I was almost two hours late on the one morning our notoriously unforgiving CEO came to inspect my department, and I was certain I was about to lose my job—until I stepped into his office and saw a twenty-four-year-old photograph of my mother hanging behind his desk.
Chapter 2
Mom told me the truth that night in my apartment.
She had met Jason when she was twenty-two and beginning her first teaching job.
Despite his family name, Jason had little money of his own. He worked while finishing school because Paul Sterling believed his son needed to earn independence.
“He was different then,” Mom said.
“Different how?”
“Happy.”
She smiled through tears.
“He waited outside school when I stayed late grading papers. He would buy one sandwich and pretend he wasn’t hungry so I’d eat most of it.”
“You were engaged?”
“We planned to be.”
Then Jason was nearly killed in a motorcycle accident.
A truck hit him at an intersection.
Mom spent three days outside intensive care.
She donated blood when the hospital needed it.
“She saved my life,” Jason had said earlier.
Now I understood he meant it literally.
“Then Paul came to see you?”
Mom nodded.
“He said I didn’t belong in their world.”
“That’s why you left?”
“No.”
She hesitated.
“I found out I was pregnant.”
The room seemed to contract around me.
“Me?”
She touched my cheek.
“Yes.”
“Did Jason know?”
“No.”
I stood.
“You never told him?”
“I was going to.”
“Then why didn’t you?”
Mom’s eyes filled.
“Because somebody tried to kill him.”
After Jason’s accident, a fire broke out near his hospital room.
Mom had seen a man leaving shortly before smoke appeared.
She helped nurses pull Jason out.
The following morning, Paul visited her again.
“He told me there were people inside the company fighting for control,” Mom said. “He said Jason had enemies. Then he told me if I remained visible, you and I could become leverage.”
“So he threatened you?”
“I believed he was warning me.”
“Did you?”
“I didn’t know anymore.”
Paul offered her money to leave.
She tore up the check.
But fear succeeded where money failed.
Mom left New York.
Before leaving, she wrote Jason a letter claiming she no longer loved him.
“He looked for me,” she whispered.
“How do you know?”
“I watched him from across the street outside the hospital.”
I could barely speak.
“You saw him looking for you?”
“Yes.”
“And you still left?”
“I had you.”
Tears rolled down her face.
“I could survive losing him. I could not risk losing you.”
The next morning, I went to work carrying a truth too large for an ordinary elevator ride.
Jason had not known I existed.
At least, that was what Mom believed.
An emergency management meeting began shortly after nine.
Anthony and Lauren were already seated.
Jason entered carrying several folders.
“The annual project lead is changing,” he announced.
Anthony smiled quickly.
“Lauren has been preparing—”
“I wasn’t finished.”
Jason placed one of the folders on the table.
“The original strategy, research and projections were produced by Lucy Bennett.”
The room went silent.
Lauren’s face drained.
Jason continued.
“I reviewed document histories and internal records. Credit was reassigned without authorization.”
Anthony looked ill.
“Mr. Sterling, there must be some misunderstanding.”
“There isn’t.”
He turned toward me.
“Lucy will report directly to executive planning for the remainder of the project.”
Afterward, Lauren cornered me.
“You think he’s helping you because you’re talented?”
“I know the work is mine.”
She leaned closer.
“You don’t know this company.”
Neither did I.
That became obvious that evening.
Paul Sterling called me.
“If you want to know who your father is,” he said, “meet me.”
I went.
He was waiting inside the Greenwich Village apartment where Mom had once lived.
“Did Jason know about me?” I asked.
“Not until recently.”
My hands went cold.
“Then he is my father.”
Paul looked away.
Before he could answer, the door opened.
Jason entered.
“What are you doing here?”
I faced him.
“No more riddles.”
“Lucy—”
“Are you my father?”
Silence.
Then Jason said, “I found out a few days ago.”
My laugh came out broken.
“I’m twenty-four years old, and my father found out about me a few days ago.”
His eyes reddened.
“I’m sorry.”
Before either of us could say more, his assistant rushed in.
“There’s been a security breach.”
The annual project files had been stolen.
Every digital trail pointed to my account.
At headquarters, the boardroom turned hostile immediately.
Anthony accused me.
Lauren smirked.
An older shareholder named Victor Vance watched from the far end of the table.
Then security footage appeared.
Someone had entered the planning department after I left.
The masked person used Anthony’s access card.
On the person’s wrist was a silver clover bracelet.
Lauren wore the same one.
Her face collapsed.
Jason looked at Anthony.
“Security.”
Lauren started crying.
“We were paid.”
“By whom?”
“I don’t know.”
Anthony finally admitted someone had promised a large payment if they sabotaged the project and removed me from the team.
But the stolen proposal had already been delivered to a competitor.
Victor spoke calmly.
“How convenient that all this happens after Sarah’s daughter appears.”
Jason stiffened.
I stared at him.
“You know my mother?”
Victor smiled.
“I knew Sarah before Jason did.”
Something about his eyes made my skin crawl.
Later, Jason confirmed the rest.
Victor had once been in love with Mom.
He had also helped Paul build Sterling Enterprises.
Then Mom called.
“There are men outside my house.”
Jason took the phone.
“Sarah, lock the doors.”
A loud bang came through the speaker.
Then another.
The connection died.
As Jason and I ran toward the elevator, his assistant caught up.
“Mr. Sterling—your father has been rushed to the hospital.”
“What happened?”
“They think someone poisoned his medication.”
The past had stopped being history.
It had started moving again.
