Guarded Desires

e hadn't visited in years. She pressed her back against the cold marble of the kitchen floor, still reeling from the bullet that

porate boardrooms or fear her competitive ruthlessness. No, once upon a time, she was just the girl from a small, forgotten town in

urney to power was forged in hardship, ambition, and an

eart of town. Her mother, Karen, worked as a nurse at the local clinic. They were good people-kind, hardworking, and deeply rooted in the

Amelia knew she di

father's conversations with customers to the subtle shifts in her mother's tired expressions after a long shift. She understood s

t in the bright, curious girl who seemed to live between the shelves. Amelia consumed biographies of great leaders, scientists, and entrepreneurs, learning their stories, und

bition cam

ife with his hands, believing in the simple values of hard work and loyalty to the community. He expected Amelia to eventua

worked for, while Amelia saw his narrow expectations as a prison she needed to break free from. Karen, ever the peacemaker,

ged the day her

nteen, on the cusp of leaving for college, when the diagnosis came. For a while, she considered staying. The thought of

d one night, her voice weak but filled with conviction. "Don

er studies at MIT, majoring in computer engineering. It was there, surrounded by brilliant minds and cutting-edge technology, that Am

st. The ghost of her father's disapproval, the weight of her mother's absence, the suffocating ex

of joining the ranks of Silicon Valley's elite, she decided to forge her own path. She took every penny she had-some of it fro

ut Amelia was relentless. She worked long hours, barely slept, and outmaneuvered every obstacle that came her way. When her first product-

ech world. Her name appeared in Forbes, Wired, and every other major publication that followed the rise of powerful women in tech

d her. Not until the l

ees trying to get under her skin. But as the threats became more specific, more personal, she r

penthouse, hiding from a sniper's bullet, A

e and now. Luke was already moving, his body poised to act, every muscle tense. H

voice cutting through the haze. "Y

er past-the one she had spent her entire lif

going to let h