I should have walked away when the stranger offered me fifty thousand dollars. Instead, I asked him what I had to do.

That probably said more about my financial situation than I wanted to admit.

I was sitting alone in a small café on Westbridge Avenue, staring at the remains of a sandwich I couldn’t afford to replace, when the man approached my table. He was dressed too well for the place. Dark suit. Polished shoes. Silver watch. Everything about him screamed expensive.

He stopped beside my table and looked at me for several seconds without saying anything.

I looked behind me. There was nobody else sitting there.

“Can I help you?”

“Angel Reyes?”

My stomach tightened.

“Yes.”

He pulled out the chair opposite me and sat down without asking. I immediately became uncomfortable. Most people at least pretended to have manners before invading your personal space.

The stranger placed a thin black folder on the table.

“My name is Harvey Laurent.”

The name meant nothing to me. At least, it didn’t at first.

I looked at the folder. “Should I know you?”

“No.”

“Then why do you know me?”

His expression didn’t change.

“Because I was asked to find you.”

That answer raised more questions than it answered.

I pushed the folder back toward him. “Whatever this is, I’m not interested.”

“You haven’t heard the offer.”

“I don’t need to.”

“You might.”

I stared at him.

He opened the folder and removed a single sheet of paper. Then he slid it across the table.

Fifty thousand dollars.

My eyes stayed on the number. For a moment, I genuinely wondered if I had misunderstood it.

“Is that a joke?”

“No.”

I looked up.

Harvey Laurent watched me calmly.

“What do you want me to do?”

“I need you to work for my family.”

I almost laughed.

“Fifty thousand dollars to work for your family?”

“For a very specific assignment.”

I leaned back in my chair.

“What’s the assignment?”

He didn’t answer immediately. Instead, he took out his phone and placed it on the table. He turned the screen toward me.

There was a photograph.

A young man stood beside a black car, wearing a dark coat. His hair was slightly messy, and he had one hand in his pocket. He wasn’t smiling.

Even in a photograph, there was something intimidating about him. Something distant. Something familiar.

My fingers tightened around the edge of the table.

I didn’t know why.

“Who is that?”

“Prince Laurent.”

The name hit me harder than it should have.

Prince.

I stared at the photograph.

There was something about his face. The shape of his eyes. The slight tilt of his head. The way his mouth rested when he wasn’t smiling.

I had seen that face before.

I knew I had.

But I couldn’t remember where.

Harvey watched me carefully.

“You’ve never met him?”

I forced myself to look away from the phone.

“No.”

It was a lie.

I didn’t know how I knew it, but I knew it.

I had met him.

Somewhere.

Years ago.

But the memory was gone.

Or maybe it wasn’t gone.

Maybe it was buried so deeply that I couldn’t reach it.

Harvey took the phone back.

“My brother has recently returned to the city after several years away. He’s going to be taking over several responsibilities within the Laurent Group.”

“Congratulations to him.”

“He has a problem.”

I waited.

“He doesn’t remember you.”

My eyebrows pulled together.

“Why would he need to remember me?”

Harvey’s gaze hardened.

“He doesn’t.”

The answer was strange enough that I sat up straighter.

“What exactly are you asking me to do?”

“You’re going to work at the Laurent estate.”

“As what?”

“My brother’s personal assistant.”

I laughed.

This time, I couldn’t stop myself.

“You’re serious?”

“Yes.”

“You want me to become your brother’s assistant because he doesn’t remember me?”

Harvey’s expression remained unreadable.

“No. I want you there because you can get close to him without raising suspicion.”

I stared at him.

“Why me?”

“Because you don’t belong to our world.”

That sounded insulting.

“Thanks.”

“It wasn’t meant to be.”

“Still didn’t sound great.”

For the first time, something almost resembling amusement crossed his face. Then it disappeared.

“There are people around my brother who cannot be trusted. I need someone who won’t be intimidated by them.”

“And you think that’s me?”

“I think you’re desperate enough to take the job.”

The words landed hard.

I hated that he was right.

My mother’s medical bills had swallowed most of what I earned. My younger sister, Mia, was starting university in a few months, and I had promised her I’d help with tuition.

Our apartment rent was due in twelve days.

I had exactly one hundred and eighty-six dollars in my bank account.

Fifty thousand dollars wasn’t an offer.

It was an escape route.

Still, something about the whole thing felt wrong.

“What happens if I say no?”

“Nothing.”

“And if I say yes?”

“You receive ten thousand dollars immediately. The remaining forty thousand will be transferred after the assignment is completed.”

“How long?”

“Three months.”

I looked at the paper again.

Three months.

Fifty thousand dollars.

It was more money than I’d ever had in my account at one time.

I should have asked more questions.

I should have called someone.

I should have walked out.

Instead, I picked up the pen sitting beside the folder.

Harvey’s eyes followed the movement.

“There is one condition.”

My hand stopped.

“What condition?”

He leaned forward slightly.

“You must never tell Prince that you’ve met him before.”

My heart skipped.

I looked at him.

“I told you I’ve never met him.”

“I know what you told me.”

Something cold moved through my stomach.

Harvey lowered his voice.

“Whatever you remember, Angel, keep it to yourself.”

The café suddenly felt too quiet.

“What exactly am I supposed to remember?”

He stood.

“Our driver will pick you up tomorrow morning at eight.”

“I haven’t agreed yet.”

“You will.”

He walked away.

I watched him reach the door.

Then he stopped.

Without turning around, he said, “And Angel?”

I swallowed.

“Yes?”

“If Prince asks whether you’ve ever loved him, the answer is no.”

Then he left.

I sat there for several seconds.

My hand was still resting on the contract.

I looked down at the photograph again.

Prince Laurent.

I couldn’t explain why my chest hurt when I looked at him.

I couldn’t explain why his face felt familiar.

And I definitely couldn’t explain why one word kept repeating inside my head.

Prince.

I had heard that name before.

Not recently.

Not from anyone in the Laurent family.

Years ago.

A boy’s voice.

A summer afternoon.

A lake.

Someone laughing.

My own voice saying his name.

Prince.

I shut my eyes.

The memory disappeared before I could grab it.

“Damn it.”

I opened my eyes and stared at the contract.

Then I signed it.

By the time I got home, Mia was sitting on the kitchen counter eating cereal straight from the box.

She looked up when I walked in.

“You’re late.”

“I had somewhere to go.”

“Where?”

“Interview.”

She narrowed her eyes.

“You got another job?”

“Something like that.”

Mia jumped off the counter.

“Wait. Did you actually get it?”

I placed the folder on the kitchen table.

She opened it before I could stop her.

Her eyes widened.

“Angel.”

“I know.”

“Is this real?”

“Yes.”

She looked at the number again.

Then at me.

“Fifty thousand?”

“Apparently.”

“For three months?”

“Apparently.”

Mia slowly lowered the paper.

“Are you selling a kidney?”

I laughed.

“No.”

“Then what kind of job pays this much?”

I hesitated.

“Personal assistant.”

“To who?”

I thought about Harvey’s warning.

Then I remembered the photograph.

Prince Laurent.

I didn’t tell her.

“A rich family.”

Mia stared at me.

“That sounds suspicious.”

“It is.”

“And you’re still doing it?”

“Yes.”

She sighed.

“You always do this.”

“Do what?”

“Make decisions when you’re scared.”

I looked at her.

She wasn’t joking anymore.

“You don’t have to do this for me, you know.”

“I know.”

“You could say no.”

“I know.”

“Then why aren’t you?”

I looked down at my hands.

Because I needed the money.

Because I was tired of counting every dollar before buying groceries.

Because I wanted Mia to have a chance at the future she’d been working toward.

But there was another reason.

One I couldn’t explain.

I kept thinking about that photograph.

About the strange ache in my chest.

About a boy I couldn’t remember.

“I just have a feeling,” I said quietly.

Mia frowned.

“A feeling about what?”

I shook my head.

“Nothing.”

That night, I couldn’t sleep.

Rain tapped against my bedroom window while I stared at the ceiling.

At two seventeen in the morning, I finally reached for my phone.

I searched his name.

Prince Laurent.

The internet gave me thousands of results.

Heir to Laurent Group.

Twenty-four years old.

Returned to the city after years abroad.

Private.

Wealthy.

Untouchable.

There were photographs from charity events, business dinners and magazine articles.

I scrolled through them.

Every picture made the strange feeling inside me worse.

Then I found an older photograph.

It wasn’t professionally taken.

Prince was younger.

Much younger.

Maybe seventeen.

He was standing beside a lake.

And beside him was another boy.

I froze.

The photograph was blurry, but I knew the boy standing beside Prince.

It was me.

My breathing stopped.

I zoomed in.

There was no doubt.

It was my face.

My younger face.

I dropped the phone onto the bed.

For several seconds, I couldn’t move.

Then I picked it up again.

The photograph had been posted years ago on an abandoned social media account.

The caption was only three words.

Summer. You. Me.

I stared at it until my eyes began to burn.

I didn’t remember that summer.

I didn’t remember the photograph.

I didn’t remember Prince.

But someone had taken a picture of us.

Someone had known us.

Someone had known exactly what we were to each other.

And suddenly, Harvey’s words came back to me.

“If Prince asks whether you’ve ever loved him, the answer is no.”

My phone vibrated.

A new message.

Unknown number.

I opened it.

There was only one sentence.

“You should not have accepted the job, Angel.”

My blood ran cold.

Another message arrived.

“Because Prince Laurent was never supposed to see you again.”