“Are you listening, Ms. Miller?” Arthur snapped. Sophie felt the air leave her lungs. “I… I’m sorry,” she stammered. Arthur noticed her gaze, and his face hardened. “That photo… may I ask who she is?” Arthur went silent, his voice fractured. “It’s personal. It’s not important. You may leave.”
Sophie spent the rest of the day on autopilot. When she reached her modest house in Oakland, she found her mother, Isabel, in the kitchen. “How was it, honey?” Isabel asked.
“Mom… Mr. Sterling has a photo of me on his desk. The sunflower one.” The teacup in Isabel’s hand shattered on the floor. Her face went white. “What did you say?”
“It’s the same photo, Mom.” Isabel slumped into a chair and went to her room, pulling a small metal box from under the bed. Inside were yellowed letters, a lock of hair, and an identical photograph.
“There is something I never told you about your father, Sophie,” Isabel said. “Your father didn’t die. Your father is Arthur Sterling.”
The silence was deafening. “My boss?” Sophie cried. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because Arthur Sterling took everything from me, except you,” Isabel replied. She explained that twenty-six years ago, she was a maid in the Sterling estate. Arthur had just entered an arranged marriage with Victoria Montero, a socialite. Arthur and Isabel had fallen in love in secret. “He promised we would be a family,” Isabel whispered. “He even took that sunflower photo. But when Victoria found out, she gave him an ultimatum: his career and reputation, or us. He chose his career.”
Isabel explained that Arthur had given her money to disappear. She never told him she was pregnant, but later sent letters and photos—letters that were never answered.
Sophie decided to stay at the firm, driven by a mix of resentment and a need for the truth. However, Victoria Sterling sensed a threat. She began sabotaging Sophie’s work—deleting files to get her fired. Arthur, however, recognized the sabotage. “I know my wife,” he told Sophie. “And I know excellence. You aren’t responsible for these errors.”
The tension peaked when Victoria discovered Sophie’s identity. She stormed into Arthur’s office. “She’s an opportunist! Just like her mother!” Sophie stood her ground. “I’m not here for money. I’m here because you stole twenty-six years of my life.”