Vanessa shoved Mia down backstage right before her performance.

The first warning came in the form of a fire at the company headquarters. It broke out in the archives—the very room where we kept the oldest records, the original deeds, the files that proved our father’s true intentions. The fire was contained quickly, but not before certain boxes had been completely destroyed.

The police called it an accident. We knew better.

The next day, a legal summons arrived. Viktor had filed a claim against us—claiming that our father’s will had been forged. That the company rightfully belonged to Elena’s family. That I was not his daughter at all.

“He has been preparing this for years,” Michael said, sitting at his desk late into the night. “Every document he destroyed. Every witness he paid off. Every lie he planted… it was all leading to this.”

“He thinks he can simply take everything,” I said, my voice tight with anger.

“He thinks he can prove that you are not his daughter,” Sarah said quietly. “And without proof… he claims the inheritance on behalf of Elena’s family.”

“Then we prove him wrong,” I said. “We find the proof. The DNA. The records. Anything.”

But Viktor had been thorough. Every official record of my birth had vanished. Hospital files. Adoption papers. Court documents. All of it. He had erased me from history.

“He wants to force us into a corner,” Michael said. “He wants to leave us with no choice but to settle. To give him half of everything just to keep him quiet.”

“He will get nothing,” I said. “Not one penny. Not one inch.”

But Viktor was patient. He knew we could not prove what we could not find. And he knew that without proof… the law would be on his side.

Days turned into weeks. The legal bills mounted. The employees grew nervous. Rumors spread through the company like wildfire. People began to leave. Clients began to pull out.

One evening, I received a phone call. No voice. Only breathing. And then, after a long silence, a single word spoken in a heavy, foreign accent:

*“Soon.”*

I hung up trembling. He was threatening us. Threatening Mia. Threatening everything we loved.

That night, I sat beside Mia’s bed and held her hand while she slept. I thought of Elena. Of our father. Of everything they had tried to protect me from. And I realized that Viktor would not stop at the law courts. He would not stop at documents. He would come for us personally. Just as he had come for Ethan. Just as he had come for our father.

I stood up and walked to the window. The security lights were on. The gates were locked. Guards patrolled the grounds. But none of it felt like enough.