Chapter 10

"I'll keep a hawk's eye out from now on!" the security guard vowed.

I spun around, intending to express my gratitude to the boy who'd come to my aid, but he'd vanished into thin air.

Days turned into weeks, and Anton was nowhere to be seen.

Then, one day, I heard through the guard that he'd been lurking around the school, only to be chased off. The school had even called his parents and issued an ultimatum: shape up or ship out.

They had to go over and had Anton under watch.

But despite their best efforts, he flunked out of more classes than he passed. By the time I graduated and attended our first alumni reunion, he was still stuck in the same grade.

I used the connections I'd forged, the ones I'd initially helped Anton with, to recruit top talent into my father's company.

Together, we turned that little enterprise into a powerhouse on the brink of going public. My mother's belongings found their way back to us, and for a moment, everything seemed to be falling into place.

But