ouse with cold streaks. Elara stood barefoot in the living room, arms crossed over her chest, watching the city blur

he apartment. In the scent of his cologne on the hallway curtains. In the half-drunk espres

ieved. The distance ga

st-this marriage, his words last night, and worst of all... the gnawing

buzzed on

own

ama, 11 AM. Come alone.

blood tu

anyone mention he

ce the

nce th

d the number-untraceable. No name. Just that one sentence, like a t

lose his mind if he found out. But something d

had

-

ded, as though it had deliberately tried to be forgotten. Elara stepped inside, her coat soake

build, a long scar along his jawline. He looked up as she ap

said. "Except the eyes

d standing. "

iko. I used to wor

ened. "My father

at's what the world believed. But you? Y

ly, her heart pou

said. "And you're in the middle of

you talk

o Aidan Mercier wasn't just a merger

harply. "By the boar

He uncovered something he shouldn't have. And before he could reveal it, he was silence

world

ing," she

together in a game far more dangerous than corporate takeovers and business alliances. They

t belie

t happened in Paris, 2009. Ask him why he stopped using his m

th ragged. "If you're

er died protecting something. And now you're wear

-

t lay forgotten by the door. She hadn't called Aidan. She couldn't. Her fingers hovered

But they felt... close. Like dust on old photographs. Like a tr

s, 2

never spoke of those years. Not even in passing. Every time Elara tried to ask about his childhood, he gav

r wa

memo

er his

uch of it-it felt too personal, too loaded with

leather-bound volumes, she found an old key taped to

just broken a boundary sh

followed

-

e'd only seen him open once. It took her twenty minutes to crack t

nd documents. L

d "Julien Mercie

embled as sh

, maps. A list of offshore accounts. One ph

m younger, dressed in military gear, not business suits. Holdin

d turned

adn't just b

dan ha

The way he never talked about the past. He wasn't just protecting her-he w

and closed the drawer, locking

was

owly, heart pou

ausing when he saw her. His

hen t

ing," he said, hi

eath shaking. "You weren't

le

owly, every mov

ou think you've un

least enough of it to know that thi

ticked in

died," she said. "And why you'v

our past, Elara. It's mine, too. And if you sta

ck. "Then mayb

time. And then, finally, h

eath c

. But once you see it... you'l