I didn't tell Nora.
Not yet.
Some secrets need silence before explanation.
The photo stayed in my bag as I drove to the meeting location the message gave me.
A quiet café.
Normal.
Too normal.
Which made it suspicious.
I walked in slowly.
Every instinct alert.
Then I saw her.
She looked up like she already knew my face.
"You look exactly like him," she said softly.
My chest tightened.
"You knew my father?"
A small sad smile crossed her face.
"I loved him."
The words hit harder than any business threat I had ever faced.
Loved?
Not worked with.
Not partnered.
Loved.
I sat down slowly.
"Who are you?"
She hesitated like the answer carried weight.
"My name is Elara."
Silence.
Then she added the sentence that changed everything:
"I'm the reason your father made his final decision."
My heartbeat slowed.
"What decision?"
Her eyes filled with something between regret and truth.
"The decision that destroyed his future… to protect yours."
And just like that…
Book Two truly began.
I studied her carefully.
She didn't look like a liar.
She looked like someone carrying years of quiet pain.
"My father never mentioned you."
"I know."
"Why?"
"Because loving me complicated his world."
That answer didn't satisfy me.
"What does that mean?"
She took a slow breath.
"Your father was offered something once."
I remembered Victor saying something similar.
"The highest level of power," I said.
She nodded.
"Yes."
"And you stopped him?"
Her eyes lowered slightly.
"I made him choose."
Silence.
"Between what?" I asked.
She looked straight at me.
"Absolute power…"
Pause.
"…or a normal life with someone he loved."
My hands slowly tightened.
"And he chose?"
Her answer came quietly.
"You."
That didn't make sense.
"I was a child."
"Yes," she said softly.
"And you were his real choice."
For the first time I felt something unexpected.
Not confusion.
Not anger.
But the heavy realization that maybe my father sacrificed more than I ever knew.