The sun cast golden streaks through the floor-to-ceiling windows of the sprawling luxury mansion as Ana sprinted through the grand hallways, her heart hamring against her ribs.
She barely paid attention to the polished marble floors beneath her or the glimring chandeliers overhead—her focus was singular.
She needed to get to Riley.
Reaching the indoor swimming pool, she halted abruptly, her breath coming in short gasps.
The air slled of chlorinated water and citrus-scented candles.
There, at the edge of the pool, Riley sat with one leg dipped into the shimring water, her damp skin glistening under the ambient lighting.
She was lost in her phone, scrolling absentmindedly—until Ana’s voice sliced through the silence.
"Ma’am, there are so things you need to see," Ana said, her tone urgent, her fingers tightening around the sleek tablet she carried.
Riley lifted her gaze, the casualness in her posture vanishing as she registered the seriousness in Ana’s expression.
With a small sigh, she pulled herself out of the water, droplets cascading down her toned figure.
Ana was quick to hand her a towel, but Riley barely acknowledged it, her focus shifting to the device in Ana’s hands.
Without a word, she took the tablet and strode over to one of the elegant lounge benches, wrapping the towel around her waist as she lowered herself onto the cushioned seat.
The glow of the screen illuminated her face as she scrolled through the data presented before her. Her fingers hesitated mid-swipe, her brows knitting together in disbelief.
"Wait... you’re telling this is her mother?" Riley’s voice was laced with shock as she turned her gaze sharply to Ana.
Ana nodded, her lips pressed into a thin line.
A deep frown creased Riley’s forehead as she tried to piece together the impossible puzzle forming before her.
"How is that even possible?" she murmured, shaking her head as if to rid herself of the growing confusion. "She’s Alex’s ex-wife..."
The weight of her own words settled over her like a storm cloud.
If this was true, if Angel was truly connected to Alex in this way, then everything—the entire ga—had just changed.
"You’re saying that Angel is Alex’s daughter?" Riley’s voice was hushed, yet filled with disbelief. "Is that why the boss is so desperate to have her?"
"It seems likely, ma’am," Ana admitted cautiously. "But according to my findings, Arthur also wants her."
Riley let out a bitter scoff. "Yeah, that much is obvious. Why else would he stir up the dia with that insane news report?" Her fingers tightened around the tablet, her thoughts racing.
Then, suddenly, a realization struck her like a bolt of lightning. She sat up straighter, her pulse spiking.
"Ana... do you rember the exact ti Alex’s ex-wife died?" she asked, her voice quieter now, more calculating.
Ana nodded. "Yes. We had to clean up that whole ss for Tryson at the ti."
"Exactly," Riley said, her eyes narrowing. "And yet, the boss barely reacted. Even though Tryson was involved in her death, Alex didn’t seem to care. That never sat right with ."
A heavy silence settled between them as the pieces of the puzzle began to align.
Sothing wasn’t adding up.
If Angel was just Alex’s daughter, why was she suddenly the center of a dangerous tug-of-war between two of the most ruthless n they knew?
And more importantly... why had Arthur taken such a drastic step by exposing her secret pregnancy to the world?
Riley’s grip tightened on the device as a cold realization crept over her.
This wasn’t just about blood ties.
There was sothing far bigger at play—sothing neither of them fully understood yet.
"Ana, sothing about this just feels off," Riley muttered, her voice laced with suspicion as she tapped her fingers impatiently against the tablet. "Why would both of them go to such lengths just because Angel is supposedly the boss’s daughter? And Angel—" she scoffed, venom creeping into her tone, "that lunatic doesn’t even act like she belongs to any clan. That bitch... What if she’s the one pulling the strings, manipulating them with whatever information she got her hands on? I an, who in their right mind would go to war over a girl like her? She’s nothing."
The bitterness in her voice dripped like poison, her fury seething beneath the surface.
Before Ana could respond, the sharp chi of her phone interrupted the tension. She instinctively held up a hand, excusing herself as she stepped aside to take the call.
The conversation on the other end was brief but heavy, and as the voice delivered its ssage, Ana’s expression shifted from neutral to pure shock.
A sharp gasp escaped her lips.
Riley, who had been pacing in frustration, imdiately picked up on the shift in Ana’s deanor. Her narrowed eyes darkened with curiosity.
"What is it?" she demanded, irritation flickering in her voice. "Who was that?"
Ana hesitated, her mind racing as she processed what she had just been told. Finally, she took a slow breath before turning back to Riley.
"Ma’am, you rember the strand of Angel’s hair you managed to get?" Ana started carefully.
Riley’s eyes sharpened. "Yeah?"
"Well, I had so of the n secretly collect a DNA sample from Alex as well. I wanted to confirm everything before bringing it to you," Ana continued. "The lab just finished the tests and..." She trailed off, montarily lost in the weight of what she was about to say.
"Spit it out, Ana," Riley snapped, her patience wearing thin.
Ana swallowed hard before delivering the bombshell.
"Angel... she’s not Alexander Johnson’s biological daughter."
A silence heavier than the tension before settled between them.
Riley blinked, her mind struggling to process the revelation.
"What?" she finally breathed out, barely above a whisper. Then, as realization set in, she straightened, her fingers gripping the edge of the pool bench.
"That doesn’t make any sense. If she’s not his daughter... then why the hell do they want her so badly?"
Ana shifted uneasily. "Could it be possible that she stole sothing from the boss?" she suggested cautiously.
Riley exhaled sharply, shaking her head.
"No. If she had, Alex would have killed her a long ti ago. He wouldn’t play gas like this." Her mind churned, the pieces of the puzzle no longer fitting together in any logical way.
"For as long as I’ve known Alex, I’ve never heard a single ntion of Angel," Riley muttered, her gaze dark and calculating. "And yet, they’re both after her like she holds sothing priceless." She paused, then looked up at Ana, her expression now filled with sothing else—certainty.
"This isn’t just about blood ties, Ana," she said, her voice firm. "Angel has sothing—sothing big. Sothing so valuable that two of the most powerful n in our world are willing to tear everything apart just to get to her."
And that ant only one thing.
Angel wasn’t just a target.
She was the key to sothing far bigger than they had imagined.
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