Sawyer’s eyes cracked open, thick with the weight of interrupted sleep. He scowled, straightening. "What?"
Henry rushed forward, shoving a file into his hands. "I took Ms. Olivia’s hair from her home and had it tested, like you asked. This is the report."
Sawyer’s gaze darkened as he flipped through the pages. His fingers clenched around the paper, his breath turning shallow.
"She isn’t Olivia," he murmured, his voice almost hollow.
Henry nodded quickly. "She isn’t. The suspicions were right all along. A person can’t just change that much—it never made sense. But now it does." He hesitated, then added, "Mr. Stark… I think the real Miss Olivia died in that fire three years ago. And the woman pretending to be her? She’s Olivia’s friend. Kelly Jones. The one who had a mad crush on you."
Sawyer’s grip on the file trembled. He planted his hands on the desk, grounding himself as the weight of the revelation hit him like a brick wall.
He had loved Olivia his entire life. Couldn’t imagine a world without her. And now—someone else had stolen her face, her name, and had been living right under his nose, pretending.
Fury coiled inside him like a viper. Grief and rage intertwined, making his chest tighten painfully.
"Are you sure she’s Kelly?" Sawyer’s voice was dangerously low, his jaw locked. "Do you have proof?"
"We don’t have solid proof yet," Henry admitted. "Kelly disappeared the same day as the fire. No one’s seen her since. She was an orphan—no family to trace. But if we can find anything from three years ago that belonged to Kelly, we can match her DNA with the woman claiming to be Olivia."
Sawyer’s fists clenched. "Then get to it. Don’t waste a second. Dig her damn DNA out of the ground if you have to." His voice grew colder. "And once we prove it, I’ll show her what it means to disappear. Since she loves fake identities so much, let’s see how long she enjoys them."
His hands were shaking with rage.
"Why the hell would she do this?" He ran a hand through his hair, chest heaving. "She changed her entire identity over a damn crush? Got her whole damn face reconstructed just because she was in love with me?"
"It might not have been just about you, Mr. Stark," Henry muttered. His brows furrowed. "Ms. Olivia was a wealthy heiress. She came from a powerful family. Kelly was an orphan who had nothing. Replacing Olivia might not have been a sudden decision. She could have planned this for a long time."
Sawyer’s blood ran cold. "You think this wasn’t a coincidence? That she didn’t just take Olivia’s place because the opportunity was there?" His mind whirred. "Look into it. Find out if that fire was really an accident. Or if Kelly planned that too."
Henry nodded and hurried out.
Sawyer stood there, the rage bleeding into something deeper. A crushing, suffocating weight settled on his chest. He clutched at it, struggling to breathe. His vision blurred.
He had known something was wrong from the moment Olivia came out of surgery. The way she spoke. The way she moved. The way touching her felt… off.
But he hadn’t listened to that feeling.
And now, it was too late.
He reached for his wallet with trembling hands, pulling out an old, worn-out photograph. It was of him and Olivia when they were kids. It had been her favorite picture.
"In this, you look so much in love with me," she used to say.
Now, there was nothing left of her to love.
***
"Ellie, get over here!" Jeremy shouted across the hall.
Ellie rushed toward him, slightly out of breath. Since she was short on money for Uncle Tony’s hospital bills, Jeremy had asked her to come over. He had a shoot at an event venue for a week and managed to secure a spot for her.
“She’s the girl,” Jeremy introduced Ellie to an older woman. “She’s incredible. My last Victoria’s Secret show—she helped pull it off. You saw the clip I sent, right?”
“I did.” The woman nodded. “She looks good. I’ll take her in for the day.”
“Great. I owe you one.” Jeremy grinned before turning to Ellie. “I gotta run. My walk’s in half an hour, and everyone’s probably losing their minds backstage. See you later.”
“Good luck.” Ellie smiled. “And thanks for the help. Really.”