Alex stood across the street from TechVision Solutions, studying the modest office building. He'd worked here for two years, before his father died and changed everything. Two years of coding, problem-solving, and taking abuse from Lucas Lewis.His phone buzzed. Vincent."Sir, you should know, Lucas Lewis has been doing some bragging. He's telling people that Meridian Holdings approached him about an acquisition, and he's planning to drive a hard bargain. He thinks he's about to get rich.""Let him think that for the next..." Alex checked his watch, "fifteen minutes. Then his world changes.""Enjoy yourself, sir. Some people deserve what's coming to them."Alex crossed the street and entered the building. The lobby was exactly as he remembered, modest but professional, with TechVision's logo on the wall. The receptionist was new, a young woman who barely looked up from her computer."Can I help you?""Alex Munroe for Lucas Lewis. I have a two o'clock appointment."She checked her scre

The address Thomas Davis sent was for a private club downtown, the kind of place with no sign out front, where membership cost six figures and required three sponsor letters. Alex had been a member once, under his real identity. He wondered if his name was still on the rolls.He arrived at nine PM, still dressed in his cheap clothes. The doorman looked him up and down with barely concealed disgust."Deliveries in the rear, please.""I'm meeting Thomas Davis."The doorman's expression didn't change, but he spoke into a discreet microphone. After a moment, he stepped aside. "Third floor. Private dining room seven."Alex climbed the stairs, bypassing the elevator. The club was exactly as he remembered, dark wood paneling, oil paintings of dead rich men, the smell of old money and older cigars. He'd hated it even when he belonged here.Thomas Davis sat alone at a table set for two, a glass of scotch in his hand. He didn't stand when Alex entered."Sit."Alex sat. "You wanted to talk. Talk

"Why? Why would someone with your wealth and power pretend to be nothing?""To see if anyone would love me for who I am instead of what I have." Alex's voice was flat, emotionless. "I got my answer tonight. Nobody does.""You manipulated my entire family! You played with Nora's life like it was a game!""I fell in love with your granddaughter and married her. Everything after that was you and your family treating me like garbage because I didn't have the right credentials." Alex stood and walked to his window, looking out at the city lights. "But you're right about one thing, Thomas. I did manipulate you. The Meridian Holdings offer? That was me trying to save your company while you plotted to sell Nora to James Sterling. So yes, I played games. I just played them better than you did."There was a long silence. Then Thomas said quietly, "The offer expires at ten AM.""It expired at midnight. I withdrew it when I published the press release." Alex's voice hardened. "You wanted to know

Alex drove to a quiet diner on the edge of town, needing time to think before tomorrow's revelation. He ordered coffee and sat in a corner booth, going over everything that had happened in the past forty-eight hours.His three-year test was ending. Tomorrow, Nora would know the truth. The question was, what would she do with that knowledge?"Fancy seeing you here."Alex looked up to find Derek Davis standing beside his booth, slightly unsteady on his feet. He'd been drinking, just as Vincent had reported."Derek. What are you doing here?""Followed you from the park. Saw you meeting with James Sterling." Derek slid into the opposite seat uninvited. "Interesting conversation?""That's none of your business.""Everything about my sister is my business." Derek signaled the waitress for coffee. "So what did Sterling want? To gloat about stealing Nora from you?""He's not stealing anyone. Nora's not property.""No, she's family. My family. And you don't deserve her."Alex had heard this sp

Alex didn't sleep that night. He sat at his small kitchen table with his laptop, coordinating responses to Marcus Sterling's attacks with Vincent and his legal team.At 3 AM, someone knocked on his door.He opened it to find James Sterling standing in the hallway, looking exhausted."We need to talk," James said without preamble. "My father just made a very big mistake."Alex let him in. "The press conference?""That and more. He's not just attacking Meridian Holdings, he's attacking you personally." James pulled out his phone and showed Alex a document. "This is the statement he's releasing in four hours. He claims you're running an elaborate con, that you seduced Nora Davis for her money, and that you're now trying to steal her family's company through fraud."Alex read the statement, his jaw tightening. Marcus Sterling was thorough, he'd connected Alex Munroe the poor husband to Meridian Holdings and was spinning it as an elaborate gold-digging scheme."He's going to destroy your r