Sienna didn’t sleep.

She lay awake, tangled in her sheets like they were restraints, replaying Adrian’s words over and over.

“I’m not going to let you destroy yourself. Not again.”

What did that mean?

She’d lived her whole life carefully — rebuilding herself from nothing after her mother’s death, cutting ties with the past, hiding her shame beneath flawless résumés and sharp ambition. She didn't self-destruct. Not anymore.

But Adrian Wolfe looked at her like he’d seen it all—every fall, every failure, every ugly scar she thought she’d buried with her childhood.

And that couldn’t be possible.

Unless…

He knew her from before.

She sat up sharply in bed, heart racing. No. If she’d met him before, she would remember. A face like that doesn’t go unnoticed.

Still, there was only one way to know for sure.

She reached for her laptop.

Later That Morning

Her fingers hovered over the keyboard. She wasn’t just a woman on the defensive anymore — she was on a hunt.

Who are you, Adrian Wolfe?

She started with the basics: his LinkedIn profile. Education. Career timeline. Nothing out of place. Polished, curated, powerful.

She dug deeper. Interviews. Charity records. Older articles from business magazines.

And then she found something.

A yearbook archive from a small elite boarding school in upstate New York — Raven hill Academy. Year: 2010. She almost skipped it, but the school’s name tugged at something faint in her chest.

She clicked.

Scrolled.

Her breath caught.

There he was. Adrian Wolfe, senior prefect, top of his class, already terrifyingly handsome even at seventeen.

But her hand stilled on the mouse.

Because below the senior class list was a group photo of a younger cohort — ten-year-olds. A charity scholarship program for underprivileged students.

And in the front row, half-hidden behind two larger boys, was a thin girl with big eyes and messy hair.

Sienna.

Her.

She clicked to zoom in.

She hadn’t seen that picture in over a decade. Hadn’t remembered being there.

And standing behind her—slightly to the left—was a boy in uniform.

Him.

A younger version of Adrian Wolfe, watching the photographer with that same unreadable gaze. But his hand was resting lightly on her shoulder.

Like he was already claiming her.

Her pulse thundered in her ears.

So it wasn’t a coincidence.

He’d known her all along.

Wolfe International

Adrian watched her from the other side of the glass wall. She hadn’t noticed. Not yet.

She’d arrived early, lips pursed in thought, distracted. Not like her usual sharp, commanding self. No, this morning she looked like she was questioning everything — including herself.

She found it, he thought.

He could see the cracks forming behind her eyes.

Good.

He needed her shaken. Off-balance. Vulnerable.

Because once she remembered everything, there would be no turning back.

No more pretending they were just enemies in a boardroom war.

She was going to remember the fire.

The night everything changed.

And the blood.

Lunchtime

Sienna didn’t go out. She sat in her office, staring at that old photo again and again.

Her phone buzzed.

Unknown Number:

You look just like her.

She stared at the message.

Another buzz.

Unknown Number:

I wonder if you remember the storm.

The scream.

The fire.

Her throat went dry. Hands trembling, she texted back.

Sienna:

Who is this?

The typing bubble appeared.

Then disappeared.

Then:

You'll know soon.

You always come back to where it started.

Her blood turned to ice.

She dropped the phone.

That Evening

Adrian stood in front of a locked storage room in the Wolfe estate — one no one had entered in years.

He held a small box in his hand. Inside it were pieces of a past he’d tried to bury. A torn hospital bracelet. A burnt journal page. A child’s drawing with two stick figures holding hands.

One labelled: “Me.”

The other: “Adi.”

He stared down at it, expression unreadable.

“You’re close now,” he whispered. “Closer than you’ve ever been.”

He touched the drawing one last time… then set the box gently on a shelf.

Locked the door.

And walked away.