Bryan's POV
I had only stopped at the court because my driver needed to pick up a file from one of the legal officers handling a case against my company. I did not plan to stay long. I just wanted the document and to head straight back to the office.
But then the car door suddenly opened, and a woman rushed in. She was looking tense, and her face was pale.
"Please, drive," she said quickly, with her voice shaking.
The driver turned back, confused. "Ma'am, this isn't..."
"Just go!" she shouted.
Her hands trembled as she pressed herself into the seat, not even looking at me. For a moment, I just stared at her. Something about her felt familiar, but I couldn't place it yet.
"Drive," I said quietly to the driver.
He hesitated for a second, then started the engine and pulled out of the court premises.
I turned my eyes back to her. Her head was bent low, her hair covering half her face. I could see her chest breathing heavily.
Then it hit me. Her face and her voice were very familiar. It was her.
The same woman who had hit my car in Paris months ago, and the one who fainted on the plane back to London.
What were the odds of meeting her three times in three different places?
But something else nagged at me. I had seen her name before. Recently. Where was it?
Then I remembered. The file was on my desk yesterday. The lawsuit from Sterling & Cross Holdings. The list of former employees they claimed had stolen confidential information.
Her name was there. Alice Morgan.
Sterling & Cross. The same company that had destroyed mine five years ago. The same company I had been hunting ever since.
And now she was sitting in my car.
I leaned back slowly, my mind going back to that day in Paris.
It was supposed to be a quiet weekend at my grandmother's mansion. She had called me again, complaining that I worked too much and never visited her. I went only to keep her from sending more messages.
She sat in her big chair with her walking stick beside her. "Bryan Hale," she said, calling my full name the way she always did. "You're thirty-two and still have no wife. Do you think money will keep you warm when you're old?"
I rubbed my temples. "Grandma, please don't start."
She kept talking anyway. "All the girls you bring are the same. Pretty but empty. No sense, no class, and no future. You need a woman who will keep you grounded."
I stood up. "I'm not interested in marriage."
She laughed bitterly. "That's why your life feels cold."
Her words got to me more than I wanted to admit. I left the house angry, got into my car, and drove off without direction.
I was still rushing to the airport when a car hit me from behind. I got down, frowning, ready to yell. But the woman who stepped out looked so scared and flustered that I froze.
She didn't even look at my face. She just bowed quickly. "I'm sorry, sir! I'm so sorry!"
Before I could even say a word, she jumped back into her small blue car and drove off.
I didn't chase her. I just stood there, confused and watching her car disappear.
Something about her lingered in my head for days, but I pushed it aside. I had no reason to remember a stranger. Or so I thought until the next time I saw her.
It was on my flight back to the UK. I had boarded late because of a delay, and to make it worse, my seat in first class had been taken by mistake. I had to settle for a seat in business class, and I was angry the whole time.
Mid-flight, I got up to use the restroom, and when I tried to open the door, it was locked. After knocking twice, I heard a faint sound, like someone falling. I forced the door open, and there she was again.
It was the same woman. But this time, she was on the floor, unconscious.
I called the hostess quickly, and we helped her back to her seat. I didn't say a word after that, but I kept watching her quietly.
I didn't even know her name, yet somehow, I couldn't forget her face.
Now here she was again, sitting beside me in my car. And I knew exactly who she was. Alice Morgan. Former financial analyst at Sterling & Cross Holdings.
The company that had sabotaged Hale Enterprises five years ago. The company that planted false reports, bribed officials, and manipulated contracts to destroy my $500 million development project. The company that nearly bankrupted me.
I had spent three years rebuilding. And the last two years investigating them quietly, gathering evidence and tracking their crimes.
But I was missing something. The smoking gun. Internal documents that proved deliberate fraud.
And Alice Morgan had worked in their finance department. She would have seen everything.
She still didn't look at me. Her eyes stayed glued to the window with her hand clutching her purse tightly.
This wasn't a coincidence. It couldn't be. Three times? Paris, the plane, and now here?
Was she following me? Was Sterling & Cross using her to get close to me?
Or was she running from them?
When we reached the main road, the driver slowed down and looked at me through the mirror.
"Sir, should I keep going?" he asked.
"Yes," I said without thinking.
I could feel her glance at me for the first time. It was quick and nervous. She probably thought I was going to throw her out, but I didn't.
For some reason, I wanted to know why she was running.
We drove in silence for almost fifteen minutes before she suddenly said, "You can stop here."
The driver slowed down near the next corner, and before the car had even fully stopped, she opened the door and got out quickly.
She didn't look back. She just ran across the road and disappeared into the crowd.
I stared through the window until she was gone. I had no idea why, but my chest felt tight watching her leave.
"Let's go," I said quietly.
The driver nodded and turned the car back toward the company.
My secretary rushed to me with files in her hand the moment I entered my office.
"Sir, the new documents from Sterling & Cross just came in," she said. "They're pushing harder on the lawsuit. They claim we breached contract terms on the Silverline project."
"Leave it," I said, taking the folder from her.
After she left, I sat down and opened the file. Sterling & Cross was suing us for allegedly stealing their client. It was nonsense. They were the ones who had stolen from us five years ago.
As I flipped through the pages, I stopped when I saw a printed document titled 'List of Former Employees—Confidential.'
There were dozens of names, each with a small picture beside it. I scrolled through, reading absently, until one name made my hand freeze.
Alice Morgan.
And beside the name was her picture. The same face I had just seen in my car.
For a few seconds, I didn't even breathe. I just stared at the name and the photo, feeling something heavy drop inside my chest.
But there was more. Next to her name was a note in red: "TERMINATED—Suspected of document theft and embezzlement. DO NOT REHIRE."
My jaw tightened.
So, they had fired her. And they had branded her a criminal.
Why?
What had she seen? What had she found?
I leaned back in my chair, my mind racing. This changed everything.
Alice Morgan wasn't working for Sterling & Cross. She was running from them.
And if they had gone so far as to destroy her reputation, it meant she knew something. Something big enough to threaten them.
My phone rang. It was Antonio.
"Bryan, we need to talk," he said. "I just found out something about the woman from the accident."
"I know who she is," I said quietly.
"You do?"
"Alice Morgan. Former financial analyst at Sterling & Cross. They fired her and framed her for embezzlement."
There was a pause. "How do you know all this?"
"She just got into my car outside the courthouse. And her name is on the Sterling & Cross lawsuit file."
Antonio was quiet for a moment. "This can't be a coincidence."
"It's not," I said. "She has something they want. And I need to find out what."
"What are you going to do?" He asked.
I looked at her picture again.
"I'm going to find her. And I'm going to make her an offer she can't refuse."
I closed the file and stood up, pacing to the window as my mind was already forming a plan.
Alice Morgan had evidence, and I was sure of it. And I needed that evidence to destroy Sterling & Cross once and for all.
But first, I needed to find her. And I needed to make sure she trusted me enough to work with me.
Because if Sterling & Cross realized she was still a threat, they would come for her. And next time, they wouldn't just fire her.
They would bury her.