Asher’s eyes locked on Luca. “So then what? We pretend it didn’t trace to your company? You think someone else just got lucky hacking in through Virelli’s backdoor?”Luca set the coffee down, finally drinking in the full weight of the situation. “No. I think someone wants to tear us apart from the inside.”Asher rubbed a hand through his hair, agitated. "Could be a competitor. Or someone gunning for your seat at the board. You’ve made enemies, Luca.""And you haven't?" Luca asked, tone sharp. “How many people wanted us to fail from the start? This could be personal. This could be someone..."He paused.“Someone close,” Luca whispered.Asher stiffened. “Julian?”“No. He’s been with you too long. If anything, he’d sooner kill for us than betray us.”Luca turned the screen toward him again. “What about your side?”Asher’s first instinct was to say no. Instantly. Defiantly.But something made him hesitate.“…Maybe,” he admitted, reluctantly. “But most of my team have been with me for year
The Virelli Estate sat under a pale gray sky, its sharp angles and manicured perfection feeling colder than ever as Luca stepped out of his car.He didn’t wait for an escort. The guards opened the door the moment they saw his face, stone carved, unreadable, and quickly looked away.This time, Luca wasn’t here as a son.He was here as a CEO demanding answers.The door to Paolo’s study swung open without a knock. His father looked up from behind his desk, frown immediately tugging at his mouth.“You’ve stopped knocking,” Paolo said dryly, folding the newspaper in half. “Should I assume this is another outburst about your... personal affairs?”“No,” Luca said, voice low and razor sharp. “This is about corporate sabotage.”Paolo raised an eyebrow. “Go on.”“You leaked classified contracts from Wolf Guard,” Luca accused, walking forward and placing a folder on the desk, his assistant's data, detailed and timestamped. “The access point came from inside the Virelli Group firewall. Three days
After they hung up, Reid sat very still in the dim apartment, watching the city blink back at him from beyond the windows.He stared down at the phone.His reflection shimmered faintly in the black screen, unreadable.And for the first time in days, he didn’t feel jealous.He felt powerful.He had just reassured the man he was systematically tearing down. Just earned his trust again.And yet…There was something bitter curling around the edges of his stomach.The part of him that did mean it.The part of him that still looked at Asher like he was the man who used to laugh at midnight by the barracks fire, who used to trust him with more than just missions.The man Reid had once loved, deeply, before the military, before Luca, before all the heartbreak.He finished his drink, set the glass down with a soft clink, and opened a second file folder from his drive.Inside were more.More documents. More screenshots. More chess pieces.He told himself it was still about love. That if he burn
“Who is it?” Luca asked, sipping his coffee.“Not sure,” Asher muttered, wiping his hands and answering on instinct. “Hello?”The voice on the other end was clipped, direct. British.“This is Maya Sullivan from the Times Global Desk. We’re reaching out for a comment on the leak regarding Wolf Guard’s security contracts in the Middle East...”Asher stiffened.“...the file was uploaded to a watchdog forum this morning. Our editors want to confirm if the allegations about falsified clearances and flawed surveillance equipment under your leadership are accurate. We’re publishing in three hours.”“What...?” Asher’s voice broke off. “No. That’s not… that’s not real.”“We’d appreciate a statement before we go live.”He hung up.Luca set his mug down slowly. “What was that?”Asher didn’t answer right away. He walked over to the dining table, grabbed his laptop, and started typing.He found it within minutes.A red banner headline:BREAKING: “Wolf Guard Security Under Fire, Internal Documents
Back at Reid’s apartment…He stood by his window, watching the city pulse beneath him, alive and bright. So many lives moving at once. So many stories playing out simultaneously.But all he could see was one.Asher, smiling in someone else’s bed.Asher, in love with someone else’s promises.Asher… not his.He let out a long, slow breath and whispered, “Don’t make me regret this.”But a small voice inside him already answered:You already do.He opened his inbox again, scrolling past the folder Dominic had sent. One new message blinked at the top.From an encrypted address.Subject: Phase Two.Message: Ready when you are. Let it bleed.Reid stared at it.Then deleted it.But the damage had already begun...................The sun spilled through the city like honey, slow, golden, and warm. For the first time in what felt like forever, Luca Virelli wasn’t buried in back to back meetings or staring down board members or flinching at every breaking headline with his name in it.Today, he
Dominic was watching him closely.“You think I don’t know what this feels like?” he asked softly. “To be the one left behind? The one who stood in the rubble while someone else got to walk away with the fairytale?”Reid looked at him then, truly looked, and saw not just a manipulator, but a man who had once tasted that same bitterness. The ache of being almost loved.“I don’t want to hurt him,” Reid repeated, though the words didn’t hold as firm as before.Dominic didn’t smirk this time. He simply walked back over and poured them both a drink.“Then don’t,” he said, handing Reid a glass. “Just help me tip the scale.”Reid didn’t drink. He held the glass between both hands and sat down at the long table.“I still dream about him,” he admitted quietly. “About when we were deployed together. The nights we talked about the future. About who we could be after the war. I thought…”Dominic tilted his head. “You thought he’d wait for you.”Reid nodded once.“I thought I’d have a chance,” he m