Morning came with air colder than usual.
The city sky was clear after a long night of rain, yet inside the Ardent office, the atmosphere was far from calm.
Ethan sat in the small meeting room with Daniel and Sophia. The laptop on the table displayed the document they had found the previous night a long-standing contract between Sophia's mother company and a network connected to Marcus Sterling.
No one spoke for several minutes.
Everyone was still thinking about the same thing.
If the document was real…
then Marcus's entire pharmaceutical empire was built on something that had never truly belonged to him.
Ethan finally broke the silence.
"We can't publish this right away."
Sophia stared at him.
"Why not?"
"Because this isn't enough yet."
Daniel nodded.
"Marcus will say this was just a failed business negotiation."
Sophia crossed her arms.
"Then what do we need?"
Ethan looked at the screen.
"Proof that the technology was actually transferred illegally."
Daniel added,
"Or proof that your mother's death was related to that transaction."
The words left Sophia speechless.
She had already suspected that possibility.
But hearing it out loud still felt like a knife slowly pressing into her chest.
"How do we find it?" Sophia finally asked.
Ethan closed the laptop.
"There's one place that might hold the answers."
Daniel immediately looked at him.
"Your mother's old company archives."
Sophia frowned.
"That place has been closed for a long time."
"True," Ethan said. "But some documents might still be stored in the old storage facility."
Sophia tried to remember.
There was an archive warehouse on the outskirts of the city.
A place she had barely visited since her mother passed away.
"If there really is something in there…" she said softly.
Ethan stood up.
"We'll find it today."
The archive warehouse stood in a quiet industrial area.
The building was old, with concrete walls starting to crack in several places.
Sophia got out of Ethan's car and stared at the building for a few seconds.
"It's been so long since I've been here."
Ethan stood beside her.
"Do you still have access?"
Sophia nodded.
She pulled out an old card from her wallet.
"Hope it still works."
The electronic door beeped softly when the card was touched.
A few seconds later…
click.
The door opened.
The air inside the warehouse felt cold and dusty.
Neon lights flickered on one by one as they entered.
Tall shelves full of archive boxes stood like rows of old soldiers long forgotten.
Daniel sighed.
"This is quite a big place."
Sophia walked slowly between the shelves.
"My mother's company kept almost all research records here."
Ethan looked at the labels on the boxes.
Years.
Departments.
Research projects.
They started searching.
The first hour passed with no results.
Only ordinary research reports.
Partnership proposals.
Administrative documents.
But then Sophia stopped at a shelf in the corner of the room.
She pulled out a box that looked older than the others.
A thin layer of dust swirled as she opened it.
Inside were several folders.
One of them read:
Project Helios.
Sophia frowned.
"I've never heard of this project."
Ethan approached.
"Open it."
Sophia slowly opened the folder.
Inside were highly detailed medical research reports.
Diagrams.
Test results.
And handwritten notes from her mother on several pages.
Daniel read quickly.
"This is… regenerative cell therapy technology."
Ethan narrowed his eyes.
"Technology that can permanently repair body tissues."
Daniel nodded.
"If successful, this could change the entire pharmaceutical industry."
Sophia swallowed hard.
"So this is what they wanted."
Ethan kept reading.
But one page made him stop.
There was a handwritten note from Sophia's mother there.
The writing looked hurried.
"Marcus is pushing too hard. I won't let Helix take this."
The room suddenly felt even colder.
Sophia read the sentence twice.
"Helix…"
She looked at Ethan.
"So my mother did know about the organization."
Ethan nodded slowly.
Daniel opened the next page.
There was another note.
Shorter.
Darker.
"If anything happens to me, don't let them complete this project."
Sophia covered her mouth.
"She knew…"
Her voice was barely audible.
"She knew something would happen."
Ethan felt anger rising in his chest.
Marcus.
Helix.
All the pieces were starting to fit together.
But Daniel suddenly said,
"There's something else."
He pointed to the last page.
There was a list of names there.
Investors.
Advisors.
And one name that made Ethan freeze.
Leonard Graves.
Sophia saw it too.
"Him again."
Daniel nodded.
"This name appears in almost every document related to Helix."
Ethan slowly closed the folder.
"Which means he's not just a founder."
His gaze turned sharp.
"He's also the one overseeing your mother's project."
Sophia felt her blood run cold.
"So Marcus isn't the only one involved."
Ethan nodded.
"Marcus is probably just one of the players."
Daniel leaned against the shelf.
"If that's the case, we're up against a much larger organization."
Sophia looked at the folder in her hands.
All of this was no longer just about business.
It was about something her mother had tried to protect until the end of her life.
"I want to know everything," she said softly.
Ethan looked at her.
"We'll find it all."
But before they could say more, footsteps suddenly sounded from the far end of the warehouse.
All three fell silent immediately.
Daniel whispered,
"We're not alone."
The steps grew closer.
Someone had just entered the warehouse.
Ethan signaled for Sophia to stand behind him.
The footsteps stopped a few meters away from them.
Then a man's voice sounded from behind the shelf.
Calm.
Cold.
"Interesting."
The man stepped out of the shadows.
An elderly man with neatly combed white hair and an expensive dark suit.
Sophia immediately recognized the face from the photos they had seen earlier.
Her heart beat fast.
Leonard Graves smiled faintly.
"I wondered when you would find this place."
Ethan stared at him sharply.
"So you've been following us."
Leonard shrugged lightly.
"No need to follow."
His gaze shifted to the folder in Sophia's hands.
"Because I knew you would come here sooner or later."
The room felt as if it had frozen over.
Sophia gripped the folder tighter.
"You knew my mother."
Leonard looked at her for a few seconds.
"I knew her very well."
His voice was calm.
But his words made the air feel heavier.
Ethan stepped forward.
"If you've come to stop us…"
Leonard smiled slightly.
"I didn't come to stop anything."
He looked at each of the three in turn.
"I came because the game has finally become interesting."
Sophia felt an even stronger sense of foreboding.
Because the man in front of them was not just part of her mother's past.
He might have been the one pulling all the strings from the very beginning.
And now.
he had finally emerged from the shadows.