The knock on the door came at exactly noon.
Maria stood in front of the mirror, smoothing the front of her cream blouse. She looked calm. In control. But inside, her nerves buzzed like a lit fuse.
This wasn't just a conversation.
It was a confrontation wrapped in civility.
She opened the door.
Ian Ross stood tall in the doorway, dressed down for once in a gray sweater and slacks, no tie, no jacket. His hair slightly tousled. His eyes sharp as ever.
"Maria," he said.
"Ian." She stepped aside. "Come in."
He entered without hesitation, his gaze sweeping the room as if scanning for secrets. Maybe he should.
She led him to the living room. Tea was already prepared on the table, untouched. Neither of them reached for it.
Ian stood instead of sitting, folding his arms. "You've been avoiding me."
Maria leaned against the arm of the sofa. "Or maybe I've just been thinking."
"About what?"
She tilted her head. "Milan."
That caught his attention. His brow furrowed. "Why?"
"I had a conversation with someone recently," she said, "about that trip. About Dana's presence. You didn't expect her, did you?"
He narrowed his eyes. "No. I didn't."
"She told me you invited her."
"I didn't."
Maria held his gaze. "Then why didn't you ever correct me when I asked? Back then, I was devastated. You let me believe the worst."
"I assumed you already had," Ian said simply. "You pulled away. And frankly, I was too exhausted to chase a ghost."
Maria blinked. She hadn't expected that level of honesty.
"You really didn't sleep with her?"
"No." His voice was flat. Final. "She showed up at my hotel suite uninvited. Tried to convince me we had a 'connection.' I told her to leave."
Maria stared at him, trying to find any hint of a lie.
There was none.
Then it hit her.
She had wasted so much time hating the wrong person.
---
"Why didn't you ever tell me what she did?" Maria asked, softer now. "Why let her twist everything?"
Ian's jaw flexed. "Because I thought you trusted her more than you trusted me. And maybe… I wasn't sure I deserved your trust either."
Maria sat slowly.
"What do you mean?"
Ian didn't look at her as he said, "I've done a lot of things for Ross Global. Some questionable. Some necessary. But I never meant to hurt you, Maria. Not until I realized I already had."
She searched his face.
This wasn't the man who stood beside Dana at the end of her last life, calm and detached while she died.
Or maybe… he wasn't calm.
Maybe she had misunderstood even that.
"What happened to us?" she asked, mostly to herself.
"You stopped believing in me," he said quietly. "And I stopped trying to prove you wrong."
---
There was a long silence.
Then Maria rose, walked to the table, and pulled a small silver USB from her purse. She set it down between them.
"What's that?" Ian asked.
"Proof. Of what Dana's been doing. To me. To you. To both our families."
He stared at it.
"I broke into her study," Maria added. "And found files—emails, contracts, even voice recordings. She's been embezzling from my father's company and using Ross Global to cover the trail."
Ian didn't react for a full five seconds.
Then: "Play it."
Maria grabbed her laptop, slid the drive in, and opened the folder.
She played the recording from Milan.
Dana's voice filled the room.
> "He'll be alone. I'll intercept in Milan. If he resists, we move to Phase Two. Either way, I'll make sure she believes it's him."
Ian's face hardened with every word.
Then the second voice came through.
The male voice.
Still distorted. Still unidentified.
"Who is that?" Maria asked.
"I don't know," Ian said coldly. "But I'm going to find out."
He paced for a moment, hands clenched into fists.
"She's been undermining both of us," Maria said. "All while smiling like the perfect friend."
"She's going to burn for this," Ian muttered.
Maria stood. "No. Not yet."
He looked at her, surprised.
"I need her to think she's still winning," Maria said. "If we expose her too early, she'll disappear before we get the rest of the evidence. I want everything—every deal she twisted, every lie she told, every person she paid off."
Ian studied her for a long moment. "You really have changed."
She didn't flinch. "You helped build me into someone cold, Ian. Dana finished the job."
A beat of silence. Then, surprisingly, Ian's lips curved into the faintest smirk.
"I think I like this version of you."
Maria arched a brow. "You like a woman who knows how to fight?"
"I like a woman who doesn't pretend anymore."
They were closer now—unintentionally. Inches apart. For a split second, Maria remembered the warmth of his hands, the way he used to look at her when he thought she wasn't watching.
And she remembered something else too.
The moment before her death—the hesitation in his eyes.
Maybe it wasn't guilt.
Maybe it was horror.
She stepped back. "We're not allies yet, Ian. I still don't trust you completely."
"Fair enough." He moved toward the door. "But you're wrong about one thing."
"What's that?"
"You said you already died once. That means this is your second chance."
He opened the door, paused, and added without turning around:
"Let's not waste it."
---
Later that night, Maria sat alone with her laptop, reviewing every document from the USB again.
Names, accounts, passwords, transfer dates.
She made a new list—people Dana worked with. Associates. Contacts.
And one name stood out.
Victor Renn.
She didn't know him, but his name appeared on three offshore transfers and one email labeled PHASE TWO.
She searched her father's business records, then Ross Global's subsidiaries.
Victor Renn didn't appear in either.
But he did show up in one other place:
A private security agency.
One rumored to offer... permanent solutions.
Maria stared at his name for a long time, her fingers slowly curling into fists.
Maybe Dana hadn't pulled the trigger.
Maybe she'd hired someone else to do it.
And that someone might still be watching.