Chapter 2: The Message I Never Expected
The town car had barely turned the corner when my phone lit up again.
This time it was Ryan.
I almost ignored it.
Then something made me answer.
"Maddie, listen to me." His voice was low, like he didn't want to be heard.
"There's something you don't know.
About Ethan and Dad."
"Ryan—"
"They've been meeting with investors for months.
Behind your back.
They were planning to file a transfer of ownership on your lab division.
Before you found out about Chloe."
I went very still.
"They needed you distracted," he said.
"The proposal tonight…
the timing wasn't an accident."
The rose petals.
The candles.
The whole performance.
It wasn't just a betrayal of the heart.
It was a distraction.
"How long have you known?" I asked quietly.
He didn't answer right away.
And in that silence, I understood.
Ryan had known too.
"Maddie, I'm sorry.
Dad said you'd be taken care of.
That you'd get a settlement and—"
I ended the call.
My hands were steady.
My mind was already three steps ahead.
They had planned all of it.
Every piece.
And they had no idea I had moved faster than any of them.
But there was still one thing I hadn't accounted for.
Someone else knew about the patents.
And that person had just sent me a message I never expected to receive.
---
What Madeline read in that message set everything in motion — and nothing in that family would ever be the same.
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