My sister pulled me toward her billionaire fiancé’s father and laughed, “This is the quiet one.” My parents added, “We don’t brag about Sophie much.” I smiled politely—until Richard Vale stared at me

nervously.

“This is some misunderstanding. Sophie barely talks.”

Richard finally looked at her.

“Mrs. Mercer, your sister’s report prevented my company from losing tens of millions of dollars.”

Then he turned back to me.

“And someone spent fourteen months making sure I never learned who she was.”

Across the ballroom, Evan slowly lowered his champagne glass.

And suddenly, I knew exactly who that someone had been.

PART 2

Olivia recovered first.

She always did when attention shifted away from her.

“Well,” she said brightly, “that’s wonderful. Sophie helped with an