Shards of Vengeance, Threads of Love.
Chapter 2
– Name in the Headlines
**Bo Consortium Headquarters – Monday, 8:06 A.M.**
The boardroom buzzed with low voices until a sudden hush fell. Ethan Bo stood at the head of a glass conference table, dark eyes scanning quarterly reports projected on the translucent screen.
“Revenue from the Southeast division?” he asked.
“Up four percent,” said Mr. Lin, his CFO. “But there's—”
A junior assistant burst through the doors, face pale. “Sir, you need to see this.”
Ethan raised an eyebrow. “I’m in a meeting.”
The assistant didn’t blink. “It’s urgent. GemWorld Expo press preview.”
He tapped his tablet. The wall display shifted.
**"Prison-Forged Jewels Stun Industry—Designer 'Sophie Z' Unveils Rebirth Collection"**
Ethan’s heart skipped.
The photo loaded: a woman draped in matte black, standing beneath mirrored arches, her chin high, mouth unsmiling. Around her throat: steel twisted into grace.
Sophie.
Impossible.
“That can’t be...” he whispered.
“Should I—” the assistant began.
“Leave it,” Ethan cut in. “Everyone out.”
“But Mr. Bo—”
“I said out.”
Chairs scraped the floor. Doors hissed shut. Silence stretched.
He stared at the image, fingers curled into fists.
Six years. She was supposed to be gone. Done. Forgotten.
> “She confessed,” he’d said to the jury.
> “She killed Lorelei’s child.”
And now she stood in the city’s biggest jewelry expo wearing prison steel like a crown.
**“Sophie Z,”** the headline repeated.
He tapped a command.
“Get me everything,” he growled. “LLCs, suppliers, bank accounts. I want her mapped by lunch.”
**SYSTEM NOTICE: Hate Level increased to 13%.**
---
**GemWorld Expo – 10:45 A.M.**
Sophie paced the exhibit floor, examining every angle of the display.
“Raise the obsidian panel by three centimeters,” she instructed. “I want visitors to see their own eyes as they pass.”
Her assistant Xiao Mei adjusted the mount. “You think he’ll come?”
“He’ll come,” Sophie said.
“How do you know?”
“Because he needs control. And I just slipped out of his hands.”
A buzz from her earpiece. “Press arriving in twenty.”
She turned to Leo, seated on a velvet bench behind the display.
“You okay?”
Leo nodded, swinging his legs. “Do I have to talk to anyone?”
“No. Just look mysterious.”
“I can do that.”
He gave a solemn, wide-eyed stare.
Sophie chuckled. “Perfect.”
A journalist approached with a camera crew. “Ms. Zhi! A quick question?”
She faced the camera calmly.
“Your debut line is called ‘Rebirth from Ashes.’ What inspired it?”
Sophie lifted her chin. “True value survives any furnace.”
Flashbulbs exploded.
A ripple of murmurs spread through the room. Reporters typed feverishly.
---
**Bo Tower – Surveillance Office**
Ethan watched the live stream from three different angles. He leaned in as her face filled the screen.
“She looks the same,” murmured his assistant.
“No,” Ethan said. “She looks stronger.”
He stood abruptly.
“Cancel the noon board meeting. I’m going down there.”
“Sir?”
“I want to see her face when I ask why she’s not dead.”
---
**GemWorld Expo – 11:36 A.M.**
Sophie stood at the heart of the exhibit, surrounded by clicking cameras and murmuring VIPs.
Then she felt it.
A shift in the air. A weight.
She didn’t turn.
He walked slowly, suit pristine, presence magnetic and oppressive.
Ethan.
They hadn’t been in the same room for six years.
He stopped across from her.
“Sophie.”
She met his eyes. Cold. Measured.
“Mr. Bo,” she replied evenly.
His gaze raked over her—bruises gone, eyes sharper, posture proud.
“This your idea of therapy?” he asked. “Turning your cell into an art piece?”
“Art reflects its maker,” she said.
A pause. Then, “Why now?”
“I owed someone a comeback.”
He narrowed his eyes. “What do you want?”
She didn’t blink.
“I want survivors to be seen. And executioners to be exposed.”
His jaw twitched.
Reporters swarmed.
“Mr. Bo, is Bo Consortium backing Ms. Z’s new line?”
Ethan opened his mouth.
Sophie spoke first. “I design for survivors. Not executioners.”
The crowd gasped.
Ethan’s eyes burned.
**SYSTEM NOTICE: Hate Level increased to 23%.**
He stepped closer, voice low. “You’re playing a dangerous game.”
“Careful,” Sophie said. “You’re the one who taught me the rules.”
She turned her back on him, walking toward Leo.
The boy looked up and smiled. “Mommy.”
The word echoed.
Ethan froze.
The child.
He stared. The boy’s face—his own eyes. That same crooked smile.
“Who is he?” he whispered.
Sophie didn’t answer.
She picked Leo up and walked away.
Ethan stood amid the clicking cameras, staring after them as if the world had shifted beneath his feet.
---
**Bo Tower – That Evening**
Ethan slammed a file onto his desk.
“Juvenile records sealed. Offshore LLCs. No parental records. No death certificate for the supposed father.”
His assistant spoke cautiously. “Should we pursue custody investigation?”
He didn’t answer.
He replayed the footage. The boy again. Laughing quietly. Eyes glittering.
Leo.
“Find out everything,” Ethan murmured. “And prepare DNA testing.”
The assistant hesitated. “Without permission?”
“Just do it.”
Outside, thunder rolled over the city. Rain drummed against the glass.
Ethan pressed play again. This time, he paused at Leo’s smile.
Something cracked in his chest.
He shoved it down.
---
**SYSTEM NOTICE: Hate Level remains at 23%. Warning: target demonstrating emotional conflict. Recommend accelerated provocation.**
Sophie lay awake in her obsidian apartment, staring at the ceiling as Leo slept beside her.
“You saw him,” the System whispered. “How did it feel?”
Like standing on the edge of a cliff, she thought. With fire behind you, and ice below.
“I don’t care,” she whispered.
**LIE DETECTED. Pulse elevated.**
“I have a goal. He’s just the means.”
**OBJECTIVE STATUS: ACCEPTED. WARNING—NEURAL STRAIN DETECTED. ADRENAL CORTISOL RISING.**
She pressed her fingers to her eyes.
“This is war,” she murmured. “And I’m not losing again.”
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