My Ex-Girlfriend’s Older Sister Got Stood Up At An Art Gallery… So I Asked, “Can I Sit with You ?
Chapter 9
The transfer created chaos.
Lawyers.
Shareholders.
News cameras.
Everyone wanted to know why Amelia and I had suddenly become controlling owners of Carter-Harrison Holdings.
Neither of us cared.
The investigation mattered more.
Victor confessed.
Lucas cooperated.
Clara testified.
The full financial network was exposed.
Millions were recovered.
But something else happened.
People started asking about Sophie.
She had been involved indirectly.
She had helped me.
She had helped Amelia.
But she was still carrying guilt.
One evening, she asked to speak to me alone.
“I’m sorry.”
I looked at her.
“For what?”
“For leaving.”
“You were protecting me.”
“I was seventeen.”
“You were doing what your father told you.”
“My father wasn’t the one who told me.”
I frowned.
“Who?”
Sophie cried.
“My mother.”
I stared.
Clara had ordered her to leave.
Why?
“She believed Victor would target you.”
“But she knew the truth.”
“She knew enough.”
Sophie paused.
“There’s something else.”
“What?”
“Amelia knew too.”
I looked at her.
“She did?”
“She had been trying to find you for years.”
That surprised me.
“Why?”
Sophie smiled sadly.
“Because she knew you were the one person Dad trusted.”
I thought about the gallery.
Her standing alone.
Me asking if I could sit with her.
Maybe fate wasn’t involved.
Maybe our families had been moving us toward each other for years.
After Sophie left, Amelia found me outside.
“You okay?”
“Your sister told me something.”
She frowned.
“What?”
“She said you’ve been looking for me.”
Amelia looked embarrassed.
“Not exactly.”
“What then?”
She shrugged.
“I wanted to know what kind of man you became.”
“Why?”
She took a breath.
“Because I remembered you.”
I smiled.
“I remembered you too.”
“When?”
“Long before the gallery.”
She looked at me.
“I thought you were just Sophie’s boyfriend.”
“Maybe I was.”
“And now?”
I stepped closer.
“Now you’re the woman I want to know.”
Her eyes softened.
“That’s dangerous.”
“I know.”
She laughed.
Then she looked serious.
“Daniel, I don’t want to be your second choice.”
“You’re not.”
“My sister.”
I shook my head.
“Sophie was my past.”
“What am I?”
I looked at her.
“My future.”
She went quiet.
Then smiled.
“For someone who works security, you have terrible timing.”
“Why?”
She pointed toward the hotel entrance.
“Because my family is inside.”
I laughed.
“Right.”
We walked inside.
Dinner was awkward.
Sophie was quiet.
Clara kept smiling.
Then Ethan arrived.
He looked at Amelia.
Then at me.
“Finally.”
I frowned.
“What?”
He laughed.
“You’re the only two people who didn’t know.”
