she replied. "When you're ready, you should watch it. But I'm serious about not confronting your father now." She warned.Still…For the next two days, I couldn't stop thinking about what my father would say when I confronted him about everything I had learned. How would he explain keeping this massive secret from me my entire life? What would his reaction be when I showed him the video tape and the coin that proved I was actually Lord Ackerman instead of just Liam Conrad? Would he be angry that I had discovered part of the truth or relieve

Liam's POVI pulled out my phone with shaking hands and called Ashley immediately because I needed to know if what I had just seen was possible or if I was losing my mind."Were they truly dead?" I asked as soon as she answered, not bothering with any greeting. "My parents, are you absolutely certain they died?""Yes, they were killed," Ashley replied without hesitation. "There's no doubt about it. Why are you asking me this?""What happened just now?" she continued when I didn't respond right away.But I couldn't explain what I had seen because I wasn't even sure I believed it myself and I needed time to figure out what it meant before I shared it with anyone else."I'll get back to you," I said and ended the call before she could ask me any more questions.I went back to the mansion and found the room where I had watched the video earlier, then I asked one of the guards to set it up again so I could watch it one more time.I rewatched the clip of my parents over and over again, paus

Liam's POVI thought this was it, that my life was going to end right here in an overturned car on some deserted road while this stranger dragged me away to whatever fate he had planned for me. My body ached from the impact and I could barely move as the man reached through the shattered window to unbuckle my seatbelt.But then I heard sharp cracking noises that echoed across the empty fields and the man suddenly jerked backward and fell to the ground beside my car. More shots rang out and I heard a heavy thud as whoever had been waiting in the truck also collapsed.Through my blurred vision I could make out figures approaching the wreckage and my heart was still pounding because I didn't know if these were more enemies or if someone had actually come to rescue me."Get him out of there!" a familiar voice shouted, and I recognized it as Ashley's.She appeared beside the car with three of the Rossi guards, though I still couldn't bring myself to call them my guards even after everythin

Liam's POVI stood there staring at the doctor's lifeless body and felt all hope drain out of me like water from a broken bucket. We had been so close to getting answers and now we had nothing except a corpse and more questions than we started with. My mind went blank and I could not think of what our next move should be because every path forward seemed blocked."We need to go back home," Ashley said while she touched my arm gently. "There is nothing more we can do here right now."I nodded slowly because I did not have the energy to argue with her or suggest any alternative plans. We started walking toward the car when Michael came running up to us with something clutched in his hand and an excited expression on his face."You might need this," Michael said while he held up a small flash drive. "I think this might have important information on it."I stared at Michael who always has all the advantages despite not showing where he gets his information from.I took the flash drive fr