Chapter Six: Blood Ties and Broken Trust

One of the men, a sharp-eyed enforcer named Dominic, looked up from the monitors. His face was pale, and Kailex could see the beads of sweat on his brow. "We’ve traced some of the communications, boss," Dominic said, his voice strained. "There are encrypted messages being sent out of your compound. Whoever it is, they’re using a sophisticated system to cover their tracks."

Kailex’s fists clenched at his sides. The more they uncovered, the deeper the betrayal seemed to go. "And?" he pressed, not willing to let any details slip away.

"We’ve narrowed it down to a few suspects, but..." Dominic trailed off, glancing at the other men in the room.

"But what?" Kailex snapped.

Dominic stood up, wiping his face with the back of his hand. "But the problem is... these people are loyal to you, Kailex. They’ve been with you since the beginning. I can’t believe one of them would betray you."

Kailex’s jaw tightened. He wasn’t surprised, though. His world had always been filled with people who played double games. But this? This was something worse. The betrayal was close, and it was personal.

He leaned forward, eyes narrowing. "What about her?" he asked, his voice steady despite the chaos inside. "Aurira. Could she be involved?"

Dominic hesitated, his eyes darting to the door as if expecting Aurira to burst in at any moment. "No... but there’s something strange about her. I can feel it. The timing of her arrival. The way she slipped into your life so easily."

Kailex stood up abruptly, the chair scraping against the floor as he moved toward the door. His chest was tight with frustration. "Get back to work, Dominic. I don’t care about suspicions right now. Find out who’s leaking information. We deal with Aurira later."

"Understood, boss," Dominic muttered, clearly unsettled by Kailex’s sudden coldness.

As Kailex walked away, his mind wandered back to Aurira. There was no way she could be involved in this. She wasn’t the enemy. But then again, nothing made sense anymore. The truth of her origins, the lies he had been forced to carry, and the dangerous web of intrigue they were both caught in—it was all too much. His thoughts were a storm of confusion, guilt, and need.

Aurira sat on the bed in the room Kailex had left her in, her fingers tracing the edges of the folder he had handed her earlier. The paper felt like a foreign object in her hands, each word printed on it a piece of the life she thought she knew, but it felt so far removed from her. The truth of her identity burned through her, making her feel like a ghost in her own skin.

She glanced around the room, noting the cold, impersonal nature of the space. It was luxurious, yes, but sterile. No warmth, no personal touch. Just like the life Kailex had built around himself. Everything had been built on control, and now that control was slipping away.

There was a knock at the door, pulling her out of her thoughts. Without waiting for an answer, the door creaked open, revealing Kailex. His presence filled the doorway, his broad shoulders blocking the light behind him. His eyes were intense, his jaw clenched, as though he had been grappling with a storm of his own.

"Are you alright?" he asked, his voice low, almost tentative.

Aurira didn’t respond immediately. She didn’t want to speak, didn’t want to face the man standing before her—because every time she looked at him, she saw not just the man who had been her protector, but the man who had unknowingly fed her a lie for years.

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