ple duffel bag slung over her shoulder. It conta

omewhere

edge, blocking the sidewalk. Wayne looked terrible-his tie w

way, Wayne," La

" Wayne sneered, shoving

ng headline: Meridian R&D Head Fired for Es

h triumphant malice. "My PR team is destroying you. No lab in

gn over the Delta Lab patents to Meridian, and publicly apologize to Jessica. Do that, and maybe Way

lt a profound, exhausting pity for how pathologically delu

Patricia raised her ha

a low, terrifying rumble v

shark through shallow water. Behind it, four massive, black ar

doors of the Range Rovers flew open, and a dozen men in tailored black suits po

ce opened, and an elderly man

speak, Patricia burst in

rly man, her face ugly with jealousy and contempt. "Is this him,

Sleeping with a man old enough to be in a grave just to

treated the Sterlings like buzzing flies. He walked straight past the

rying clearly in the dead silent street.

had grown up in a damp, loveless orphanage, believing she was a piece of trash t

fensive venom. "Hiring actors to play my long-lost family so I'll drop

is eyes softening with d

ly orchestrated a fire at the hospital where you were born. In the chaos, they kidnapped you and abandoned you to destroy the D

ery foundation of her identity. Kidnapped? Searched for? But she forced her face to remai

id, her voice trembling sl

k, you submitted a routine blood sample at the city hospital. It

screen was an official DNA report

"I can forge a PDF like this in five minutes," she said stubbornly

ply reached out and swiped

a f

ned by time. But it wasn't just the physical resemblance that shattered Lana's defenses. It was the

ing herself to sleep, wondering why she wasn'

her shaking hands. Her vision

nd, unable to stand being ignored. "Is that your pricing men

n't look at Wayne. The noise of the S

, abused orphan was gone. When she spoke, her voice

to them

htened up. His eyes finally locked onto

f security. "If they come within fifty feet o