Chapter 2

I took a step forward, not the slightest intention of backing down.

“Are you Theo James?”

“I am.”

Theo answered with a smile, and the crowd murmured their quiet admiration. He was exactly what they'd expected of the self-made mogul who'd built the James Group into a company worth over five billion dollars.

“Twenty years ago, Meryl Finch of Southeastern University. Do you still remember her?”

The words landed, and the color drained from Theo's face.

“Where is Meryl Finch?” Theo grabbed my shoulders with both hands, gripping hard.

Beside me, Bryan looked anxious. I shook my head at him—it was nothing.

Realizing he'd let his composure slip, Theo quickly pulled his hands back and forced an easy laugh.

“Meryl Finch was indeed my classmate. But what does that prove?”

A few of the sharper guests had already sensed something was off. Adam waved over the hotel manager, leaned in and murmured a few words, and the manager hurried away.

“So you’re not completely heartless, Theo James. But how could you abandon my mother for twenty years without a single word, without a single care?”

Adam’s face darkened as he stared at me. “Do you have any idea what saying those things means? A charge of defamation alone would be enough to put you away.”

“And you—a greenhorn lawyer. You probably don’t even know how to spell ‘death,’ do you?”

Theo said nothing. Adam was about to keep going, but a well-dressed woman gliding toward us cut him off.

“Adam, don’t forget your place.”

With that, the woman turned her amused gaze on me. After a moment, she spoke, her tone laced with mock pity.

“If you really are Meryl Finch’s daughter, then you should ask her instead what she did to Theo back then. How much she hurt him. If I, Letitia Mason, hadn’t poured out my entire fortune, where would the James Group be today?”

“So here’s my advice, little girl. Leave quietly now, and pretend this never happened. After all, this is a day of celebration. But if you insist on being stubborn… well, you’ll have to face the full force of the James Group.”

That blend of warning and threat had the surrounding guests nodding in sudden understanding, and they turned on me and my mother one after another.

“The chairman really did suffer a blow back in the day. So it was because of this Meryl Finch.”

“If that’s the case, how dare this girl come here making a scene? And claiming to be the chairman’s daughter?”

“It’s about money. In this world, some people will do anything for money.”

“So the Finches are the real lowlifes…”

“Clap, clap, clap.”

I clapped my hands slowly, one clap at a time, completely unshaken by their words. “Theo James, so you’re prepared to fight this in court, is that it?”

“You think I’d come to a heartless, ungrateful wolf like you without solid evidence?”

“Who’s right and who’s wrong? Everyone, stay tuned.”

Bryan stepped forward right on cue, pulled out a stack of photocopied documents, and read aloud in a clear, steady voice.

“Promissory note: Theo James borrows one hundred sixty thousand dollars from Meryl Finch, to be counted as a percentage of James Technologies…”

“I O U: Theo James borrows three hundred five thousand dollars from Meryl Finch, to be counted as a percentage of James Technologies…”

“Enough!”

“Share transfer agreement…”

“I said enough!”

Theo couldn’t hold his refined, gentlemanly mask a second longer. With a furious roar he lunged forward, snatched the documents out of Bryan’s hands, and tore them apart.

“What exactly do you want?!”

Seeing Theo lose his temper, I smiled, delighted.

“What? Can’t take it anymore? There’s plenty more where that came from. Or are you afraid to hear it?”