The night air was a cold slap to the face as Lex's car sped through the city. Anya sat beside him, the silence in the car heavy with a shared purpose. They were on their way to see Dr. Ivanov, the man who held the key to her mother's death. The truth was just an hour away, and Anya's heart was a frantic drum against her ribs.
When they arrived at the private hospital, the building was dark and quiet. Leo, Lex's young, sharp assistant, was waiting for them. He was a silent shadow in the night, his eyes alert and focused. "Boss," he said, his voice low. "He's in there. He's scared. He wants protection. He'll talk."
They walked into a small, sterile room. Dr. Ivanov was a small, thin man, his face pale with fear. He looked at Lex, at the cold, powerful man who was a king in the darkness, and he trembled. He looked at Anya, and his eyes filled with a deep, painful pity.
"Anya," he said, his voice a shaky whisper. "Your mother… she was a good woman. She was a kind woman. I'm so sorry."
Anya's voice was a small, broken thing. "Tell me. Tell me what happened. Did my father and my stepmother... did they kill her?"
Dr. Ivanov's eyes filled with tears. He nodded, a slow, painful movement. "Yes. They did. They wanted her company. They wanted her money. She was a part of the Zhenya family. A very powerful family. A family with money. A family with secrets. Your mother's father... he left everything to her, not to her brother, Damian. Because he knew Damian was a monster. He left it all to her. And her father knew it. He knew she owned 90% of his company. The Petrova Company was not his. It was hers."
Anya's world spun. Her father's company. It was not his. It was her mother's. He had built his life on a lie, a lie that had cost a woman her life.
"They used a poison," Dr. Ivanov continued, his voice full of a terrible guilt. "A slow poison. A poison that made her sick, a sickness that looked like a natural illness. And I... I helped them. I wrote the report. I said it was an unknown illness. They paid me a lot of money. They threatened my family. I was scared. I'm so sorry, Anya. I'm so sorry."
Tears streamed down Anya's face. The truth was a sharp, terrible knife in her heart. The woman she loved, the woman who had given her a life, had been betrayed by the man she loved.
Lex's face was a mask of cold fury. "Where is the evidence? The real evidence. The proof."
Dr. Ivanov took a small, old notebook from his bag. He opened it. The notebook was full of small, neat handwriting. It was a diary. A diary of a doctor who was now a ghost. The diary contained all the details of the crime. The dates, the times, the poison, the names.
"This is all of it," Dr. Ivanov said, his voice full of relief and fear. "I made a copy of everything. I was scared. I knew one day, someone would come. Someone would find out."
Lex took the notebook, his face a hard mask. He looked at Anya, at the tears on her face. "He's telling the truth, Anya. This is all of it. The evidence. The proof."
Anya just looked at the notebook, her mind a mess of emotions. Her father. Her stepmother. Her stepsisters. They were all living a life of luxury, a life built on her mother's death. The hate, the anger, the pain… it was all a fire in her.
"What do we do now?" she asked, her voice a low growl.
Lex looked at her, his eyes full of a new kind of respect. "We're going to use this. We're going to expose them. We're going to take everything from them. Just like they took everything from you."
He took her in his arms, holding her close. "You're not alone, Anya. I'm with you. We're going to fight this. Together. We're going to get justice for your mother. We're going to get your company back."
Meanwhile, back at the Petrova house, Sergey was on the phone, his voice a mix of fear and anger. "The doctor is gone. He's a ghost. He's not at the hospital. He's not at his house. Someone took him."
Yelena, his wife, walked into the room. She was beautiful, but her eyes were cold and full of a terrible fear. "Sergey, what is it? What's wrong?"
"The doctor," he said, his voice low and angry. "The one who helped us. He's gone. Someone took him. Someone knows. Someone is looking."
Yelena's face went white. She knew what this meant. It meant their secret was no longer a secret. It meant their life of luxury was about to come crashing down.
"It can't be Anya," Yelena said, her voice full of a cold, sharp hate. "She's just a student. She's a nobody. She can't be a part of this."
Sergey just shook his head, a terrible fear in his eyes. "I don't know. But I have a bad feeling. A very bad feeling."
In another part of the city, Damian was on the phone. "Kravtsov is in the game. He's a part of it. But he's weak. He's a fool. He's going to fall. And Lex... Lex is a king. A cold, smart king. But he has a weakness. A new weakness. A woman. A woman who is my niece. A woman who doesn't know her own power. A woman who is now in his arms. I'm going to use her. I'm going to get to him through her. I'm going to destroy him. And I'm going to get the Zhenya family back. I'm going to get my throne back."