"The truth was never meant to be simple. It was buried beneath layers of lies, betrayal, and blood."
The warehouse stank of mildew and rusted metal, lit only by the jittery glow of a single overhead bulb swinging like a noose. Elena's breath came in shallow gasps, her wrists bound tightly behind her back, the coarse rope biting into her skin.
Across from her stood the last person she expected to see.
Ava.
Not on a screen. Not through the comms. But flesh and blood, eyes glittering with something colder than betrayal.
"You're supposed to be dead," Elena rasped.
Ava smiled—not with joy, but calculation. "You're not the only one who can fake a signal cut."
"You helped me break into Vale Tower. You gave me the code to Nicholas's private lab—"
"To see how far you'd get," Ava said coolly, arms folded. "We needed to know what you'd do with the breadcrumbs."
Elena stared at her. "Who's 'we'?"
Before Ava could answer, a second figure stepped into the light.
Nicholas Vale.
But he wasn't in a suit now—just a black thermal shirt dusted with dirt, sleeves rolled up, a fresh cut above his brow.
"I should've known you'd follow the trap all the way here," he said, his voice low.
"Trap?" Elena spat. "You lured me with promises. You made me think you were different."
Nicholas's eyes didn't waver. "Because I am. But you're asking the wrong questions."
She wanted to scream, to curse at him, to demand he untie her and explain everything—but then Ava stepped forward, holding a slim black folder.
"She deserves to see it," she said, tossing it onto the table.
Nicholas hesitated, then nodded.
Ava opened it. Inside: surveillance photos, medical reports, timestamps, and a photo—Kate Carter. Pale. Eyes sunken. Wearing a white hospital gown in what looked like a private underground facility.
"No," Elena whispered, staggering forward as if gravity had betrayed her. "She's alive?"
"She was," Nicholas said darkly. "Until someone ordered her moved. Someone who didn't want her story getting out."
Elena looked up. "Who?"
Nicholas's jaw tightened. "My father."
Silence dropped like a guillotine.
"Your father's dead," Elena said slowly.
Nicholas shook his head. "That's what I was told. What the world was told. But he's alive—hiding, running the black division of Vale Technologies from the shadows. The one Kate discovered. The one she tried to expose."
Ava crossed her arms. "We found her. She was being held in a medical stasis chamber. But before we could extract her, she vanished again. Only this time... she left a message."
Ava pulled out a small recorder and hit play.
It was Kate's voice.
"If you're hearing this, it means I failed. Or they found me. Either way, trust no one—especially not Nicholas. He has no idea what his family really built... or what they've done in his name."
The recorder clicked off.
Elena stared at Nicholas like seeing him for the first time.
"You didn't know?" she whispered.
His silence was confirmation enough.
Then, somewhere outside the warehouse, tires crunched gravel.
Ava's eyes narrowed. "We have company."
Nicholas snapped into motion. "Go through the back. Elena, come with me."
"I'm not going anywhere until I understand what the hell is going on."
"There's no time!" Nicholas growled. "The people coming aren't here to talk."
Ava handed Elena a flash drive. "It's all here. Kate's research. Her journal. Everything she found before she disappeared again."
Suddenly, the warehouse lights went out. A red laser sight appeared on Nicholas's chest.
"DOWN!" he yelled, tackling Elena just as gunfire erupted.
Wood splintered. Bullets screamed past her ears. Ava returned fire, covering them as they scrambled through a back corridor.
"We have to split up," Ava shouted. "They want you alive, Elena. But I don't know for how long."
Nicholas pulled Elena toward a service tunnel. "Trust me. Just this once."
She hesitated—every instinct screaming not to—but then nodded.
They slipped into darkness, the roar of gunfire growing distant.
As they emerged into an alley, breathless and shaken, Nicholas turned to her.
"There's something else," he said. "Something I've never told anyone."
"What now?" Elena asked, exhausted.
"I wasn't just Kate's boss."
She blinked. "What are you saying?"
"She was my fiancée."