Semua Bab The Wrong Kind Of Right: Bab 71 - Bab 80

The marble floor felt colder than usual beneath his shoes. The high arched windows let in a harsh grey light. Wind rustled the ivy outside. Every sound echoed louder in this wing like the building itself had been holding its breath since they’d last walked here.Luca paced once, then again.Checked the time.4:44 p.m.His heart was beating too fast.He didn’t know what he’d say.Didn’t even know if Asher would walk in.But if he did, if he walked through that door...Luca wouldn’t let him walk out again.Not without saying something.Asher hadn’t planned to go.When he got the revised schedule from Julian, he stared at it for a full minute.East corridor. 4:45.Alone.Julian was watching him.“This is bait,” Asher said flatly.“I know.”“And you approved it?”“I didn’t stop it.”Asher exhaled sharply. “I should pull out. Reassign.”“You won’t.”“Why?”Julian shrugged. “Because some part of you wants this.”Asher clenched his jaw.He could say no. Could call it in. Claim a timing confl

Luca sat at the long oak table, the one they always used for private Virelli dinners, polished so sharply it reflected the chandelier like glass. A place for appearances. Precision. Theater.He had worn a navy suit, sharp collared. No tie. Just enough undone to appear effortless, but not disheveled. His watch was perfectly adjusted, and his cufflinks caught the light every time he moved.And still, he felt like he was suffocating.No one commented when he didn’t speak during the first course.No one questioned his absent replies during the wine tasting.But Serena noticed.Her eyes followed him like a knife dressed in silk.She laughed at the minister’s joke. Touched the arm of a delegate when needed. Smiled when it was expected. But every second her gaze wasn’t performing, it was cutting through him like glass.She waited until dessert.Until the guests had filtered out. Until even Paolo had retired early with a dismissive wave, a murmur about being "tired of small men playing big ga

“There’s nothing on him.”The lead investigator’s voice was firm, steady, the kind of voice meant to pacify powerful men with unsatisfying news.Paolo Virelli was not pacified.He stood at the center of his private office, arms folded, eyes cold as steel. The screen behind him flashed images, reports, and encrypted personnel files, all of them centered around Kieran Wolfe, Wolfguard’s operations chief and current head of security for the summit.But no matter how many times Paolo looked, it all told the same story:Kieran Wolfe didn’t exist before two years ago.Which was impossible.“No birth certificate. No academic trail. No military records that check out.” The man shrugged. “It’s either fabricated from scratch or sealed by a government so deep we’d need ten more months to even knock.”Paolo’s lips tightened. “And yet you expect me to believe a man like that just appeared? With credentials so clean it makes the Pope look suspicious?”Silence.The investigator swallowed. “Sir, resp

At precisely 10:46 PM, the music in the ballroom dipped for the keynote toast.Crystal flutes were lifted.Cameras turned toward the Virellis.Serena flashed her sharp, diplomatic smile, leaning ever so slightly toward the mic. Luca stood beside her in flawless poise, tie straight, shoulders square, eyes forward.No one saw his hands tremble.Except for Asher.High above in the mezzanine gallery, his gaze hadn’t left Luca in ten minutes.Not since the hallway.Not since Luca’s voice had fractured in the dark, asking him to admit what they both already knew.Asher had walked away then.But he couldn’t walk away now.Because something wasn’t right.The sixth sense that had kept him alive for years, across war zones, extraction missions, and sabotage cases, was blaring in his skull like a siren.Too many shadows.Too little movement in sector three.And that figure, just a blur, in the back service hallway five seconds too long.“Julian,” Asher said into the comm. “We’ve got a ghost on t

“I warned you,” Serena hissed, slamming the door shut behind her. “I warned you not to fall apart.”“I didn’t fall apart,” Luca said softly.“Oh really?” Her laugh was sharp. “The world watched you melt into a man you claimed didn’t exist anymore. You were staring at him like.. like... like he was oxygen and you were drowning.”Luca finally looked at her. “I am.”Serena went still.For a moment, the anger cracked, revealing something more brittle underneath.Fear.Because she wasn’t just angry.She was terrified.Not of scandal.But of what it might cost her.“We had a deal,” she said, voice tighter now. “We keep the legacy. We wear the masks. We protect what we’ve built.”“No,” Luca said, standing now. “We protect what Paolo built. You and I were just the ornaments.”Serena crossed the room in three strides, face inches from his. “Do you think you’re the only one with something to lose, Luca?”He blinked.“Do you think I don’t have my own secrets? Things I’ve buried, made disappear,