Chapter 11
The panoramic view of the Denver skyline stretched out beneath the eighty-fifth-floor window, the afternoon sun glinting off glass and steel. But Meredith barely saw the familiar vista. Her eyes were fixed on a dark, sleek helicopter hovering uncomfortably close to the restricted airspace of the Rowe Enterprises tower.
"Meredith?" Graham stepped forward, noticing the sudden shift in her posture. "Is something wrong?"
She didn't answer immediately. As she watched, a digital sign strapped to the side of the helicopter lit up with blinding white LED letters: HELLO, SISTER.
A cold shiver raced down Meredith’s spine. The sapphire necklace at her throat suddenly felt heavy, like a lead weight. Sister. She didn't have a sister. Or did she? Decades ago, before her father built the foundation of what would become a massive fortune, there had been whispers, sealed adoption files, and a family secret buried so deep that even her meticulous private investigators had missed it until this very second.
"Graham," Meredith said, her voice dropping to a low, rigid whisper. "Get security on the radio right now. That aircraft is violating company airspace."
"I'm already on it," Graham replied, pulling out his encrypted comms device. But before he could speak into it, her cracked phone buzzed violently in her palm. Another text message flashed across the broken glass.
May you like
You thought you were the only heir to the empire, Meredith. But the real bloodline has returned to take back what our father stole.
Meredith stared at the words, her mind racing. The board members behind her were murmuring nervously, oblivious to the drama unfolding at the window. The swift, satisfying victory over Ethan suddenly felt like a minor skirmish in a much larger, darker war.
