Chapter 3 - The File With Her Name On ItSomeone wanted Declan to believe Isa was more than an employee.
The file was thick.
Too thick.
Declan placed it on the desk between them.
Isa stared at her name typed across the cover.
BURN, ISAABELLE MARIE
She hated that version of herself.
It sounded like someone important.
She opened the folder.
Columbia transcripts.
Internship records.
Financial history.
Addresses.
Emergency contacts.
Even records from when she'd worked two part-time jobs after graduation.
"How did they get this?"
"My security team doesn't know."
Isa looked up.
"That's impossible."
"Nothing is impossible when someone has access."
She flipped another page.
Then stopped.
A photograph had been clipped inside.
Her.
Leaving a coffee shop.
Then another.
Her in Brooklyn.
Another.
Her mother.
Isa went completely still.
"Who is that?"
"My mother."
"I know."
Declan frowned.
"This photo was taken three months ago."
She stared at him.
"I haven't told anyone about her."
"Who knew?"
Isa tried to think.
Her supervisor.
Maya.
Human resources.
"No one else."
Declan picked up the last page.
"This is why I'm concerned."
It was a handwritten note.
She doesn't know who her father was.
Isa stared at the words.
Her hands went cold.
"What does that mean?"
"I don't know."
"My father died when I was eight."
"I know."
"He wasn't important."
"I don't know that."
"He was a mechanic."
Declan looked at her.
"Who told you that?"
"My mother."
"Have you ever seen his employment records?"
"No."
"Birth certificate?"
"My mother kept everything."
"Have you ever seen it?"
Isa closed the folder.
"Why are you asking me these questions?"
"Because the person following you isn't just interested in me."
Her stomach dropped.
"How do you know?"
"Because they requested information about your family before the acquisition."
"When?"
"Six months ago."
She stared.
"You knew?"
"I knew someone was looking."
"And you never told me?"
"I hadn't met you."
A silence fell.
Then Isa whispered:
"Why me?"
Declan walked toward the windows.
"I don't know."
He looked over the city.
"But I intend to find out."
Isa hated how safe she suddenly felt standing near him.
She hated it because she wanted to trust him.
And trust was dangerous.
Especially when the man she trusted had enough power to erase entire lives with a phone call.
That afternoon, the company changed.
Executives whispered.
Departments were suddenly audited.
Three managers disappeared from the building before lunch.
By four, rumors were everywhere.
Declan was ruthless.
Declan had fired the previous CFO.
Declan was investigating fraud.
Declan had bought three rival firms before turning thirty.
Isa heard it all.
Then at 5:17 p.m., she received an email.
FROM: DECLAN VALE
Subject:
Dinner.
She stared at it.
The body contained one line.
Not as your boss.
She deleted it.
Five minutes later, another came.
Please stop pretending you don't want to see me.
She deleted that too.
Another arrived.
This is becoming humiliating.
She smiled despite herself.
Then she received a fourth.
Please.
That one stayed.
At 7:30, she found him waiting outside the building.
He leaned against a black sedan.
"No."
"Hello to you too."
"You can't pick me up at work."
"I can."
"You shouldn't."
"Also true."
She crossed her arms.
"Where are we going?"
"Anywhere you want."
"Coffee."
"Coffee."
The café was nearly empty.
They sat in a corner.
No bodyguards.
No assistants.
No board members.
Just them.
"I missed this," he admitted.
"This?"
"You."
Isa looked at him.
"You barely know me."
"I know you don't sleep enough."
"That's not knowing me."
"You send money to Atlanta on the fifteenth."
Her expression changed.
"I know you read reports."
"I remembered."
He reached across the table.
She stared at his hand.
Then placed hers over it.
"I don't know how to do this," she said.
"Neither do I."
Her phone rang.
Her mother.
Isa answered.
"Mom?"
The line was silent.
Then a frightened voice.
"Isa, you need to come home."
"Why?"
"I found something."
"What?"
Her mother took a breath.
"Your father's old documents."
Isa sat upright.
"What about them?"
"I never told you the truth."
Declan's expression changed.
Isa barely heard the next sentence.
"Your father wasn't who I said he was."
The call ended.
Isa stared at her phone.
"What happened?"
"My mother found something about my father."
Declan stood.
"We're going to Atlanta."
Isa blinked.
"Tonight?"
"Tonight."
"You have work."
"I own the company."
"You have a board."
"I own the board."
She should have laughed.
She didn't.
Because something in his face told her he understood exactly how serious this was.
And for the first time, Isa realized the mystery might not be about why someone was watching her.
May you like
It might be about who she really was.
:::
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