A rental SUV.
Jeans.
Cream sweater.
Hair loose.
Ethan was closing the office when she entered.
“I heard my father came.”
He stared.
“How?”
“He called me.”
“Of course.”
“What did he offer?”
“You know him.”
She looked ashamed.
“How much?”
“I didn’t open it.”
Sophia stopped.
“You didn’t?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because my answer doesn’t change depending on the number.”
She looked at him for a long moment.
“That’s why he hated you.”
Ethan frowned.
“What?”
“He couldn’t price you.”
Ethan almost smiled.
Then remembered Charles’s final words.
“Why is he still chairman?”
Sophia froze.
The reaction answered before words.
“He told you.”
“He told me to ask.”
She walked toward the office window.
For a second, she looked exhausted.
“Ethan.”
“What?”
“My mother’s treatment wasn’t the only reason I left.”
His chest tightened.
Of course.
There was always another layer.
“What else?”
Sophia turned.
“My father was under investigation.”
“For?”
“Fraud.”
“Bribery.”
“International contracts.”
Ethan stared.
“I found evidence accidentally.”
“I was twenty-three.”
“I didn’t understand everything.”
“But I understood enough.”
“Did you report him?”
“I threatened to.”
“Then my mother got sick.”
Ethan saw it.
“He tied the two together.”
Sophia nodded.
“He told me if I created a scandal, her treatment disappeared.”
“And if you left me?”
“He would move her.”
“Pay.”
“Keep everything quiet.”
Ethan rubbed his jaw.
“What happened to the evidence?”
Sophia gave a humorless laugh.
“I kept copies.”
That surprised him.
“You did?”
“I wasn’t as obedient as he thought.”
“What did you do with them?”
“Nothing.”
“For ten years?”
“I built leverage.”
Ethan stared.
Sophia continued.
“I joined the company.”
“Learned it.”
“Built my own divisions.”
“Bought shares every chance I got.”
“Created outside partnerships he couldn’t control.”
“Three years ago, I became CEO.”
“But he remains chairman because he still controls voting shares through family trusts.”
“So you’re powerful.”
“But not free.”
Sophia smiled sadly.
“Something like that.”
Ethan leaned against the desk.
“Why tell me now?”
“Because yesterday I realized he still believes my life belongs to him.”
“And?”
“And for the first time in years, I’m tired enough to stop negotiating.”
Ethan looked at her.
“What are you going to do?”
Sophia opened her handbag.
Removed a flash drive.
Placed it on his desk.
“What is that?”
“Everything.”
“The original contracts.”
“Payments.”