Chapter 6: A Storm Behind the Smile
The wind howled against the tall glass windows as Bai Xueqing stood on the rooftop garden of the Bai estate. Below, the city pulsed with lights and life, indifferent to the storm gathering within her world.
She had won the board meeting—but not the war.
There were still shadows moving within the company. The Bai Group had enemies wearing the faces of allies, and her instincts told her the betrayal would come from someone close. She had seen it before, in a different life. Greed was timeless.
A soft click of shoes against stone made her turn.
Mo Chen.
He didn't speak, just walked beside her, his hands in his pockets. The silence between them was taut, not awkward, like the calm before lightning splits the sky.
"You followed me," she said without looking at him.
"I did."
"Why?"
He looked out over the skyline. "Because you're walking into fire."
"I've survived worse," she muttered.
"I know," he said quietly. "I watched you die, remember?"
Her breath caught, but she masked it with a sharp breath of air. "You're not him."
"I am."
She turned to him fully now, facing the storm behind his composed face. "Then tell me—why now? Why return in this life, when everything has already fallen apart?"
He stepped closer, close enough she could see the faint scar beneath his left eye. A scar she remembered placing there—on the battlefield, when she thought he was an assassin. Before she knew he'd come to save her.
"I've looked for you across lifetimes," he said, voice low and raw. "But fate's cruel. In every life, I found you too late."
A lump rose in her throat.
"I swore this time," he continued, "I wouldn't be late."
She tried to keep her voice steady. "What if I don't want to remember? What if I want this life to be different?"
"Then make it different," he said. "But I'm not letting go."
He reached into his coat pocket and held out a tiny jade hairpin. Ancient. Intricately carved. Her breath faltered as she took it in her palm.
"I had this made for you," he said. "In our past life. You never got to wear it."
Tears stung her eyes, unexpected and unwelcome.
He leaned down, his voice a whisper in her ear. "You don't have to trust me now. Just don't push me away yet."
She didn't respond. Couldn't. The wind whipped her hair around her face, and she turned back to the city.
"I'll think about it," she said softly.
---
That night, as she placed the jade pin carefully into a velvet-lined box, her phone buzzed.
Unknown Number: "If you don't back off from the Bai project, your family won't survive the month."
Her blood turned cold.
So it begins, she thought.
This was more than power. More than inheritance.
It was war.
And she would not lose.
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