CHAPTER 1: THE NAME SHE SHOULDN’T KNOW
“Wait, that pendant... you can’t possibly—”
The CEO’s voice trembled, something no one in that room had ever witnessed before.
The girl tilted her chin slightly, her small fingers still wrapped around the bronze pendant.
“My mother’s name was Elena Voss.”
Silence.
Not the kind that fades in seconds—but the kind that presses against your chest and refuses to let you breathe.
The CEO staggered back a step.
“Elena… is dead,” she whispered.
The girl shook her head. “No. She was erased.”
Gasps rippled across the boardroom.
Phones zoomed in closer. Executives shifted uncomfortably in their seats. This was no longer entertainment—this was exposure.
The girl reached into her worn jacket and pulled out a folded document.
“She told me if anything ever happened, I should bring this… and find you.”
The CEO didn’t move.
Didn’t blink.
“Because you promised her,” the girl continued, her voice steady but edged with something older than her years, “that this company would always belong to her family.”
A man from the board suddenly stood up. “This is absurd! Security—”
“Sit down.”
The CEO’s command cracked like thunder.
Everyone froze.
She stepped forward now, slowly, as if approaching a ghost.
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“Elena… was my co-founder,” she said quietly. “She built this company with me. Every patent, every system… half of it was hers.”
The girl nodded. “And half of it is mine.”
