Episode 1
TheThe Blackwood Tower had thirty-eight floors.
Mira Laurent had never been invited past the twenty-first.
Tonight, she walked straight into the thirty-eighth.
The elevator doors opened with a soft chime.
Twenty-seven people turned toward her.
Every conversation stopped.
Mira stood there in a simple black dress, her dark hair pulled into a loose knot, one hand gripping a thin folder.
She wasn't supposed to be there.
She knew it.
The security guards knew it.
And judging by the expression on the man standing at the head of the conference table, he knew it too.
Adrian Blackwell.
Thirty-two years old.
Billionaire heir.
CEO of Blackwell International.
The man newspapers called ruthless because they were too afraid to call him cruel.
His black suit was perfectly fitted, his expression unreadable, and his dark eyes fixed on Mira as if he could make her disappear simply by looking at her.
“Who let her in?” he asked.
His voice was quiet.
That somehow made it worse.
Mira swallowed.
“I came here myself.”
A few executives exchanged uncomfortable glances.
Adrian slowly leaned back in his chair.
“This is a private meeting.”
“I know.”
“You're interrupting a three-hundred-million-dollar acquisition.”
“I know that too.”
His eyes narrowed.
“Then you have exactly ten seconds to explain why you believe your presence is more important than three hundred million dollars.”
Mira placed the folder on the table.
“Because the three hundred million dollars is based on a lie.”
Silence.
Someone actually dropped a pen.
Adrian didn't move.
“What did you say?”
“The valuation report for the Laurent Heights project was manipulated.”
Mira opened the folder.
Pages spread across the polished black table.
“Someone changed the projected land value, removed three outstanding legal claims, and altered the environmental assessment.”
One of the executives stood.
“This is absurd.”
Mira looked at him.
“Then explain why your company's internal report has the original figures.”
The man's face changed.
Adrian noticed.
Mira noticed Adrian noticing.
That was when she realized she had his attention.
He stood.
Everyone else seemed to become smaller.
“Leave the room,” Adrian said.
The executives stared at him.
“Mr. Blackwell—”
“Everyone.”
Within seconds, the conference room emptied.
The doors closed.
Only Adrian and Mira remained.
He walked toward her.
Not hurried.
Not angry.
That calmness was more intimidating than shouting.
He stopped on the other side of the table.
“Who sent you?”
“No one.”
“Your father?”
“No.”
“Your lawyer?”
“No.”
“Then why are you protecting a project your family is trying to sell?”
Mira's fingers tightened around the folder.
“Because I discovered the numbers were false.”
“You work for Laurent Holdings.”
“I did.”
“Did?”
“I resigned this morning.”
Adrian's eyebrows lifted slightly.
“Convenient.”
“I didn't come here for your approval.”
“Then what do you want?”
“For you not to buy something that's been deliberately overvalued.”
He studied her.
“You just cost me an acquisition.”
“I may have saved you three hundred million dollars.”
A faint, humorless smile touched his mouth.
“You're either very brave…”
He stepped closer.
“…or very foolish.”
Mira met his eyes.
“People usually say both.”
For the first time, something changed in Adrian's expression.
Not warmth.
Interest.
He picked up the report.
“You're aware that accusing a Blackwood executive of fraud can destroy your career?”
“I don't have one anymore.”
“And your family?”
Mira froze.
Adrian noticed immediately.
“You're afraid for them.”
“No.”
“You're lying.”
“You don't know anything about me.”
“Not yet.”
The words sent an unexpected chill through her.
Adrian turned toward the windows.
Below them, the city glittered beneath the night.
“Leave the documents.”
Mira blinked.
“You believe me?”
“I believe numbers.”
He looked back at her.
“And yours are consistent.”
She released a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding.
“Thank you.”
“Don't thank me.”
His expression hardened.
“You've just created a problem.”
“What problem?”
“The people who altered those numbers now know someone noticed.”
Mira's stomach tightened.
Before she could respond, Adrian's phone rang.
He answered.
“Yes?”
His face changed.
Only slightly.
But Mira saw it.
“What happened?”
A pause.
Then:
“Don't let anyone leave the building.”
He ended the call.
Mira stared at him.
“What is it?”
Adrian looked directly at her.
“Your father has just been arrested.”
The world seemed to tilt.
“What?”
“Fraud. Embezzlement. Multiple charges.”
“No.”
Mira grabbed her phone.
There were already dozens of missed calls.
Her mother's.
Her brother's.
Unknown numbers.
She opened the first message.
Don't trust anyone at Blackwood.
Her breathing stopped.
“Who sent that?”
“I don't know.”
Adrian took the phone from her hand before she could stop him.
He read the message.
His jaw tightened.
Then another message arrived.
This one contained a photograph.
Mira's blood turned cold.
It was a picture of her.
Taken outside the Blackwood Tower.
Taken less than ten minutes ago.
Underneath it were six words.
You should not have come here.
Adrian looked at the photograph.
Then at Mira.
“Someone followed you.”
Mira's voice barely came out.
“Who?”
“I don't know.”
He handed the phone back.
“But now I want to find out.”
Outside the conference room, footsteps approached.
Adrian immediately moved between Mira and the door.
His expression became cold.
Dangerously cold.
The handle slowly turned.
Mira looked at him.
“Adrian…”
“Stay behind me.”
The door opened.
A security officer stepped inside.
“Mr. Blackwell, we have a problem.”
Adrian's eyes hardened.
“What kind?”
The officer looked at Mira.
Then at Adrian.
“The police have arrived.”
A pause.
“And they're here for both of you.”
Mira stared at Adrian.
“For me?”
Adrian said nothing.
Because on the table, beneath the financial reports, Mira suddenly noticed something she hadn't seen before.
A photograph.
Old.
Yellowed.
Half-hidden beneath the folder.
She pulled it free.
It showed two children standing in front of a huge stone house.
One was Adrian.
The other was—
Mira's breath caught.
Her.
And written on the back in her mother's handwriting were four words:
Never let her remember.
