“That’s just it, A-Xiao.” She stood, so suddenly that Xiaokai instinctively took a step back. But she didn’t move toward him—didn’t move at all from where she stood behind her desk. “You weren’t a disappointment. You never were. You were the child we were waiting for. When Xingyu was born, Bai Xue encouraged me to try again as soon as possible to see if I could have a daughter instead. It took several years—we were having problems—but Bai Xue told me to try again and again, as many times as it took. He needed me to have an heir because he wanted me to be his heir.”

Xiaokai went very still.

He’d never been one for showing vulnerability. Even as a child, it seemed ingrained in him to suppress any of his fear; in front of Sun Yue, he always put on this expression that seemed far beyond his years, determined not to let her or anyone else see how nervous or upset he was. But now, sitting in front of her with the exhaustion from his appointment already blatantly obvious, she could see that vulnerability that she hadn’t seen in so long creep into his eyes until it was all she could see.

“His heir?” His voice sounded strained. “You mean—”

“Yes. He wanted me to be in charge of the List when he stepped down. But then you were born and, like I said, he was furious. But I was able to talk him down, convince him that I could train you just like I would train a daughter, just like you were supposed to be trained. And I think something clicked with him then—he could have an heir who had the same training and capabilities that I did, but he didn’t have to worry about them getting pregnant, getting distracted, getting attached to their children like I did.”

Xiaokai blinked a few times, and then understanding dawned—his mouth dropped open.

“You wanted so badly to be Liu Baiyan’s heir, but you were never going to inherit Liu Incorporated. You were already Bai Xue’s heir,” Sun Yue said, and Xiaokai’s hands gripped at the arms of his chair like a lifeline. “You always have been.”

THE BOARD DELIVERED their decision on Wednesday, two days after Liu Xiaokai’s appointment with Bai Xue. Two days after his meeting with Sun Yue. Xingyu was summoned early in the morning to appear before the board of executives, and was gone for long enough that Xiaokai and Weiran woke up to an otherwise empty house. At noon, he returned with the job.

At this news, Sun Yue silently passed Xiaokai a portable hard drive and then got ready for work as usual.

“What next?” Weiran asked.

“Next,” Xiaokai said, “we go through the Files.”