The city glittered below her like a thousand untold lies.
New York, alive and restless, pulsed through the glass walls of the Kane Tower a monument built on power, whispers, and blood.
Ava Kane stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, her reflection ghosting back at her a woman of control, precision, and secrets. At twenty-three, she had inherited everything her parents had bled for: the empire, the wealth, the influence.
And the ghosts.
Her heels clicked sharply against the marble as she turned. "Schedule for today?"
Her assistant, Nora Blackwood, tapped a tablet, her voice calm but quick. "You have a board meeting with the London division at nine, a press interview with Forbes at eleven, and the gala at seven."
"The Eden Gala," Ava murmured. "I almost forgot."
Nora looked up, hesitant. "Do you want me to cancel?"
Ava shook her head. "No. Let them see the Kane legacy standing tall. We don't hide anymore."
Her tone was ice, but her stomach twisted. The word Eden still felt like poison.
Years had passed since the collapse of Project Eden since her mother, Isabella, and her father, Sebastian, had nearly destroyed themselves to stop it. The world had moved on. The world had forgotten.
But Ava hadn't.
Sometimes, late at night, she still woke to the echo of her mother's screams and the roar of flames in her dreams. She had been only three when it happened too young to understand, too old to forget.
"Anything else?" Ava asked, breaking from her thoughts.
"Only this," Nora said, handing her a sleek black envelope. "It arrived this morning no return address."
Ava frowned. The paper was expensive, embossed with a faint symbol two intertwining circles forming the shape of infinity.
She opened it carefully. Inside was a single line, printed in silver ink:
"History repeats, unless the bloodline ends."
And beneath it a signature she didn't recognize.
E. Vale
Her pulse skipped. Vale.
A name that had haunted her mother's nightmares.
Ava folded the note and slipped it into her jacket pocket before Nora could see. "Nothing important," she lied.
The boardroom smelled of steel and dominance and fear.
Men twice her age sat around the long table, hiding their unease behind forced smiles. Ava had rebuilt Kane Industries in less than three years, turning it from scandal to one of the world's most admired biotech firms.
But no one forgot who she was Sebastian Kane daughter. Isabella's child.
And they wondered if she was just as dangerous.
She finished her presentation, closing the holographic screen with a flick of her hand. "That concludes the fiscal quarter review. Any objections?"
Silence.
A few throats cleared. One man spoke up, cautious. "Miss Kane, there are rumors regarding your attendance at the Eden Gala tonight. Some shareholders feel it may, ah, stir unwanted memories."
"Memories," she said coolly, "are what fuel ambition."
The man hesitated. "With respect, Eden Corp's relaunch has been controversial. They've acquired several of your father's old patents. If you appear there, it could be interpreted as endorsement."
Ava smiled faintly sharp, unreadable. "Then perhaps that's exactly what I want them to think."
She gathered her files and stood. "Meeting adjourned."
As she walked out, her heart raced.
Eden Corp's relaunch wasn't a rumor. She'd been tracking it for months. Someone had revived her parents' nightmare and now, it wore a new face.
That evening, the Eden Gala glimmered with decadence.
The ballroom of the Met towered with chandeliers and shimmering gowns, cameras flashing like lightning storms. Ava entered on the arm of her security chief, Ethan, though his presence was for appearance only Ava could handle herself.
Reporters swarmed as soon as they saw her.
"Miss Kane! How does it feel to represent your family's legacy?"
"Do you have any comment on your father's disappearance?"
She smiled politely. "My family's legacy speaks for itself."
But as she stepped further inside, her poise faltered for just a second.
Because across the room
surrounded by powerful men and beautiful women stood Adrian Vale.
He was exactly as the tabloids described: tall, broad-shouldered, and exuding a quiet kind of danger. His dark suit was immaculate, but his eyes grey, stormy were sharper than any blade.
When he turned and their gazes met, the noise around them seemed to vanish.
He moved toward her, slow and deliberate.
"Miss Kane," he greeted smoothly, his voice a low timbre. "I didn't think you'd dare to come."
"Then you don't know me very well," she replied, chin high.
He smiled not kindly. "I know more than you think."
Her pulse quickened. "You sent the note."
"I did."
"Why?"
"To see if you'd take the bait."
He stepped closer, their faces inches apart. "You shouldn't be here, Ava. Some legacies are better left buried."
"Buried?" she repeated softly. "Or rewritten?"
The air between them tightened.
"Your father tried to rewrite history once," Adrian said, voice edged with something darker. "Look where it got him."
Her expression didn't waver, but inside her chest, something cracked.
He knew.
And maybe he wasn't the enemy she thought.
Later that night, Ava slipped away from the gala crowd, drawn to the quieter corridors of the museum. Her heels echoed softly against the marble, the sound fading beneath the music.
She reached a small exhibition room labeled Eden Reborn, A Tribute to Visionaries.
The displays glowed faintly glass cases filled with old photographs, research documents, and digital projections of faces she recognized.
One froze her breath entirely.
Sebastian Kane her father.
The caption read
"Lead investor and early visionary of the Eden Genetic Initiative."
Her blood ran cold.
That couldn't be true. Her father had fought against Eden. He'd destroyed it.
Before she could move, a soft voice came from behind her.
"Truth has a way of surviving, even when we try to bury it."
Ava turned sharply.
Adrian stood in the doorway, hands in his pockets, eyes unreadable.
"What do you know about my father?" she demanded.
He hesitated. "Only that he wasn't the villain the world made him out to be. And that the people who rebuilt Eden they think you're the key to finishing what he started."
Her heart stopped. "What did you just say?"
He took a slow step closer. "Someone's replicating your father's work using your DNA. And if you're smart, you'll get out before they find you."
"Then why are you here?"
He exhaled softly. "Because I already found you."
Ava didn't sleep that night.
Back in her penthouse, she stood at her father's old desk, the black envelope spread open beside her. The signature E. Vale glared back like a warning.
Evelyn Vale. Adrian's mother. The woman her parents had nearly died fighting.
But Evelyn was dead. Wasn't she?
Lightning flashed outside, throwing her reflection across the glass her father's eyes staring back at her from her own face.
And deep down, Ava felt it the truth she had always tried to ignore.
The past wasn't over.
It was only waiting for her to open the door.