Chapter 4 - The Ledger Showed My Name Beside Millions of Dollars I Had Never Touched—and Sofia Had Been Trying to Stop My Family From Turning Me Into the Next LeaderI spent the night reading the ledger.
The numbers were enormous.
Accounts.
Transfers.
Companies.
Properties.
And my name.
Again and again.
I had never authorized any of it.
Yet someone had used my identity.
The ledger showed that I was supposed to inherit the Circle after my engagement to Vivienne.
That explained the ring.
It was an invitation.
Or a warning.
The engagement dinner had not been a celebration.
It was an induction.
Vivienne knew.
Sofia knew.
My family knew.
I didn't.
I looked at Vivienne.
“You knew I was supposed to become their leader.”
She nodded.
“I was trying to stop it.”
“Why would marrying you help?”
“It wouldn't.”
“Then why was the engagement happening?”
“Because your family wanted to unite two financial structures.”
I stared.
“And the ring?”
“A signal.”
“To whom?”
“Everyone in the Circle.”
That meant the dinner had been watched.
Thirty-two guests.
Many of them weren't guests.
They were members.
They were waiting for me to accept Vivienne and the ring.
The star would confirm it.
But Sofia interrupted.
A three-year-old had accidentally destroyed an initiation ceremony.
I almost laughed.
Then Marco rushed into the study.
“Boss.”
“What?”
“Your uncle just left the estate.”
“Which one?”
“Lorenzo.”
I knew immediately.
He had been one of the guests.
He had tried to stop Rosie from speaking.
I checked the security footage.
Lorenzo had been in Sofia's room the day before her death.
Alone.
He had visited for seven minutes.
Then he left carrying a small wooden box.
Sofia's box.
I ordered his car tracked.
We found it at a private marina.
I went.
Lorenzo was waiting.
He looked old.
Tired.
“I knew this day would come.”
“You killed Sofia?”
“No.”
“Then who?”
He sighed.
“Your father.”
“Dead six years.”
“Yes.”
“He's not alive.”
“No.”
“Then who followed his orders?”
Lorenzo looked at me.
“You.”
I froze.
“What?”
“You were supposed to inherit the network.”
“I never agreed.”
“You did.”
“When?”
“When your father was alive.”
I remembered nothing.
Lorenzo opened the box.
Inside was an old photograph.
Me.
Six years younger.
Sitting beside my father.
Signing papers.
I stared.
The signature looked like mine.
But I had no memory.
A note was attached:
SUBJECT ACCEPTED. MEMORY SEALED.
I felt sick.
“What did he do to me?”
Lorenzo looked away.
“Hypnotic conditioning.”
I laughed.
“That isn't real.”
“It was enough.”
My father had conditioned me.
He had prepared me to lead.
Sofia discovered it.
She wanted to stop it.
And someone had killed her before she could tell me.
The ring was part of the plan.
The star.
The ledger.
The engagement.
Everything.
Then Lorenzo said:
“You need to understand the most dangerous part.”
“What?”
“The person controlling the Circle now isn't your father.”
“Who?”
He looked at me.
“Vivienne.”
I stared.
Vivienne had lied.
May you like
But maybe not to betray me.
Maybe to protect me.
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