Chapter 2

Adam sat before the floor-to-ceiling windows, not even bothering to turn around.

The city lights outside were dazzling, but they couldn't penetrate the chill of the office. When he turned around, I felt a tangible pressure wash over me.

He wore a crisp white shirt, every button fastened up to just below his Adam's apple, his skin so pale it was almost translucent, like a piece of delicate porcelain.

"Name," he said, his voice cold and crisp, like ice cubes hitting glass.

"Michael Lane," I answered, lowering my head and fixing my gaze on the carpet, making sure not a single muscle in my face betrayed my fear.

"You've got talent." He rose to his feet and circled behind me with deliberate slowness. It felt like a leopard sizing up its prey, and the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end.

"You hacked Claire's access privileges and created a five-minute window. If you were after trade secrets, you'd be at the bottom of the ocean by now."

Suddenly, his hand rested on my shoulder. Even through my clothes, I felt a bone-deep chill.

"Tell me. Why were you collecting my saliva?"

His grip tightened, and my mind was spinning. Cold sweat dripped down my forehead, stinging my eyes. Suddenly, I looked up, my eyes rimmed red, my voice rough and laced with a kind of desperate, all-or-nothing intensity.

"My mom died." My voice was shaky. "Right before she passed, she kept saying a name over and over. I found a photo of you in her diary..."

I was making it all up as I spoke. I told him my mom had secretly followed him for twenty years, saving every article she could find.

I said I only got close to him because I wanted to see for myself what kind of man could stay with her for a lifetime.

"Her diary said you two had a first love that ended before it even started," I threw out, betting that even someone as cold as him had a past he couldn't face.

Adam fell silent. His eyes swirled with some unfathomable emotion, and for a split second, the corner of his mouth twitched. He walked over to the desk and picked up the silver cigar cutter.

With a sharp click, the tip of the cigar dropped off.

"You're a lot like her." He exhaled a slow stream of smoke, his gaze turning icy, like he was looking at a defective product.

"Especially that ruthless way you lie without even blinking. Shame. I never gave anyone a second chance. Not even if you're her... 'creation.'"

Outside the office, two burly, cold-faced bodyguards in black had already sealed off every way out.

Danger crackled in the air.

I had no way out.

Just as the bodyguards burst through the door, I slammed my palm down on the fire alarm. A deafening wail filled the air.

Instantly, the whole building's fire alarms went off, the screech so loud it felt like it could pierce my eardrums. At the same time, every sprinkler kicked in, dumping freezing water from above. In seconds, the once-imposing office was a waterlogged wreck.

Adam's obsession with cleanliness turned into his Achilles' heel right then. The moment he saw water spraying everywhere, sheer disgust and physical revulsion flashed across his face, and he instinctively backed away.

"Grab him!" Claire screamed.

I hunched low, using the water spray and chaos as cover. In a flash, I barreled through the two bodyguards who were slow to react, plunging straight into the stampede of people fleeing down the hallway.

My heart slammed against my ribs, every breath scorching my lungs.

I dashed into the stairwell and tore down the steps like I'd lost my mind.

Just as I slid behind the wheel of my battered old car in the alley, my phone vibrated violently in my pocket.

It was an encrypted email, the subject line just two words: [Test Results.] The biological sample I'd grabbed from the office had already been switched and analyzed.

[Paternity Excluded: Adam Shaw and Michael Lane share no biological relationship.]

My pupils contracted sharply, and my hand clenched around the steering wheel.

At the bottom of the email, there was another line, the letters jagged and rough, like they'd been carved with a rusty nail.

[First one, eliminated. Next up, Lone Wolf. Don't screw up again. The Watcher is watching you.]

In the rearview mirror, a black SUV slid out from the building's shadow, quiet as a ghoul lurking in the dark.

Cold sweat drenched my back. This wasn't just some quest for family. What my mom left me wasn't an inheritance. It was a hunting game.

I stomped on the gas, the engine howling in despair. Through the blurred curtain of rain, I could almost see a giant net closing in over my head.