Chapter 3The Second Time You Chose Her

With Julian’s support, my father finally agreed to send me to Lisbon.

I deleted Adrian’s number and boarded the next flight.

The Lisbon division barely acknowledged me when I arrived. To them, I was still nothing more than Celeste’s less impressive younger sister.

I did not care.

I would let my results speak for me.

In my first life, I had spent all my time orbiting Adrian. I had never realized how good I was at the negotiating table.

Within three weeks, I revived an operating agreement that had been stalled for nearly a year. I separated the hotel’s old maintenance debts from its future expenses, renegotiated the payment schedule, and brought the operating partner back to the table.

When the agreement was signed, the division director placed the next quarter’s budget in front of me.

“What do you think we should do?”

It was the first time anyone in the family business had asked for my opinion before asking for Celeste’s.

After that, the partners began contacting me directly. Even the senior executives started looking at me with respect.

My name was finally beginning to carry weight.

Soon, everyone would understand that I was no longer Celeste’s shadow.

My father, who had almost forgotten I existed, finally called.

The moment I answered, he began shouting.

“How long do you plan to ignore this family? The anniversary of your mother’s death is approaching. Are you not coming home?”

My mother was the only person in that family I still cared about.

“I already booked my flight.”

“Come home first. We have things to discuss.”

He hung up without mentioning the agreement I had saved.

On the anniversary of my mother’s death, Celeste was waiting for me at the cemetery.

Adrian stood beside her.

Celeste smiled warmly, but the jealousy in her eyes was impossible to hide.

“You’ve worked very hard in Lisbon,” she said. “But a respectable woman shouldn’t be spending her time with criminals and private military contractors.”

She held out several photographs.

They showed me leaving a restaurant with one of our operating partners. His wife had been walking beside us, but Celeste had conveniently cropped her out.

“People are saying you used your body to secure those contracts,” she continued. “You’ve embarrassed Dad and damaged the family’s reputation.”

“Show them the full photographs.”

Her smile stiffened.

Then she glanced at Adrian and pretended to understand.

“Oh. I see. You worked so hard because you wanted men to notice you.”

She took a printed email from her bag.

“Dad has arranged a more suitable marriage for you. The Whitmores’ eldest son.”

He had been in a coma since a skiing accident three years earlier.

“Starting tomorrow, you’re no longer in charge of Lisbon,” Celeste added. “I’ll take over. Give my assistant your contacts and files before you leave.”

I stared at her, strangely calm.

“I earned those contracts. You wouldn’t understand half the terms in them, yet you expect me to hand everything over to you?”

“Evelyn, Dad has already decided.”

“You accused me of sleeping with someone to save the project. Now you want to take credit for everything I accomplished.”

Her face paled.

I stepped closer.

“Does losing your shadow frighten you that much? You’ve taken enough from me, Celeste. You’re not taking this.”

Shock flashed across her face.

Then her eyes filled with tears.

“I’m only trying to help you. Why do you always assume I want to hurt you?”

She turned helplessly toward Adrian.

“I know she’s always resented me for being better than her, but I never wanted her to work herself to exhaustion.”

I had no interest in listening to the rest.

I turned to leave.

Adrian grabbed my wrist and shoved me against the cemetery wall.

“You’ve gone too far.”

The stone struck my shoulder. For a moment, I remembered those same hands pushing me in front of the SUV.

“Apologize to Celeste,” he ordered.

He caught my chin, trying to force me to look at him as he always had.

I pulled his fingers away one by one.

“Stop pretending to be a hero.”

I pulled his fingers away from my chin one by one and stepped back.

“Stop pretending to be a hero, Adrian. Not here. Not in front of my mother’s grave. You make me sick.”

Adrian’s hand remained frozen in midair. My calm, almost indifferent resistance had caught him completely off guard.

Perhaps it had never occurred to him that I would one day look at him without love, anger, or even disappointment. There was nothing left in my eyes but numbness, as if the man standing before me had become a complete stranger.

“Evelyn…” His voice came out so hoarse that the single word was barely recognizable.

He stared at me, stunned, but I gave him no chance to continue. I turned away, returned to the hotel, packed my luggage, and booked a flight back to Lisbon that same evening.

Yet before I could board the plane, Julian and Adrian blocked my way.

Julian strode toward me and closed one hand around my throat. His eyes were bloodshot, and the rage twisting his face made him look almost deranged.

“This is all your fault!” he roared. “Celeste went to a warehouse alone last night because she wanted to negotiate a major arms deal and prove that she could manage Lisbon without you. But the entire deal was a trap. They forced her to sign an enormous debt, and now they’re threatening to harvest her organs and sell them as payment.”

His fingers tightened around my throat until I could barely breathe.

“She’s being held inside that warehouse right now. Until we bring her back safely, you’re not going anywhere!”