Veil 5

I moved through the dimly lit hallway, my footsteps silent against the marble floor. The Moretti estate was as grand as I remembered, but the air was heavier now, thick with tension and secrets. I had spent years planning my return, molding myself into a woman who could wield vengeance like a weapon. But as I stood in the belly of the beast, I realized the ghosts of my past were harder to shake than I had anticipated.

Helios had been watching me all night. I could feel his gaze even when I wasn’t looking. The enforcer had always been a shadow, lurking just beyond reach. But now, he wasn’t hiding his suspicion. He had failed me once, and I knew that guilt was eating at him. I could use that.

I stepped into the study, the scent of aged whiskey and leather filling my senses. The room was lined with bookshelves, their contents more for display than knowledge. Behind the grand mahogany desk, an old portrait of Nico Moretti loomed, his sharp gaze frozen in time. The Morettis had built an empire on blood, and now, a traitor was tearing it apart from within.

A flicker of movement in the reflection of a glass cabinet caught my eye. Helios.

“Are you planning to stand in the shadows all night?” I turned, leaning casually against the desk. “Or do you have something to say?”

His expression was unreadable, but his hazel eyes burned with something I couldn’t quite place. “You shouldn’t be here,” he said. His voice was rough, edged with warning.

I smirked. “Neither should you.”

He stepped forward, and I caught the slight clench of his jaw. “You’ve been playing a dangerous game, Elena. Sneaking into meetings, gathering information—you think no one notices?”

I crossed my arms, unfazed. “I think you notice. And if you wanted me gone, you would have done something by now.”

His silence confirmed my suspicions. Helios wasn’t just watching me—he was conflicted. Good. That meant I still had leverage.

“I need to know why you’re really here,” he finally said. “Revenge? Justice? Or something else entirely?”

I let out a quiet laugh. “Maybe all of the above.”

Helios exhaled sharply, running a hand through his dark hair. “You don’t trust me.”

“Should I?” I asked, tilting my head.

He took another step closer, his presence overwhelming in the confined space. “I don’t know. But you need allies, and whether you like it or not, I’m the best shot you’ve got.”

I studied him, searching for cracks in his mask. He had always been loyal to the Morettis, but I knew there was a part of him that had never forgiven himself for my supposed death. He wanted redemption. That made him useful.

“Fine,” I said, pushing off the desk. “Let’s see if you’re as good as you claim. We need to find the traitor before they find me.”

A flicker of something—relief, maybe—crossed his face. “Then we start tonight.”

I nodded, slipping past him. “Try to keep up, Valenti.”

As I walked into the night, I felt his presence just a step behind. The game had begun, and for the first time in years, I wasn’t playing alone.

---

The cool night air wrapped around me as I stepped out onto the Moretti estate’s vast balcony. Beyond the manicured hedges and expensive marble fountains, the city sprawled out, its golden lights flickering like stars. This place had once felt like home. Now, it was a battlefield.

Helios followed, his footsteps measured but deliberate. “What’s your next move?”

I turned to him, meeting his gaze. “The traitor isn’t just selling information. Someone’s moving pieces, creating chaos within both the Morettis and the Volkovs. We need to find out who benefits from that.”

He frowned. “You’ve already been digging, haven’t you?”

I offered him a slow, knowing smile. “Would I be me if I hadn’t?”

His lips pressed into a thin line. “You’re reckless.”

“And you’re predictable,” I shot back. “Which is why we work so well together.”

His jaw ticked, but he didn’t argue. Instead, he studied me as if trying to decipher a puzzle he wasn’t sure he wanted to solve. “You never planned to stay dead, did you?”

“No,” I admitted. “But I had to make them believe I was.”

He exhaled, rubbing the back of his neck. “You put a lot of people through hell.”

I folded my arms. “Including you?”

His eyes darkened. “You have no idea.”

Silence stretched between us. For a moment, the tension shifted—less suspicion, more something else. Something we weren’t ready to name.

I turned back toward the city. “We’ll start at the docks. That’s where the shipments have been going missing. Someone’s profiting from this chaos.”

Helios hesitated before nodding. “Fine. But we do this my way.”

I smirked. “That’s cute, Valenti, but we both know that’s not how this works.”

I walked ahead, leaving him to catch up. The night was far from over, and I had a feeling the worst was yet to come.

---

The warehouse was dimly lit, the scent of dust and old wood hanging in the air. Elena crouched behind a stack of crates, her pulse steady but her mind racing. She had intercepted a coded message earlier that day, a whisper of an illicit meeting taking place between an unknown figure and one of the Moretti underbosses. If she could just get closer—

A shadow moved in the periphery of her vision. She stiffened, hand hovering over the knife strapped to her thigh. Footsteps echoed, slow and deliberate.

“Elena,” Helios’ voice was low but sharp. “We need to move.”

She turned her head slightly, catching his silhouette a few feet away. He was tense, his hand resting on his gun, eyes flicking toward the dark corners of the warehouse.

“Not yet,” she whispered back. “Whoever they’re meeting, I need to see their face.”

“Or they’ll see yours,” he countered. “And then it won’t matter what you know.”

Before she could argue, a door creaked open across the room. A figure stepped into the low light, their voice hushed but firm. Elena strained to hear as they exchanged words with the Moretti underboss.

Her breath caught as she recognized the voice. Someone she thought she could trust.

---

Later that night, Elena and Helios sat in the back of a sleek black car, parked in a shadowed alley near the Moretti estate. The air between them was thick with tension.

“We can’t trust him,” Elena said finally, her voice a quiet storm. “He’s been feeding them information for months.”

Helios exhaled slowly, rubbing his temple. “It makes sense. The missing shipments, the ambushed deals. It was always too precise, too clean.”

She turned to him, her gaze sharp. “I want to confront him.”

“No.” His response was instant, firm. “We don’t tip our hand until we know exactly how deep this goes.”

Elena clenched her fists. “He betrayed Isabella too. She never believed I was dead, and he let her suffer, knowing the truth.”

Helios glanced at her, something unreadable flickering in his eyes. “I get it, Elena. But we play this smart. No reckless moves.”

She looked away, biting back the frustration clawing at her chest. “Fine. But when the time comes, I want to be the one to end this.”

Helios didn’t argue. He didn’t have to. The silent agreement was already there between them, as inevitable as the storm brewing ahead.