Irene had sworn she would never return to Silver City.

For five years, she’d built a new life in R Country, flying under the radar while raising her brilliant children. She’d had zero intention of ever setting foot in that glittering metropolis again, where the Sterling name still opened doors and crushed careers with equal ease.

But then the letter came.

Her grandfather’s personal secretary had written with shaky hands—the old Sterling patriarch’s health was failing. Three hospital stays in the past month alone. Doctors stumped. Her father John had followed up with a terse email demanding she return to formally cut ties with Richard, but it was her grandfather’s condition that finally tipped the scales.

She owed him everything. When the pregnancy scandal blew up five years ago, he alone had stood by her, arranging her escape to R Country and making sure she and the triplets wouldn’t go hungry. Now he needed her—not just as his granddaughter, but as the talented surgeon she’d become.

And so here she was, watching Silver City’s familiar skyline through the business class window, her reflection ghosting against the dark clouds below. A gentle tug at her sleeve pulled her back to reality. “Mom?” Alex, her eldest by seven minutes, peered at her with those cute eyes. His cherubic face, with dark curls and dimpled cheeks that had flight attendants fawning over him, masked the sharp intelligence behind his gaze. “Are you worried about Great-grandfather?”

Before she could answer, Lucas piped up from her other side, his small face dead serious. “The Silver City Chronicle says he’s been in and out of the hospital three times this month.”

“How did you—” Irene started, then shook her head with a dry smile. Of course. Her middle child’s knack for digging up whatever information he wanted had stopped surprising her long ago. “We’ve talked about hacking, kiddo.”

“It wasn’t hacking,” Lucas protested, the picture of innocence with wide eyes. “It was on their subscriber-only section.”

“Which you subscribed to?” Irene cocked an eyebrow.

A small throat-clearing from Lily, her daughter and youngest triplet, cut off what was clearly going to be a creative explanation from Lucas. “Mom, shouldn’t we go over what to say to Great-grandfather? We’ve never actually met him in person.”

Irene’s face softened. “Just remember what we practiced,” she said, smoothing Lily’s dark curls. “He’s old-school, but he’s got a good heart. Be yourselves—respectful, but natural.”

“We’ll make you proud, Mom,” Alex promised, squaring his tiny shoulders. At five, he already carried himself with a seriousness that sometimes broke her heart. All three of them had grown up too fast, too aware of where they stood in the world.

“You already do, baby. Every single day.” She touched each of their faces, marveling as always at how they’d gotten her dark hair.

“Mom?” Alex’s voice had turned hesitant. “Are we… are we staying in Silver City? After Great-grandfather?”

Irene picked her words carefully. “For now, yes. Great-grandfather needs medical help, and I want to be there for him.” As a top-notch surgeon—though only a handful of people knew her reputation—she knew she could help improve the old man’s condition.

And John… her father by blood only, who had kicked her to the curb five years ago without batting an eye.

In the first class cabin ahead, Thomas approached his boss’s seat with measured steps. The Haven Enterprise CEO sat reviewing documents on his tablet, his sharp profile highlighted by the cabin’s soft lighting. Dark hair fell casually across his forehead, framing upturned eyes that might have seemed almost delicate if not for their laser-like intensity.

“Sir, about the doctor…”

“No luck?” Adam Haven’s voice was quiet but carried an unmistakable weight of authority.

“No, Mr. Haven. The specialist seems to have completely vanished five years ago. We’ve checked every medical conference roster, every private clinic. It’s like they disappeared into thin air.”

Adam’s long fingers tapped once against the armrest—the only hint of his frustration. “Double the offer. Triple it if you have to.” As Thomas backed away, Adam turned to the window, his reflection showing features that had landed on countless magazine covers—the straight aristocratic nose, the well-defined lips, the distinctive phoenix-like eyes that could switch from smoldering to ice-cold in a heartbeat.

The plane tilted slightly, starting its descent into Silver City. And somewhere below, in a stately mansion on the city outskirts, an old man sat in his study, checking his watch and allowing himself a small, satisfied smile. The pieces were finally coming together