Breakfast at the Lin estate was a formal affair—silent servants, silver cutlery, and more food than any normal household could consume in a week.
Isabella arrived exactly on time, dressed in a simple yet elegant outfit chosen from the absurdly large wardrobe prepared for her. She didn't come to impress. She came to observe.
And she was well aware every eye in the room was already on her.
Her biological brothers—Alexander, Jonathan, Sebastian, Nicholas, and Felix—sat at the long dining table alongside Edward and Clarissa. Everyone stood as she entered, unsure whether to smile or remain formal.
Clarissa was the first to speak, her voice soft with caution. "Good morning, sweetheart. Did you sleep well?"
"Yes," Isabella answered coolly, settling at the far end of the table.
An awkward pause followed.
Jonathan cleared his throat. "If you'd like to explore the house today, I can give you a tour. Maybe Felix could join."
Felix looked up, surprised. "Yeah, I could—"
"No need," Isabella said, slicing into a piece of fruit with elegant precision. "I memorize layouts quickly."
Sebastian blinked. "You… memorize?"
"I already know where everything is."
That shut everyone up.
Clarissa offered a soft laugh to ease the tension. "She's always been bright."
Edward looked at his daughter more closely now, studying her posture, the way she barely engaged, the unreadable calm in her gaze. There was something polished about her—too polished.
This wasn't just a quiet girl.
She was trained.
But by who?
And why?
Felix, the most expressive of the brothers, tried again. "What do you like to do? Hobbies?"
"Reading."
"That's all?"
"I also enjoy winning."
Jonathan blinked. "At what?"
Isabella's eyes glinted, just a little. "Everything."
The brothers exchanged looks. Edward smiled faintly. Clarissa swallowed a nervous breath.
Clearly, she hadn't come here to be rescued.
She had come to be left alone.
Elsewhere in the city, Victor leaned against the glass wall of his penthouse office, overlooking the skyline with narrowed eyes. Markus stood beside him with a digital tablet.
"Still nothing," Markus said. "The girl who saved your grandmother—there's no trace of her in hospital staff logs, security footage, or even medical records. It's like she doesn't exist."
Victor's jaw clenched. "She exists. Find her."
"We're trying. It's like she's scrubbed herself clean."
Victor thought back to her face. Her eyes. That composure.
He knew people who were calm in a crisis. He was one of them.
But she? She had looked like she'd done this a hundred times before.
And her name—Isabella. Just that. No last name.
He opened his phone. His conversation with SkyeEcho was still there.
She had said she'd saved someone.
He typed.
[AshenWolf]: "You mentioned helping someone recently. Where?"
The typing bubbles appeared.
Then stopped.
Then reappeared.
[SkyeEcho]: "Does it matter?"
Victor stared at the screen.
Yes. It mattered more than she knew.
Back at the Lin estate, Isabella returned to her room after breakfast, her appetite untouched.
She sat at the window bench, the morning sun washing her face in gold.
Her phone buzzed again.
[AshenWolf]: "You're very hard to forget, you know."
Isabella's fingers hovered over the keys.
Then she replied.
[SkyeEcho]: "You don't even know me."
[AshenWolf]: "Not yet."
Isabella leaned her head back against the glass, a strange weight curling around her chest.
Neither of them knew just how close they already were.
Next Chapter Teaser: Felix grows increasingly curious about his sister's past, while Victor begins connecting dots that lead him toward Isabella. But a formal introduction is coming—and no one is ready for what it will expose…