Chapter 6

Kaylie clung to the lapels of Benedict's suit, her tears leaving wet marks on the expensive fabric.

"That little brat downstairs! His bodyguard shoved me!" Kaylie sobbed, her voice trembling with practiced victimhood.

Benedict's jaw tightened. The interruption shattered his focus on the scar. He let out a slow breath, forcing his rising temper down.

He stood up and stepped around the desk. "Are you hurt?" his voice was stiff, lacking warmth but laced with a heavy sense of obligation.

Kaylie leaned heavily against his chest. "My neck," she whimpered, pulling the collar of her blouse down slightly to show a faint red mark.

Sitting across the desk, Haylee felt a wave of intense disgust. She grabbed her bag, ready to walk out of this pathetic soap opera.

As Kaylie pulled her collar down, a silver chain slipped out from under her shirt.

A heavy metal ring dangled at the end of it.

Haylee froze. The air left her lungs in a violent rush.

It was the signet ring. The intricate crest. The heavy silver. The ring she had taken from that dark villa on the island. The ring she had worn against her chest every single day for six years, a silent, burning reminder of the night that had stolen everything from her. She had touched it for reassurance when Leo took his first steps, gripped it in her fist during every sleepless night of her PhD, felt its cold weight against her skin every single morning.

It had vanished on the day she arrived in New York-not on the flight from Zurich, but somewhere in the chaos between the airport and the city. She remembered touching it in the Maybach, remembered Leo handing her a warm towel as she wiped her hands, remembered the weight of it settling against her collarbone. By the time she reached the penthouse that night, her neck was bare. The string had been cut clean, not snapped. A professional theft, executed in a moment of distraction.

Her mind raced. Kaylie. Kaylie had been at the airport. Haylee had caught a glimpse of her through the lounge's frosted glass partition-a woman in a cream trench coat lingering near the VIP exit, watching, waiting-but Cynthia's meltdown had consumed all her attention. And when Haylee had stepped through the crowd to follow Bertram out, Kaylie had been there, bumping against her shoulder with a breathless false apology before vanishing into the terminal.

The realization hit Haylee like a physical blow. Kaylie was not just a thief. She had been tracking Haylee from the moment she landed.

Haylee's fingernails dug so hard into her palms that the skin nearly broke.

Benedict looked down at Kaylie, his eyes catching the ring. A look of deep, painful guilt washed over his face. He patted Kaylie's back, then looked coldly toward Haylee. "I will handle this, Kaylie. Don't worry." His anger was clearly directed at the woman who had caused a scene, dismissing the mention of the child downstairs as trivial nonsense.

His blind defense of this fraud snapped Haylee's control. He was protecting the very woman who had stolen her trauma.

Haylee stood up. The chair scraped loudly against the floor.

"Mr. Keith," Haylee's voice was absolute ice. "Before you threaten a child, you should teach your fiancée to keep her hands out of other people's bags."

The temperature in the room plummeted.

Kaylie stiffened against Benedict's chest. Panic flashed in her eyes. She turned her head, her voice trembling. "Who is she? Why is she attacking me?"

Benedict stepped in front of Kaylie, shielding her. His gray eyes locked onto Haylee, dark and warning. "Dr. Mathews. Watch yourself."

Haylee didn't back down. She took a step closer, her eyes burning into Kaylie. "That ring," Haylee said, her voice dropping to a deadly whisper. "You didn't find it. You didn't inherit it. You stole it off my neck the day I arrived in New York. And you've been wearing stolen evidence around your throat like a trophy ever since."

Kaylie's face went chalk white. Her hand flew to her chest, covering the ring in a desperate, guilty reflex. "I don't know what you're talking about," she whispered, but her voice cracked, and her eyes darted to Benedict in naked terror.

Then, her eyes rolled back. She let out a choked gasp and collapsed backward into Benedict's arms, clutching her chest as if she couldn't breathe.

"Sam! Get the medic!" Benedict barked, catching Kaylie's dead weight.

He glared at Haylee over Kaylie's shoulder. "Get out. Your onboarding is done for today."

Haylee stared at him. He was blindly protecting the woman who stole her trauma, her evidence. A bitter, suffocating anger twisted in her gut.

She didn't say another word. She turned on her heel and walked out, her spine perfectly straight.

As the elevator doors closed, Haylee's hand drifted up to her bare collarbone. The old scar throbbed. The ring was gone, but she had seen it. She knew who had it. And Kaylie had just made the worst mistake of her life-she had shown her stolen prize to the one person who would burn the world down to get it back.

She rode down to the lobby. Leo was waiting, his small face serious. He looked at her pale face.

"What happened?" Leo asked.

Haylee crouched down and straightened his collar. Her eyes were dark and lethal. "Nothing. Just ran into a rat that likes to steal."

She took his hand and walked out of the building. The war had just gotten personal.