(Sophia’s POV) The thick file lay open on my desk, the pages spread before me like scattered pieces of a puzzle I had been struggling to complete. The truth was staring back at me, dark and undeniable. My stepmother wasn’t just poisoning my father—she was ensuring that, by the time he took his last breath, she would already have control of his empire. And she wasn’t stopping there. A dull ache settled behind my eyes as I flipped through the documents again, my mind drifting back to the night I had sealed this dangerous bargain. --- **Midnight Lounge – Two Nights Ago** The dimly lit lounge hummed with quiet conversations, the kind that never made it into official records. The scent of whiskey and cigars clung to the air, a stark contrast to the sleek, polished atmosphere of Hidalgo Cor

