Chapter Fifteen
"Enemies and Allies"
The safe house was barely lit, the hum of old appliances buzzing in the silence between two men who had narrowly escaped death.
Kael sat on the edge of the worn couch, his shirt torn near the shoulder where the stitches throbbed beneath the fabric. Across from him, Elias stared at his laptop screen, jaw tight, the faint glow reflecting in his glasses.
"It's confirmed," Elias said, voice low and grim. "The guy who pulled the trigger was Moretti's. But that's not all. There was a second man… in a suit, earpiece, clean. Professional. Watched everything. Left seconds before the shot."
Kael's eyes narrowed. "A spotter."
"Not just that. Someone in a black SUV outside—government plates. One of the commissioner's security detail."
The room felt smaller suddenly, like the walls themselves had begun to listen.
Kael leaned back, fingers steepled beneath his chin. "They want me buried, not silenced. That means whatever I have… it's dangerous enough to scare them."
Elias nodded. "This isn't just Moretti. It's bigger. Deeper. If I'm right, half the people in charge of justice in this city are on that payroll."
Kael exhaled slowly, his jaw working. "Then we need to hit back harder."
"With what? You've got evidence, yeah, but no platform. No court will take this without blowing the whole damn system up. And that's assuming we live long enough to try."
"Which is why we need help."
Elias looked up sharply. "What kind of help?"
Kael didn't answer right away. He stood, walking to the window and peeking through the curtain into the empty night. Then he turned back.
"I'm thinking about Aurora."
Elias blinked. "You're what?"
"Not like that," Kael said quickly, though even he wasn't sure how true it was. "She has reach. Connections. She knows how the underworld works because she owns a piece of it. If anyone can move quietly through the rot without getting burned, it's her."
"You want to work with a mafia queen?"
"I want to use her."
Elias frowned, crossing his arms. "You really think someone like her gets used?"
"No," Kael admitted. "But I think she has her own reasons to want Moretti gone. And if we want to survive long enough to take this whole thing down… I don't see another way."
Elias was quiet for a long moment.
Then he shut the laptop with a soft click. "Then I need to disappear."
Kael turned, surprised.
"They've already sent a warning. I dig any deeper, I'm dead. But if I go dark—off-grid—it'll give me time to unearth the rest. Move silently. I'll be your eyes from the shadows."
Kael nodded slowly, understanding. "I'll draw the heat."
Elias hesitated, then added, "Be careful with her, Kael. Aurora might be the devil they warn you about, but she'll save your life with the same hand she uses to slit throats."
Kael's lips twitched, almost a smile. "That's what worries me."
**(Continued)
*"Terms of Survival"*
The bar was closed. Midnight shadows stretched across the leather booths and mirrored walls like memories that wouldn't fade.
Aurora sat alone in the back, dressed in black like sin itself, a low-cut blouse under a sleek tailored blazer, obsidian heels crossed beneath the table. She didn't drink — not when business was in play. But a crystal glass sat untouched in front of her, filled with amber promise.
Kael walked in ten minutes late, one hand still bandaged beneath the sleeve of his coat. His gait was steady despite the pain, and his stare locked on hers from the moment he entered.
No guards. No backup. Just the two of them.
"You're late," Aurora said.
"You're used to people rushing to see you?"
"I'm used to people not making me wait."
Kael slid into the seat across from her. "Then maybe it's time someone didn't play by your rules."
A glimmer of amusement flickered in her eyes — brief, deadly, like lightning behind storm glass. "Let's talk."
Kael pulled a flash drive from his pocket and placed it on the table between them.
"Everything I have. Names. Accounts. Photos. Conversations. If I die, this hits the news. If Elias dies, another copy goes to the DEA."
Aurora tilted her head, eyes gleaming like obsidian knives. "You came armed."
"I'm not here to play games."
"Good," she said smoothly. "Neither am I."
For a beat, silence hung heavy between them, charged with tension and something else — a heat neither wanted to name.
"I want Moretti," Kael said. "And the men protecting him."
Aurora's expression darkened, the name pulling something sharp from inside her.
"So do I," she murmured.
Kael studied her. "Why?"
Aurora leaned back, fingertips gliding along the edge of her glass. "Because he stole a deal from me worth twenty million dollars. Because he tried to kill you on my turf. Because he's gotten too bold — too reckless. That kind of man… burns the empire from the inside."
"So we have a common enemy."
"For now," she said softly. "But don't mistake alignment for loyalty, Kael. I'm not your savior. I'm a weapon."
Kael smirked. "Then let's aim you."
Her smile was slow, dangerous. "You don't flinch like most men do."
"I've been shot," he said. "Twice."
Aurora leaned forward, and for a moment the coldness in her eyes softened, just slightly. "You're still bleeding."
"I'll heal."
"If you don't die first."
They were quiet again. The tension between them sizzled — not just professional, but something electric and perilous. The kind of chemistry that ruins lives.
Finally, Aurora slid a burner phone across the table.
"You'll use this. I'll contact you through it. No calls. No texts unless it's me. We don't meet unless I say. You move when I move. You follow my rules."
Kael picked it up. "And in return?"
"I'll keep you alive. And I'll give you Moretti."
He stood, slipping the phone into his coat pocket.
"One more thing," Aurora said, her voice low and intimate. "If you betray me — even once — I won't hesitate."
Kael met her eyes.
"Neither will I."
Then he walked out, the door shutting behind him like a closing deal.
Aurora sat still for a long moment, staring at the place he'd just been. There was a look in her eyes that no one in her world had seen in years.
Not softness. Not affection.
Curiosity.
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